tallard

A POLL ON HELMET USE FOR CYCLES AND AUTOMOBILES.

PLEASE VOTE

This is an item of constant curiosity for me. Given that statistics clearly demonstrate that notwithstanding seatbelts an airbags, motorists are still the major sufferers of head injuries and hence causing the most financially to society. What do helmet users think...

maddyfish

Well I don't use a helmet in the car. But I would not object to it I guess.


I wonder if it is legal?

AlucardZero

Race car drivers have to...

kendall

don't wear a helmet when cycling, prefer not wearing one on a motorcycle, would not wear one in a car.

didn't vote because you don't have the selection required.

I enjoy the wind in my hair so don't like helmets, I would rather die young then to be afraid of living.

ken.

edit: wore helmet on bike twice, realy disliked it.

tallard

Ha, this mind I know, even though my hair really needs to be tied or I'll look like a used mophead! I tie it high, so the tail flows, and some air makes through to my scalp.

I made the vote like that because it's really the helmet wearer's mind I'm curious about

Remember in Easy Rider Jack Nicholson's line in a football helmet, at the campfire with a joint between Peter Fonda and Denis Hopper. "People say they want freedom but when they meet freedom, they fear it."

tallard

Hey, all I ask is if people use consistency in reasoning...

Dchiefransom

I wear a helmet on my bicycle for a different type of accident than the one that would cause head trauma in my motor vehicle. I DO use the stats posted in other threads though, to counter statements by vehicle drivers about mandatory helmet use on bicycles, and cyclists that are vehemently pro helmet.

dynodonn 

Would I support an average motorist using a helmet will driving on public roads? My answer is no, for I do not wish to give motorists anymore incentive to drive faster than they all ready do, and besides the interior/restraints of today's cars is far safer than interiors/restraints of cars in past years. For many years now, I have worn a helmet while riding a bicycle,(byproduct of motorcycling/auto racing involvement), and after yesterday's crash and putting the ol' noggin to the asphalt, only reinforced my belief of wearing a helmet everytime I ride a bicycle.

syn0n

I'm reconsidering my no-helmet attitude for my bike. I ride on a bunch of hilly desert roads and speeds can get quite high, and I'd rather not end up with serious injuries. In the car? I'd rather just upgrade the car with a 4 point seat belt and if I was really concerned, a roll cage.

Blue Order

As I can attest; when I was rear-ended at a stop light, my head snapped back and hit the roll bar. It rang my head like a bell.

syn0n

True enough, I suppose. I imagine if I ever opt for a roll cage, a helmet would probably be on the list too. To be honest, though, if I was involved in a crash that was bad enough to injure me to where I'd be paralyzed, I'd rather not have my protect my head just so I can end up a prisioner in my own body. This is why I'd never use a helmet alone in a car without other serious safety modifications.

Blue Jays

Might see a small uptick in total number of accidents due to decreased peripheral vision and hearing if car drivers adopted helmet use.

AEO

remember #3 Dale? snapped his neck because his seatbelt restrained his body while his helmet + head continued to move forward. If you're going to install a roll cage in your car and bother with wearing a helmet, then get the HANS too.

the guys in SUVs and pickups will still laugh at you for wearing a helmet and scoff at the idea about a roll cage since they believe the bigger it is, the safer it is. There's only so much you can protect against with armor. After that it's all skill, which most drivers lack.

Bad/drunk drivers kill a lot of people each year. Although protecting your noggin might be a good idea, I do believe getting those drivers off the road in the first place would be a better option.

Mortality is 100% there's no avoiding it. It's just your actions that make it come quicker or later for you. So I guess paying attention to your surroundings is a lot better than limiting your perception with a full helmet in a car.

tspoon

Always wear helmet and agree. But it needs to be a helmet that won't work. Won't get much forum-mileage out of proper helmets.

ralph12

I'm amazed at how often some bike riders hit their heads...I mean sometimes it just seems a little crazy, to hear about people who bang their heads on something more than a few times in a lifetime. If you're doing that, I think you could be more careful, helmet or not. I haven't ever hit my head while riding a bike, and I have at some points pulled some pretty stupid moves here and there.

I think the helmet on bike/in a car comparison is interesting, though I didn't vote in the poll. I wear a helmet every time while riding my motorcycle, sometimes on my bike, and I rarely drive cars and don't own one. I HAVE considered wearing a helmet in one, but I think the hassle wouldn't be worth the possible reduced risk.

cyclezealot

Helmets are so natural to me, I often find myself forgetting to take it off after I start driving. Usually discover it the first time I look into the rear view mirror. As to wearing it in the car, I see no harm in it. Yet, what is the use - an engine crashing into one's chest is a serious matter . You'd likely be dead before your head impacted the steering wheel.

tallard

I really like your point, people have way to many collisions, something's for sure wrong there, I've only had one in 31 years of 365 days a year driving in all climes and conditions and distances, and that was a little ole near sighted lady who caused the collision. I've replied the rest of my thoughts in helmet thread instead as it this would turn into another helmet story

OH306

Jeeze tallard, give up on this helmet fetish. Next you'll be posting a poll on side curtain airbags for bicycles, which would be just as ridiculous but at least appropriate on a bicycle forum. Most people on this forum hate cars, refer to car drivers as 'cagers' and wish them all dead anyway. You are probably in that group. Although you were unable to express yourself, ("and hence causing the most financially to society"), your poll is only a thinly veiled attempt to express your opinion that motorists as a financial burden to society.

bike2math

According to some websites which sell the full line of Bell helmets; some of their automobile helmets are not street legal. I'm guessingg it is a peripheral vision issue, as modern cars are essentially sound isolation chambers even without the helmet. On the other hand I've seen some vans and trucks out on the road that had blind spots the size of a small SUV even without a helmet on the driver.

I was thinking about this issue lately: I think if I saw another driver wearing a helmet I would stay very far away from them. Especially if their car was dinged up.

I-Like-To-Bike

Iz dat a fact, Jack? Maybe you are confused, the Living Car Free List is south of this on the index.

intrepidbiker

Which is one of the reasons that I am against socialized medicine. If I have to pay for your medical bills from your errors in judgement (IV drug abuse, riding without a helmet, not wearing a seatbelt, smoking, etc)... then I am going to fight to make those errors illegal to lower my tax burden.

In other words, such actions lead to a reduction in our freedoms.

bike2math

Certainly some of us are more accident prone than others. Maybe it's being careful; or maybe it is just a problem with a sense of balance or reaction times. I'm a pretty awkward geek; and it just doesn't surprise me that I have a larger than normal number of crashes. For whatever reason most of my crashes result in my head at some point contacting the ground. I have never once regreted wearing my helmet after a crash.

Sure I could ride at 5 mph and virtually guaruntee that I will never ever crash. But what would be the point? I'm using my bike as transportation and excersise, which means I need to push it as fast as it can go.

rhm

I did not vote in your poll because I did not understand it. Are you arguing that everyone in every car should wear a helmet? Is that what I'd be agreeing to? You can't be serious, so I'm not voting.

I have been using a helmet for virtually all bicycle riding since 1978, and so far it has done me no good, since I have not yet crashed and hit my head.

Similarly, I have been wearing a seatbelt for virtually all car riding since... oh, let's say 1978 too. And so far it has done me no good, since I have not been in a car crash in all that time.

I understand and endorse the libertarian principle that the law shouldn't tell me how to behave if what I'm doing has no potential for harming anyone but myself. But that's not what this is about. Seatbelts reduce the number of injuries and fatalities due to car crashes, thus reducing strain on emergency rooms &c, lowering healthcare costs for everyone and improving everyone's chances of surviving [insert healthcare emergency of your choice]. Bicycle helmets are intended to do the same thing. Whether they actually do so is another matter entirely, and that doesn't seem to be what we're arguing about anyway.

People in cars don't need helmets. They need seat belts.
People on bikes don't need seat belts. They need helmets.

That's why they should be required.

dynodonn 

I wasn't planning to hit my head either, but give typewriters to a room full of monkeys, and eventually one of them is going to spell King Lear.

tallard

Isn't it so that 80% of Americans have insurance, and those who don't have money can go to most public hospitals and be treated at the governments expense?

So what's the difference between government pooling your health risk vs an Insurance Company pooling your health risk? So I must assume by your post that motorists receiving head injuries is part of the cost you're willing to bear.