Ekdog

wahoonc

It should be a personal choice not mandated. What I find a bit ironic is FF's statement: More people die from head injuries in car accidents than in cycling accidents.

I just wish the news reporting agencies would stop noting whether the person is wearing a helmet or not, as though it is a magic panacea to stop all cyclists from being killed. We had an incident locally where the cyclist was crushed under the car when a drunk driver ran over them from behind. The article glossed over the fact that the person was A) riding on the sidewalk/side path and B) died of internal injuries and C) the SOB that ran over them was 3 times over the legal limit for drunk driving, but they damned sure listed the fact the person wasn't wearing a helmet.

Aaron

rydabent

Dont you just love it!!!! This forum is made available to all of us partly thru the ads by helmet manufs. The anti helmet cult posting assists the helmet manuf to post their ads. Thanks guys-------------keep up your anti-helmet diatribes, you are promoting helmet sales.

I-Like-To-Bike

Only "casual" riders are put off? Vice what other kind of cyclists who use a bicycle for transportation?

You are correct, this thread belongs in the A&S Neverland Thread.

Coluber42

I think that helmet fights are really just a distraction when it comes to discussions of transportation cycling. Even if a helmet were able to positively guarantee that you would not get injured above the neck no matter what happened, most of us still have quite a few body parts below the neck to which we're really rather avoid injury. Helmets don't prevent crashes, and not wearing one does not cause crashes. If pressed, I do think adults should be able to make their own choices regarding helmets, taking into account their own skills, riding style, the areas where they ride, etc.

But more importantly, I think that fighting over helmet laws distracts us from addressing the more difficult but ultimately more important questions of infrastructure and traffic management.

Every time you read an article about a cyclist getting hit by a car and the first thing that's mentioned is whether or not the cyclist was wearing a helmet, it means that no one is asking whether either party may have been distracted or impaired or whether the traffic pattern in the area contributed to a dangerous situation.

I would rather have my state government considering measures that will prevent accidents in the first place than arguing about whether someone who doesn't wear a helmet is exercising their first amendment rights or is a cost to society waiting to happen.

Personally, I always wear a helmet. I haven't crashed in years and I've never been seriously injured in a crash, but I ride in a lot of high-traffic areas and I have made use of a couple of helmets in my life. But I'm under no illusion that the helmet can save my from my own stupidity or that of others, and it's a last line of defense, not a safe cycling strategy.

frantik

Coluber42 that post was entirely too reasonable.. you may as well delete your account now

mconlonx

*sigh*

Nightshade

There was , and still is, push back against seat belts even tho the jury came back in favor of their life saving ability. So it will be with cycling helmets over time.

I took a bad fall 2 years ago with my head missing a 9" high curb by less than an inch. Had I hit this curb with my head I wouldn't be here typing this post!!! I wear a helmet now.

Bio Fueled

just a question or 2.
On seperated areas, are there other bikers who can make mistakes to?
How many heads and brains I have (humans, not medusae... ) and how many knees?

Head injuries get you in the nursing home and your family into financial ruin.
That will probably not accept any insurance?

So use a helmet.

My 2cents

Cheers
Bio

rica rica

i've only hit my head once in a cycling accident (wearing a helmet) and it was not a serious accident, so i can't say whether the helmet would have made any difference.

I do have a bad head injury from a slip on an icy sidewalk though. a freak accident almost two years ago. I had bad head injuries, was in awful pain for months from blinding headaches , had visual disturbances that made work difficult to impossible, and i'm still finding out today about all the periods of my life i have no memory of. my short term memory has largely recovered (i.e. i can function on a day to day basis) but i have lost large periods of my life going back at least 15 years in my memory. i was lucky to have insurance at the time (although now i cannot get it) because just my initial ER visit approached 10,000 dollars.

so if people want to wear a helmet, or not wear a helmet, that is their choice. The doctors say though even a minor concussion can cause lasting problems, so i personally would not take the chance of it. what happened to me was a freak accident, but when i bike i know theres a chance i could hit my head again, and having been through all this i would never wish it on my worst enemy.

robberry

A helmet saved my life tonight.

A moving truck swerved into the shoulder and their passenger side mirror smashed me in the back of the head. Pretty sure I'd be dead if I wast wearing it.

Now I have to deal with the fact that the cops don't want to do anything to the driver since I don't have any broken bones.

Ancient Mariner

Sometimes you just have to let karma settle unfinished business. Glad you're okay.

kookaburra1701

I wear a helmet - it feels natural to me, most of the time I forget I'm wearing one and end up wearing it into the store. But I grew up riding horses, so compared to the heavy black velvet-covered equestrian helmets, bicycle helmets just disappear. I also wear gloves every time I'm on the bike for the same reason - habit from riding horses.

Bio Fueled

This whole helmet debate (especially in the U.S.) is ridiculous!
Helmets protect. Point!
If one comes now with his "liberty":
Who doesn't wants to wear any,ok, but he also pay for all the costs itself caused by the fact.
I give you the liberty to wear no helmet, let me my one, that I haven't to pay over a social community (health insurance, fund, whatever) for you. Thanks!

By the way...
I can't remember (worldwide) at any dispute about condoms.
The protect also not above all.

skye

For how long were you unconscious?

sudo bike

Mind if I borrow your crystal ball for a bit? I need to buy a Lotto ticket...

skye

You realize, of course, that if you were wearing a helmet, with its added 2 inches, you would have hit the curb. Sounds to me like not wearing a helmet saved your life!!!!

Six jours

Yeah. Not to mention the fact that he wears a helmet because of the time he fell off his bike and didn't hit his head. And the point that his ability to measure distances to within a fraction of an inch while crashing his bicycle indicates such incredible composure and ability under stress that he should be able to control the location of his head under any circumstance.

curbtender

Kind of funny how a helmet thread gets dominated by non-helmet prophets. Any paramedics on the non-helmet roster?

Six jours

Yes, though I've been retired for a decade.

And I suspect the pro-choice "dominance" has at least something to do with the fact that so many helmeteers show up here armed with nothing more than the nonsense they've been hearing on the club ride: "Without a helmet you'll die!!! I've crashed sixteen times this month and my helmet saved my life every time!!! Even when I didn't hit my head!!!" When exposed to actual critical thought, they tend to recall some pressing business on another thread.

skye

I know there's at least one physician.

I-Like-To-Bike

Not always. This is Monday so stay tuned for the latest irrational rant.

SEI

I live in a state where there is no helmet law for motorcyclists, so there must be all kinds of motorcycle wreck head injuries, really nasty injuries right? I have not heard of one so far. But then again there don't seem to be that many motorcycle accidents period. Personally I have banged my head more times inside a house then I have outside, maybe I should wear a helmet when indoors...

It is much about money, in Florida which generally is pretty forward with laws there is no motorcycle helmet law either. Why? It is a motorcycle tourist destination is why, they don't want to run off the biker bucks.

MMACH 5

I've often contended that I don't wear a helmet to save me from an auto/bicycle collision. I wear it so that if I make a butt-head move at low speed, I don't have to eat through a straw for the rest of my life. In the event of a wreck with an automobile, I knew a helmet would do little to save me. In fact, I might have made that argument in this thread a few years ago.

Well, this past May, a driver ran a red-light at about 40mph and plowed into me. My injuries were countless, surgeries numerous and hospital stay extended. My helmet was shattered and I did have traumatic brain injury in the frontal and left temporal lobes. I have no doubt that I would not have survived without the helmet.

For most of my adult life, I've encouraged helmet use and I still do. Is it 100%? Hardly. If a few ounces of styrofoam increases my odds of survival, even by a miniscule amount, I'll take it. I don't, however feel like it should be legislated (except for children).

This incident did remind me a bit about statistics and how unreliable they can be. The driver who hit me told the police that I ran the red light, in front of him. He later admitted that he actually ran the red light while I was crossing with a green light. As a result, his auto insurance paid me the full amount of his policy. However, the police report was never updated and probably never will be. So statistically, this was a case of a cyclist causing the accident, but in reality, it was the motorist's fault.

Just thought I'd share my anecdotal helmet story. I'll probably wander back into this thread a few years from now.

LesterOfPuppets

Common bicycle helmets do not protect the bottom half of your head, so you may have to eat through a straw for a few days to a few months if you land on your face while wearing a helmet.