View Poll Results: Helmet wearing habits?
I've never worn a bike helmet




178
10.66%
I used to wear a helmet, but have stopped




94
5.63%
I've always worn a helmet




648
38.80%
I didn't wear a helmet, but now do




408
24.43%
I sometimes wear a helmet depending on the conditions




342
20.48%
Voters: 1670. You may not vote on this poll
The helmet thread
#8151
Senior Member
Great idea, lets do it, first I swing the club at your bare head, then again with a helmet on, and you tell me which hurt worse; then we'll switch, you hit me bareheaded and with a helmet on then I tell you which hurt worse and then we'll report here if we are pro or anti helmet after that.
Honestly I was more concerned about the second strike at the time since it ripped open a gash three inches long on my back
And I still don't think helmets are necessary for all riding. Riding a bike is safe, hanging out with the wrong people at your youthful years is not. And the human head is made of pretty good stuff.

#8152
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How and why bicycle deaths happen in the US - Vox
This is fairly interesting. Investing in a rear-view mirror might be your best protection,it seems.
This is fairly interesting. Investing in a rear-view mirror might be your best protection,it seems.

#8153
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How and why bicycle deaths happen in the US - Vox
This is fairly interesting. Investing in a rear-view mirror might be your best protection,it seems.
This is fairly interesting. Investing in a rear-view mirror might be your best protection,it seems.
Cycling Accidents - Facts and Figures | Cycling Safety Advice and Information | Road Safety | RoSPA

#8155
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LAW is anti-helmet?!!! Hahaha!
But, yep, as more cyclists wear helmets, more will be caught dead wearing one:
But, yep, as more cyclists wear helmets, more will be caught dead wearing one:


#8156
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How and why bicycle deaths happen in the US - Vox
This is fairly interesting. Investing in a rear-view mirror might be your best protection,it seems.
This is fairly interesting. Investing in a rear-view mirror might be your best protection,it seems.
If you get struck from behind, your odds of fatal injuries are higher. However, it is very rare to be struck from behind. Just like in the UK, your odds of being in a collision with a car are far higher at intersections.

#8157
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That's about the way I read/see things, MMACH 5.
Getting hit from a vehicle coming in from a side road, chances are good they're entering "your" road from a stop or near stop, so you're more likely to get hit at 10 mph or so, instead of 45 mph or so. Easy to guess which is more likely to kill you.
I'd imagine that being thrown clear of the vehicle is slightly less likely in a rear end accident than a side impact where the vehicle is on a path described by an arc.
Getting hit from a vehicle coming in from a side road, chances are good they're entering "your" road from a stop or near stop, so you're more likely to get hit at 10 mph or so, instead of 45 mph or so. Easy to guess which is more likely to kill you.
I'd imagine that being thrown clear of the vehicle is slightly less likely in a rear end accident than a side impact where the vehicle is on a path described by an arc.

#8158
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Wow, you can find anything on the falken internet if you look long and hard, yet we have statistics to prove otherwise and has been posted many times, and here it is again: Bicycle Helmet Statistics.
Oh and speaking of pie charts since you like those so much, here's one:
Why you should always wear a bike helmet, in one chart - The Washington Post This is of course an American study not a European one.

#8159
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Oh and speaking of pie charts since you like those so much, here's one:
Why you should always wear a bike helmet, in one chart - The Washington Post This is of course an American study not a European one.
Why you should always wear a bike helmet, in one chart - The Washington Post This is of course an American study not a European one.


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#8161
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#8162
Senior Member
Wow, you can find anything on the falken internet if you look long and hard, yet we have statistics to prove otherwise and has been posted many times, and here it is again: Bicycle Helmet Statistics.
[h=4]Statistics from a Johns Hopkins U. study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in February, 2001:[/h] [h=3]Bicyclists and Alcohol[/h]
- One drink increases a bicyclist's probability of serious injury or death by a factor of six.
- Four or five drinks increases the probability by a factor of 20.
- One third of bicycle fatalities have elevated blood alcohol levels.

#8163
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This has nothing to do with helmet use and/or effectiveness, unsure why you continue to post the link saying statistics like these have any bearing on helmet use or not...:
Statistics from a Johns Hopkins U. study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in February, 2001:
Bicyclists and Alcohol
Statistics from a Johns Hopkins U. study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in February, 2001:
Bicyclists and Alcohol
- One drink increases a bicyclist's probability of serious injury or death by a factor of six.
- Four or five drinks increases the probability by a factor of 20.
- One third of bicycle fatalities have elevated blood alcohol levels.

#8164
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This has nothing to do with helmet use and/or effectiveness, unsure why you continue to post the link saying statistics like these have any bearing on helmet use or not...:
Statistics from a Johns Hopkins U. study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in February, 2001:
Bicyclists and Alcohol
Statistics from a Johns Hopkins U. study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in February, 2001:
Bicyclists and Alcohol
- One drink increases a bicyclist's probability of serious injury or death by a factor of six.
- Four or five drinks increases the probability by a factor of 20.
- One third of bicycle fatalities have elevated blood alcohol levels.

#8165
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Wow, you can find anything on the falken internet if you look long and hard, yet we have statistics to prove otherwise and has been posted many times, and here it is again: Bicycle Helmet Statistics.
But hey, just carry on cherry-picking information that seems to support your prejudices, and ignoring the rest. It's so much easier than actually thinking, and we wouldn't want to put ypu to any trouble.

#8166
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The point is that the League of American cyclists' figures are likely to be more accurate than those you keep quoting, because they looked at the details of each recorded fatality and the Government statistics don't. And their figures make much more real-world sense. Everyone knows that collisions with motor vehicles cause the vast majority of cycling fatalities, and even the helmet manufactureres acknowledge that the forces involved in such collisions overwhelm the protection a bicycle helmet can provide. So the suggestion that 90% of dead cyclists were helmetless never made any sense. By far the likeliest explanation is that the data is unreliable.
But hey, just carry on cherry-picking information that seems to support your prejudices, and ignoring the rest. It's so much easier than actually thinking, and we wouldn't want to put ypu to any trouble.
But hey, just carry on cherry-picking information that seems to support your prejudices, and ignoring the rest. It's so much easier than actually thinking, and we wouldn't want to put ypu to any trouble.

#8167
Senior Member
Really, so because you know absolutely nothing about helmets or the statistics posted by the government who compiles more data then you have brain cells, you think, wait you don't think, you blabber on about how those statistics don't mean anything simply because you don't like to wear helmet! And bring up drinking? Are you really that lacking? I guess you are. And because you're lacking there is no further need to discuss anything with you in regards to this thread because I don't discuss things with irrational people, they're simply too needy.
I wear a helmet nearly every time I ride a bike. Again, you haven't been paying much attention.
I didn't bring up drinking, you did in the link you posted. The part I C&P'd was from the link you posted. I don't know why you post statistics regarding drunk riding in a helmet thread, but there you have it.
You already said you would ignore me, but you have lied about that many times over now.

#8168
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Pick and choose data:
I investigated an unusual motorcycle death several years ago (I once did that sort of thing as part of my living). The rider was wearing an excellent and proven helmet. However, the fatal blow (her head against the pavement) missed the helmet; her forehead struck the cement from a height of about six feet, with some forward velocity. The blow was so catastrophic that she did not bleed from the three-inch gash in her forehead. As sometime happens, the shock of the impact stopped her heart.
Bottom line: Helmets work, given that they are between your noggin and the object, and, that you aren’t asking too much of them.
- Fact: If you were to fall over backwards and allowed that the first part of your body to strike the ground (hard ground, asphalt, cement, etc.) was the back of your head --- you would most likely be dead, or, at least, seriously brain injured.
- The following may seem grim, however – facts are facts and you should learn to live with them: Sixty years or so ago a helmet manufacturer (can’t remember which one) commissioned a series of tests. Those tests were made with cadaver heads (yep, cadaver heads). The researchers dropped those heads from varying heights, starting with about two feet (as best I can remember).
- They were:
- 1) Devoid of hair, and flesh.
- 2) Devoid of hair but with flesh.
- 3) Hair (1/2”) plus flesh.
- The results were clear: A fleshy, hairy head would crack the skull if dropped more than about 3.5 feet while the bare version only needed 1.5 feet (again, as best I can remember). It is generally accepted that a cracked (fractured) skull results in brain injury.
- Most of us have viewed the collision between an inexperienced/idiot motorcycle rider https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNFaAqS2f18 and an innocent bicyclist. Take a look at how the (bi)cyclist struck the ground: He struck it with the back of his helmet; he did not die. Had he not been wearing the helmet, he most likely would have died because he fell more than five feet to the ground and struck the back of his head (basal skull fracture).
I investigated an unusual motorcycle death several years ago (I once did that sort of thing as part of my living). The rider was wearing an excellent and proven helmet. However, the fatal blow (her head against the pavement) missed the helmet; her forehead struck the cement from a height of about six feet, with some forward velocity. The blow was so catastrophic that she did not bleed from the three-inch gash in her forehead. As sometime happens, the shock of the impact stopped her heart.
Bottom line: Helmets work, given that they are between your noggin and the object, and, that you aren’t asking too much of them.

#8169
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Pick and choose data:
I investigated an unusual motorcycle death several years ago (I once did that sort of thing as part of my living). The rider was wearing an excellent and proven helmet. However, the fatal blow (her head against the pavement) missed the helmet; her forehead struck the cement from a height of about six feet, with some forward velocity. The blow was so catastrophic that she did not bleed from the three-inch gash in her forehead. As sometime happens, the shock of the impact stopped her heart.
Bottom line: Helmets work, given that they are between your noggin and the object, and, that you aren’t asking too much of them.
- Fact: If you were to fall over backwards and allowed that the first part of your body to strike the ground (hard ground, asphalt, cement, etc.) was the back of your head --- you would most likely be dead, or, at least, seriously brain injured.
- The following may seem grim, however – facts are facts and you should learn to live with them: Sixty years or so ago a helmet manufacturer (can’t remember which one) commissioned a series of tests. Those tests were made with cadaver heads (yep, cadaver heads). The researchers dropped those heads from varying heights, starting with about two feet (as best I can remember).
- They were:
- 1) Devoid of hair, and flesh.
- 2) Devoid of hair but with flesh.
- 3) Hair (1/2”) plus flesh.
- The results were clear: A fleshy, hairy head would crack the skull if dropped more than about 3.5 feet while the bare version only needed 1.5 feet (again, as best I can remember). It is generally accepted that a cracked (fractured) skull results in brain injury.
- Most of us have viewed the collision between an inexperienced/idiot motorcycle rider https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNFaAqS2f18 and an innocent bicyclist. Take a look at how the (bi)cyclist struck the ground: He struck it with the back of his helmet; he did not die. Had he not been wearing the helmet, he most likely would have died because he fell more than five feet to the ground and struck the back of his head (basal skull fracture).
I investigated an unusual motorcycle death several years ago (I once did that sort of thing as part of my living). The rider was wearing an excellent and proven helmet. However, the fatal blow (her head against the pavement) missed the helmet; her forehead struck the cement from a height of about six feet, with some forward velocity. The blow was so catastrophic that she did not bleed from the three-inch gash in her forehead. As sometime happens, the shock of the impact stopped her heart.
Bottom line: Helmets work, given that they are between your noggin and the object, and, that you aren’t asking too much of them.

#8170
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OldTryGuy:
You would have died. I'm glad you wore your helmet so that we might have a beer together, if only metaphorically. ;o)
Joe
You would have died. I'm glad you wore your helmet so that we might have a beer together, if only metaphorically. ;o)
Joe

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Thanks, that really is interesting. And it is markedly different from the UK, where only 25% of fatalities involved the vehicle colliding with the rear of the bicycle. Over here, much the most common cause of fatalities is vehicles emerging from or turning into junctions without "seeing" the cyclist.

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@Joe Minton What you got there is a list of unsupported facts (or perhaps those are "facts), If-I-Remember-Correctlies, hasty conclusions and speculations about anecdotes. Nothing we can work with I'm afraid.

#8174
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Setting an example. Yesterday while riding my trike, I was stopped by a family out for a ride. Both the father and the mother wanted to know where I got my trike. The lady was most interested trying a trike. Being stopped this way is getting to be more frequent.
Then the father said to his daughter, see even the guy on his trike wears a helmet. The whole family was wearing helmets, but the young daughter was not too keen on wearing one. I assured her that her parents really cared for her, and thats why they wanted her to wear a helmet.
Then the father said to his daughter, see even the guy on his trike wears a helmet. The whole family was wearing helmets, but the young daughter was not too keen on wearing one. I assured her that her parents really cared for her, and thats why they wanted her to wear a helmet.

#8175
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Gee, TDF finish yesterday********** No need to wear a helmet.

