wrafl

I've crashed many times and I get mostly abrasions to the arms and legs. I remember going down once and the helmet hit the pavement but I walked out of that spill with no head injury but had a small laceration on my right knee and some abrasions on the arms and legs. I did not feel any pain when I hit the pavement with my helmet on, so to me wearing a helmet, a mirorr mounted on the helmet and wearing gloves is part of my safe cycling routine. I'd say a helmet saved me from pain and serious head injury.

Fixitman

Yes,
Two weeks ago as a matter of fact. Cracked the helmet, but the head was one of the few things that did not hurt as a result of the crash.

Randy

DPC

Yes, very definately. I've written off two helmets and I'm absolutely convinced they protected me from serious head injury, and several other times I've scraped or knocked my helmet falling off or hitting tree branches and I'm certain it would have at least hurt had I not been wearing my helmet.

I haven't done a single ride for years without wearing a helmet, and I'll probably never ride without one again.

cyclezealot

A crack in my Bell was once about two inches long and almost penetrated its entire depth. Can you imagine if that were my skull. And I just barely bumped straight onto a curb, sideswiped it against my left temple. Sure glad I was wearing my Bell helmet.

LittleBigMan

I am calling you on your bluff, Chip.

Mennonites definitely could not be cyclists...

"Mennonite, on the other hand, dress very similar to the Amish, yet will have electricity in their homes and drive cars. You will see them shopping side by side with you in Wal-Mart..."

https://xwww.ritro.com/printable.bv?contentid=3590



(That's a jo--I say, that's a joke, son.)

ralph12

I voted "no", but then I realized something.

My helmet has never prevented pain while riding my bike, but once I put it on beforehand, and was walking to the driveway where I parked it, when WHAM, I smacked my head into the garage door. It didn't hurt, so maybe the helmet DID save me some pain, just not from anything having to do with my bike.

SSP

Hmmmm....sounds like BS to me.

No "serious", or even "semi-serious" cyclist would need to walk their bike up any "hill" in Ohio.

LittleBigMan

Ahem. That's never happened to ME...

darksiderising

I was hit by a big van on a recent trip to Ireland. My head and helmet hit the van first, and then hit the pavement. There was a dent about 2 inches deep in the van where my helmet impacted it. I got up immediately and my biggest concerns were my hand and shoulder, which were gnarly. My head did not hurt a bit. I noticed noticed no affects that one would expect after head-butting a van. Yes, a helmet has at least saved me from pain.

Anyone want to try putting a dent in a car with your naked head and laughing about it a few hours later?

chipcom 

Twas Lancaster, PA, and it weren't much of a hill. I agree that considering one a 'serious' cyclist based on their clothing and equipment is, indeed, BS. But I guess some folks like tagging themselves with labels to make them feel superior to others...even when they ain't.

nova

While i have yet to find a hill i can not climb ive been up a few that will leave you wondering just how the heck you got up the thing. There are hills here both short and long that can hit a grade 16+ for a fair distance and leave you panting once you finish the climb. north portage in doylestown will get you going pretty good (awesome hill to come back down though)

Shaverda

I actually have yet to crash, but I still wear a helmet. (well....except when I'm ocmmuting to school... but I literally go seven mph then.)

. . . And I'll probably go out on tomorrow's ride and crash immediately because I said that.

nova

Lol
That is so true. I said that one time when i was sitting on my top tube side ways and immediately fell over then down a hill in to my friends driveway that had just been re blacktopped.

JohnBrooking

Yes, every time I bonk my head on the top of the shed doorway putting the bike away!

Seriously, I mostly wear a helmet, and always on the commute, but other than the above example, in 5 years of commuting I've never been in a situation where I ended up needing it. Not to say I won't tomorrow. But I voted "Not another poll..."

Orbital57

Certainly mine have saved me pain.

The only crash I've had in the last couple of years was a pedestrian stepping out from behind a bus straight into my path. Nothing I could do even though I was only going passed the bus at about 12 mph, the top of my helmet met his chin leaving him very stunned (and probably concussed) and my helmed dented. If the helmet hadn't been there his chin would have hurt me a whole lot, in the end my bad landing (straight arm) messing my shoulder up was the worst I had to deal with.

Remember the green cross code kids, don't step out from behind vehicles.

Northendfixie

Last year I wiped out while commuting. (about 25 kph, I think)...front wheel got stuck in a crack in the road and I was thrown off. Didn't have time to react. Hip and head slammed the concrete. Helmet foam broke into several parts, head was ok (no headache, even). Hip was swollen for months. I have no doubt the helmet saved me from significant head injury. Now I wear one most of the time I cycle. Doesn't mean I have the right to tell others to (although my tax dollars will help to pay for their head injury related medical care...)

syn0n

Yeah, I'd say a helmet has certainly saved me from pain and/or serious injury. As a child, I hit another cyclist who pulled out from a stop without stopping as I came full speed down a hill. I made a nice arc over the handlebars, and landed on my left shoulder and my head slammed into the ground. I got up with a sprained wrist and a gash, and walked the bike home. I pretty sure if I hadn't had the helmet I'd probably have been taken to the hospital on a stretcher. The other cyclist just ended up with a bent front wheel. The helmet had a bunch of cracks in it, as I recall.

That said, I was a kid then, and I don't use a helmet anymore. I do think they can help prevent injury, though.

calamarichris

Three times unquestionably. And saved from a lifetime wearing a drool-bib & adult diaper probably more than half a dozen other times.
A $600 motorcycle helmet would be very difficult to shatter with a sledgehammer, but I managed to do it with a boulder at 40+mph and had double-vision for 11 days afterward. Also used the asphalt to take divots out of two other motorcycle helmets.
Scuffed & dented many Gyros, and smashed one of them hard enough against a guardrail to initiate a shower of little white balls. "Hey look you guys! It's snowing!" (Hilariously, they didn't see the little white balls falling out of the helmet and looked VERY concerned at this joke.)

I mislike helmet laws and have no problem with people riding bicycles or motorcycles while bareheaded, but I'd sooner skimp on birth-control devices:

Peace!
-CCinC

cc_rider

Yes
A couple of times on crashes.
Several times from low hanging branches.
Once from an angry bird.

freeranger

I've had a few crashes on the mtn.bike where I'm sure the helmet prevented some pain and/or injury. I've endo'd a few times, and have heard the helmet hit the trail, glad it wasn't my head! Got one old helmet laying around with a few stone dents in it, just to remind me why I wear one!

evblazer

My mother in law, who worked in a hospital, always used to say something along the lines of "helmets are great they keep the organs viable for donating until they can get the body to the hospital"
In an accident that just happened in arlington, TX it looks like a helmet would have saved this person but I'm not sure how much. They bounced their head off a police cruisers windshild and put a nice dent in it. They died from head injuries so a helmet would have lessened it by taking some of that impact away.
Whether that would have meant a concussions or being a vegetable who could tell. I for one would gamble and hope I'd get a concussion and not be a vegetable rather then dead.


Every time I have fallen is it always my knees/shoulder that take it. My helmets didnt' even get a scratch.