Originally Posted by closetbiker
Nothing personal here. I'm asking for any research that shows cycling results in more head injuries than other activities. You've replied that you don't have any and don't care. I'm curious as to why. If you don't know of any elevated risk but want to wear a helmet I thought that was curious as I find the phantom risk of head injury on bicycles is more fearsom as the equal risk of head injury elsewhere.
I'm not saying you aren't entitled to your feelings or views or making judgements on them. I would like to see some substatiated findings that riding a bike makes you more likely to hit your head than other activities. Until I find this, I find all the stories of head injuries on bicycles no different as all the other stories of the same happening to others, resulting in assesments to my overall risk and if it's worth it to make some adjustments to lower the risks, or if the risks are low enough to not let it concern me too much.
If there is no elevated risk, there is no need to elevate my concern or take elevated measures to avoid a head injury.
Quite honestly, that's what I don't get. Which part of: in 23 years I've managed to hit my head exactly ONCE off the bike. But in the past year alone, I've managed to hit my head twice when I endo'ed. So why do you keep assuming that I see this as a phantom risk? Don't you get? I'm not making an assesment of YOUR overall risk, which is why I'd prefer it if you didn't wear a helmet, since you feel you don't need one. I'm making an accessment of MY overall risk.
So 23 years of everything else: 1
A single year of riding: 2
If you don't see that as a sign that a) I would've been brain dead twice and b) I need a helmet, then you're missing some really really obvious clues there.
And you're making the assumption that you're just as likely to injure your head in a car and on a bike. But in a car, you're surrounded by a metal cage, the deceleration is much smaller than that if you fell off your bike and on your head. And that's the other thing I don't understand, why can't you make an overall assessment of your situation and decide for yourself? I feel that any force generally great enough to damage my head after the structure of the car fails would generally kill me through internal organ/neck/or spine failure. But I also feel that on a bike, that failure would go straight to my head in a lot more situations, which is why I make the decision for myself to wear a helmet.
I don't hear a lot of "if i had a helmet when I crashed in my car, it would've saved my head", "if i had a helmet when i slipped in the shower, it would've saved my head", etc etc stories. Do you? But I do hear a helluva lot of people saying, "I crash
twice every single
year and would've been a braindead ****** reborn 4-5 times" stories. I went through that just as everyone else did, so I choose to wear a helmet. Why are you asking us to provide you with motivation to raise your own risk assessment so you can wear one? Obviously you're so lucky and have such great cat like reflexes on your bike that a head injury isn't of concern to you, so why do you want us to tell you to wear a helmet? I'm telling you, don't wear a helmet, it's less weight on your head, it doesn't ruin your hair, and it's not as sweaty.
It's kind of like this, if someone comes up to me and says, why should I wear a condom if I know all the girls and I probably won't catch anything? I'd say, "you're right, you shouldn't wear a condom."