Let me explain my view. I think most of us here agree that a helmet is of little use in preventing serious head injury, and is limited to minor bumps and scrapes. For a cyclist riding on a good road, simply falling off the bike due to loss of control is unlikely. Most other road vehicles are much heavier and more solid than a cyclist, so if you're involved in a collision the helmet may help, but in any case you're likely to have bigger issues than a scrape on your head. So, for this situation, the chances of a helmet coming into use are small, in my view small enough not to warrant its use.

Now consider something like road racing, or mountain biking. Here, the chances of the cyclist falling off are higher- in the road race due to being in a closely-packed group of cyclists, and the mountain biker due to being on a loose and somewhat unpredictable surface. In these sort of situations, the helmet is far more likely to be needed, so the case for wearing one is more sound. The same is also true of transportation cycling in icy conditions, and also for inexperienced cyclists etc. A lot depends on the conditions and situation.

In any case, the use of any safety equipment is a calculated decision based on the chance of injury and preventability of the injury with that piece of equipment. You might say 'it's better to wear one and not need it than to be bare-headed and need it', but then why single out cycling? We do many activities daily that carry a risk of injury, but without even thinking about safety equipment. Everything is a calculated risk, and in most cases, I've not felt the need to wear a helmet when cycling on the road. YMMV

I did wear a helmet when on a charity ride (they had a rule requiring it) and also when commuting in the snow.

If a bicycle helmet is the same for racers and commuters, then I don't see why a motoring helmet can't be the same for racers and commuters.

If we each had a dollar for every dumbassed claim on this thread, we could invest in a motoring helmet factory and make a bundle. But the Bike Forums admin are ignoring my request for reimbursement, for some reason.

Yeah, you're enjoying yourself a little too much here. :notamused:

Motorists could certainly use a racing helmet, but a lower cost helmet for the masses, built and tested for non-racing types of impact would be cheaper and might be an easier sell.

They are so unreasonable!

Actually, this is the serious part. People think helmets for those in motor vehicles would be just silly; equate such silliness with a MHL and you are halfway to quashing a pending MHL...

There was a helmet for motorists:
http://www.copenhagenize.com/2009/05...high-risk.html

And a special headband:
http://www.copenhagenize.com/2009/08...motorists.html

This is a thread on cyclist helmets. Going off on tangents about motor cycle helmets, people walking, taking showers, and driving cars is irrevalent to the subject.

Again I ask, just what is so bad or difficult about wearing a helmet? As I say once I put mine on, it is totally out of my thots, until I reach for the buckle to take it off. And------------it just might be there to prevent injury in unexpected accidents.

not saying it's bad or difficult. saying it's the unnecessary solution to a problem that isn't there. and the helmet for walking or driving is to try and bring home the point, which you seem to have missed for two years now, that walking and driving are statistically just as dangerous as cycling, yet no one thinks to wear helmets for these activities. why not? largely because the bike helmet industry has not chosen to try to get people to believe that those activities are dangerous enough to wear a helmet.

Head injuries are not a problem. Got it.
So you're saying that if we all wore helmets to walk, drive and cycle, then so would you.
Keep bringing that point home.

Not sure but a lot of people lock them to their bikes when they enter stores, restaurants. Etc. I think theyre usually releived when they remove them.

If every cyclist in the world got a new styro hat every two years that would make for a considerable landfill contribution.

I'm happy to report that I am doing my part and not contributing any styro hats to any landfills.

Once again, bicycle helmets are shown to be worthless. How much research do you need to recognize logic and common sense?

Traffic Inj Prev. 2013;14(1):56-60. doi: 10.1080/15389588.2012.688152.
[h=1]Bicyclist-bicyclist crashes-a medical and technical crash analysis.[/h]The authors found that, although only 7.5% of riders were wearing helmets, the mean Abbreviated Injury Scale was only 1.31, which equates to minor injury only. The lack of helmet use did not correlate with severe injuries to the head, the researchers found.

(As a side note, they found that the prevalence of bicycle-bicycle crashes was high, something that is not often discussed on A&S)

I'm getting to think there is some religious backing to not wearing protective devices...

And here is what I found, a link to another study, on the same page as your study... :) A 63% to 85% reduction of head and or brain injuries if you wear a helmet when head bounces off the pavement, even involving vehicles, as compared to if you don't/didn't wear a helmet,... ;) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10796827

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10796827

From the above link:
[h=4]REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS:[/h]Helmets reduce bicycle-related head and facial injuries for bicyclists of all ages involved in all types of crashes including those involving motor vehicles.

Once again, bicycle helmets are shown to be usefull. How much research do you need to recognize logic and common sense?

:eek: Incorrect! Wasn't even close to saying that. all those activities have a pretty low risk level for accidents. if you wear helmets for one, you might as well wear helmets for all of them, because you are just about as much at risk doing one as the other. Head injuries would be a problem, but the chance of that happening is so tiny that it just doesn't register on the scale of things to be afraid of. (for me).

Give me a call when you learn how to read medical research, sparky.

Give me your number, I'd be glad to discuss it with you, Buck-O.

I notice that on the poll bar graph that 10% say they never wear a helmet. That means they must be so anti social that they never do club rides, or rallies. Is that true?

Correct, I don not do rides were helmets are compulsory.

I guess you won't ride one in America. But , you can come here and shoot a gun.

Our huge local club has no helmet rule. But there are enough militant helmeteers there that you'll never come back after the first time. I've actually had people get all red-faced and bulgy-veined yelling at me about helmets on their Saturday rides.

I've done several organized centuries (including one that requires you to check-in with your helmet in hand) without a helmet. It's not like they can throw you off a public road - though I did once have a cop get on his PA system to tell me to put on my helmet during the Solvang century. I ignored him completely, as there is no law requiring a helmet in Solvang.

<edit> All this was years ago. I finally came to the realization that the modern state of bike handling was such that one should wear as much protective gear as possible when riding with other cyclists. My risk-taking days are long over, so I simply don't ride with any but a small group of select (and very experienced) cyclists - who, oddly enough, generally don't bother with helmets either.

Completely misrepresenting the study. Not that I'd expect different from you at this point.

In fact, among their conclusions, they suggest that "Bicyclists should be considered as minimally or unprotected road users, with an unsatisfactorily low rate of helmet use."

After getting called out again and again on this stuff, one might think you'd get tired of it...

skye


There is "research" and then there is the real world. I like many have reported from the real world that my helmet prevented injury. There is theory and and reality, reality wins every time!!!!

The problem is that so many people report having their lives saved by their helmets that they couldn't possibly all be correct. So "real world" reports (i.e. "I fell off my bike and my helmet saved my life!!!) really aren't worth very much.

]

I've only done one group ride and one race in the past 10 years yet I've had ample social interaction. Gonna ride my bike downtown for a 10:30 brunch date, then ride around some more but all my riding today will likely be solo.

Everyone knows most cyclists are aholes anyways. Why ruin a good ride by hanging out with them.

Why do you recycle such ridiculous posts. Ryda? Repetitive troll is repetitive.

There can only be one answer to that...he likes all the drama it creates.