closetbiker

I agree

like,

https://www.bicyclesafe.com/helmets.html

Focusing on helmets distracts people from what's more likely to actually save their lives: Learning how to ride safely.

and

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_helmet

Evidence for the efficacy of helmets in preventing serious injury is contradictory and inconclusive.

Rocke

To suggest that this story will somehow impugn people to put on a helmet and ride foolishly under the guise that all will be okay is beyond ludicrous on many levels. Many very smart folks ride or drive carelessly at times for many reasons, fatigue, emotional upheaval, distractions, familiarity, etc. the list is endless. There are some plane silly folks out there that will try ones patience regardless. I would be more concerned that an individual believes that sense will somehow immune them from needing a helmet. The folks I ride with literally are professionals logging hundreds of miles a week, the best with decades of riding all over the world was hit three times in 10 days by erratic drivers recently. One could say that he has no sense working on a bike in a major city, but not that he is not a very heads up rider, yet he was hit 3 times in ten days. There are far too many variables outside of ones sense or lack of, that one cannot control. (As valuable and important as sense is, it is not enough.)


While you may think it is cool to call people names, (if only everyone else were as smart as you) I know of another person who believes he has all the answers, and somehow thinks that the rest of the world somehow got it wrong or are dumb for not believing what he thinks to be right. You may have heard of him, George Bush. A little humility on his part might have saved a lot of people there lives. Blessings.

closetbiker

so.....you don't see a common thread in the 3 (from Calgary, Victoria and Madison) news stories here?

no motor?

I think the old Bell ads said it best: "If you've got a $10 head then wear a $10 helmet".

closetbiker

What if Bells products use less than $10 worth of EPS?

PatD

The cyclist states that it feels weird to have a truck run over his head. Is he lying, then? Yeah I guess he is. The truck ran over the helmet, not the head.

PatD

Maybe The Onion should have done the story "Darwin Foiled-Dumb cyclist spared certain death by unusually strong helmet." I think that's what you guys are getting at. Look, accidents happen. A perfect cyclist can get hit from behind at any time. A helmet may or may not help, but I'll be damned if I see how it could hurt.

closetbiker

judging from the pic, the truck ran over a portion of the helmet that the head was not in (the duck tail)

who said wearing a helmet hurt?

the idea that a helmet would resist being crushed by a truck and save a life better than riding responsibly would does hurt though

IronMac

It's a delivery truck, how heavy can it be?

One of my brothers once got out of the family car before it had properly stopped and slipped (this was wintertime) in such a way that one of his feet became wedged or stuck under one of the rear tires. It took a couple of people to lift the car enough for him to move out from underneath it. Was his foot crushed? No.

For all of the helmet naysayers, look at all of the facts first; this is despite some of you saying the same thing but seemingly not doing so.

no motor?

I'd worry that it works, not how much the components cost. https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/ge...iew/index.html was pretty controversial when it came out, partly because one of the cheapest helmets gave the best protection. It made a lot of us wearing the more expensive helmets wonder if we would be better off wearing a cheap helmet, and cost the magazine a lot of revenue from some of the helmet companies that didn't like the results. The mention of lighter bicycle style helmets providing adequate protection was pretty interesting too, especially when Lawrence Grodsky https://www.stayinsafe.com/ liked what he saw.

So even though those results show that price isn't everything, the idea of taking the time to protect something of value still applies.

closetbiker

That's the point. Most people think they work in situations they never were made to. People pay huge mark ups because they think think they're getting something they're not. This story is a huge ad that misleads people and perpetuates collisions like the one it describes.

TLN

WHAT?!

I hope youre joking...
If not, let me rip your post apart.

First a delivery truck, weighs more than your average automobile and thats when its unloaded. At this time of day Im sure it was loaded.

Second, comparing a human head to a foot is completely ludicrous! Ill bet you all my bikes that I could run over your foot a half dozen times with a car and I wont "crush" it. Let me run over your head just once with a car... well lets just say you wont be doing anything ever again. The physical characteristics of a head compared to a foot is astronomically different.

As far as the "helmet-nay-sayers", I really dont see any here. I see a few people saying that helmets can protect but to say or rather, imply, that a helmet can protect you from getting your head run over by a truck is complete idiocy and reckless reporting.

BUT, if you want to prove them right I can borrow my company's truck and supply the test helmet. I just need a volunteer and a lawyer to write up the paperwork.

no motor?

Yep, the helmet is only one piece of safety equipment, and the "loose nut behind the wheel" is often the main problem.

Many of us wear more expensive motorcycle helmets because they often are more comfortable to wear for longer periods of time. Fit and comfort are more important here than with a bicycle helmet - you don't need any more distractions when riding and you don't want something so uncomfortable that you don't wear it. I'm pretty skeptical on my bicycle helmet to do anywhere near as much good as my motorcycle helmet if my head ever hits something hard, but know it's a lot better than nothing when I'm out exercising. One of the people that convinced me I'd wear a helmet if I took up bicycling again (about a year before I did) showed me the scars from the halo brace he had to wear when recovering from a fall (while stopped and not wearing a helmet) on his bicycle. He always wears a helmet while riding now, whether it's his bicycle or one of his motorcycles.

edit; His fall was during a short trip close to home, the kind where people are lulled into a fall sense of security by being close to home and making a short sedate trip.

closetbiker

That's nice. Last year I had a friend I've known for over 20 years trip and fall down the stairs and die from the injury he sustained to his head. No one has suggested he should have been wearing a helmet, but a few have suggested greater care could have been taken when he attempted to decend the stairs.

How it is that people read this story and not see a perfectly preventable situation that could have avoided but instead see a story about a helmet saving a life is beyond me.

I refuse to believe people are so short sighted.

sdime

If this guy flips his bike over by slamming his brakes, he is an idiot and needs to learn how to ride a bike properly. Better yet, he should be banned from ever riding again.

Elusor

https://thatvideosite.com/video/2104

IronMac

Hrmm...ok, let's go:

First off, you don't know what sort of delivery truck it was. My Dad's car at that time was a Caravelle...4-door sedan...look it up...you'll see how big it is.

Second, where does it say that a foot is actually stronger than a head? Maybe I should have made it a bit clearer in my post...my brother's foot was on its side with the vehicle atop of it...it wasn't caught "flat-footed".

sdime

The following proves you don't need no stinking helmet!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2S_rnKHJDA

NoReg

" feels weird to have a truck run over his head"

Sounds like the perfect witness to me...

"How it is that people read this story and not see a perfectly preventable situation that could have avoided but instead see a story about a helmet saving a life is beyond me."

Basically because accidents happen, and retrospectively look perfectly preventable. Some people just don't care to do everything required to avoid accidents, while others won't do everything possible to minimize the grief they cause. Sounds like two legitimate approaches, why the former try to regulate the latter is a mystery to me.

"Second, where does it say that a foot is actually stronger than a head?"

A foot is certainly more streamlined as far as running over it with a 4-door sedan is concerned. I think one would catch more air popping over a head.

closetbiker

Why do the helmet stories get all the attention, when the no helmet stories don't? Maybe because they cater to the things we build up in ourselves as being true when there may be other explanations for them?

No mention of the man wearing a helmet when he was working under his truck.

https://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pb...NEWS/707130322

Man survives pickup rolling over his head

July 13, 2007
BARNSTABLE — A 43-year-old man was taken to a Boston hospital by ambulance yesterday after a pickup truck he was working on ran over his head, fire officials said.

At about 11:30 a.m., the Barnstable Fire Department received a report of a motor vehicle accident. But it turned out the owner of a landscaping company was working beneath a three-quarter ton pickup truck trying to fix it when the vehicle suddenly rolled. A wheel went over his head and shoulder, Barnstable Fire Lt. Ed Guilford said. "But he's in great shape," Guilford said.

When the rescue squad arrived to the Millway address, they found the man smoking a cigarette with his crew. He had a tire track across his head, significant "road rash" and a missing patch of hair to prove he had been under the wheel.

Tests done at Cape Cod Hospital revealed no internal injuries. He was taken to Boston for some plastic surgery on his ear, Guilford said.

"It was really unbelievable," he said. "Someone was looking out for him."

bryroth

That article got all of us talking/interested, which is the point of the paper, and that makes it a good article.

closetbiker

which one? helmet or no helmet?

mark9950

One time at work my supervisor was goofing around with the forklift and ran over my foot,I was wearing those metatarsal shoes and those shoes saved my foot.I dont know how much a sit on forklift weighs,but the steel in the shoe saved my foot from being crushed by the forklift wheel.

Get the cars off the road they have the potential to kill bike riders.Hopefully gas prices will rise high enough so I and many of you see it.

rando

Years ago, my mother gave me a bullet...a bullet, and I put it in my breast pocket. Two years after that, I was walking down the street, when a berserk evangelist heaved a Gideon bible out a hotel room window, hitting me in the chest. Bible would have gone through my heart if it wasn't for the bullet.

--Woody Allen