Just a random thought as I meandered into the cycling forum... do you cycling folk take the precaution of wearing a helmet or not?!

Jaimz

YES!

ive made my reasons clear in another thread.

Yes, apart from during exam week.  Dont ask me why, its just a rather morbid observation Ive made on my own behaviour  :shock:

Nope, most of my ride is not on-road. The majority of it is in wooded cycle tracks, and to be honest even if I ride on-road (saunter to the shops, or through the city centre) I dont feel as if I should wear one then.

If its my time to go.. its my time to go, failing that Ive had golf clubs smacked into my head, my face stamped on, and Ive headbutted enough walls in my time to think "meh... to be honest my heads tough enough"

Interesting mentality  :shock:

The whole "if its my time to go" thing really doesnt hang with me.  Thats the reason the roads in India etc are like they are, people think that if they overtake on a blind bend and smack into an artic lorry, it was their day to die and thats that.  Its a bit stone-age if you ask me.

What if its not his time to die but his time to be a paraplegic or a vegetable in a bed? My brother was very anti-helmet (anti-seatbelt even!); recently a bar-end snapped on him on my ancient Rockhopper and he hit the road. To my surprise hes changed his mind now...

Can we have a "Sometimes" option ?

I wear mine when I am on the road but not for little offroad jaunts.

Im a bad girl, dont wear mine at all on the streets of Bristol really.

Thats despite having been run off the road once (silly woman turned left while I was beside her, luckily we were barely going 5mph), and having properly stacked it off my bike, skidding along giving a massive abrasion down my right forearm, doing something funny to my left ring finger (still isnt quite right) and lots of bruises on my legs. And I still went into my last exam 15 mins later. Had to keep peeling my arm off the table though, blech...

I tended to wear my helmet more in winter when it was dark, along with reflectives and lights. Seemed much more dangerous in the dark.

I always wear a helmet.

A friend recently came off and dislocated his shoulder, broke his collar bone, fractured his wrist and broke all his fingers on one hand. Luckily he has his helment on so he didnt break his head.

If you dont ride like an asshole on the street and use your defensive skills, your chances of bopping your head are as minimal as taking a shower. Its all about risk. You dont wear a helmet in the shower do you? You also dont do endos and grinders in the bath if youre wanting to stay safe.

Current helmet popularity has to do with hysteria and the search for a simple panacea. The streets as dangerous as you make it. 90% of helmeted riders I encounter on the street are behaving in ways that far counteract the slight benefit that the helmet might offer. Theyre zig zagging behing parked cars, afraid to take the lane in traffic, using iPods, riding the wrong way, riding at night without lighting, running busy intersections, weaving, inattentive, and so on. About 80% of helmeted riders I see are wearing their helmet incorrectly. Either its a wrong size or its being worn on the back of the head like a mortarboard or the chin straps are loose or undone altogether.

Heres the newsflash: helmets dont prevent accidents. They reduce an average impact by about 3mph. So if you hit a minivan at 28 with a helmet, youre only actually bopping your head at 25 mph. Fantastic! Now why dont you just try avoiding that minivan altogether, eh? Pay attention--thats right, PAY ATTENTION to the road--this my friends, far more effective for cranial safety when it comes to prevention. Helmets prevent nada, they just shave about 10% of the velocity of impact.

Bottom line: responsible cycling is not dangerous. People that insist on helmets on the street are hysterics. If you insist on responsible street cyclists wearing helmets, then statistically you must support painters on ladders, and zealous trampoline users usage of specialized head gear. Life has a small element of risk. Foam talismans and other semi-religious actions do not reduce this risk, but responsibility do.

Quote from: funkychicken9000Interesting mentality  :shock:

The whole "if its my time to go" thing really doesnt hang with me.  Thats the reason the roads in India etc are like they are, people think that if they overtake on a blind bend and smack into an artic lorry, it was their day to die and thats that.  Its a bit stone-age if you ask me.

lol well if my head can survive a titanium driver being shoved into my head at whatever speed my mate hits a ball, without cracking. Im pretty sure Id survive a bump on the pavement.

Sara you slid off of your bike, and grazed every part of your body except what part.. tiz right! your head! To actually hit your head in a fall where a helmet will "save your life" is bloody hard. its the thing you protect. You curl in a ball to protect it, you fling your arms out to protect it, you pretty much sacrifice most of your other body parts to protect your head. You dont need a helmet

Granted if your plowed into by an artic at 60mph, your arms wont protect your head, neither will the helmet protect against internal bleeding, and your organs being squeezed out of your nostrils.

Mountain bikers... I see a point, twatting a tree, hurts. Helmets prevent you feeling it too much. Children I see a point, their skulls arent fully developed, and maybe in the winter as the roads are slippery, and coming off and hitting your head is not the nicest sensation in the world, and some allow mounting of lights and reflective tape (handy to allow drivers to see when your about to turn.. (your head movement is easier to see)).

Yup, mets are designed to protect against a very very short fall onto concrete. Who experiences such similar falls? Young children, winter cyclists, and mtbers. Roadies very very rarely go down, and when they do, long term head injuries are extremely rare. How many cyclists have died in the 100 years of the Tour of France? Two. One from heat exhaustion, and the other from fall off a cliff. Woo woo. However, there has been tons of road rash and broken collarbones. I recommend shoulder pads. It would help in 10% of crashes, but make 90% of people look more like Joan Collins circa 87.

Imagine getting hit sideways by a car on a roundabout.  Going down without having time to get clear of your bike, youre almost certain to end up knocking your head on the ground as you topple over.  I came off in a similar way a few years back, and thank god I was wearing a helmet.  I heard a massive crack sound, but I wasnt in any pain and was able to pick myself up and cycle off without needing surgery.  

To say you dont need a helmet because your reflexes act to save your brain is absolutely rediculous - if anything, that should reinforce how important it is to protect that region.

So far most of the arguments against helmets have either gone along the lines of "Get hit head on at 30 and youre dead anyway" or "you never hit your head".  Both are clearly irrelevent, as theres a whole host of possible scenarios where your dome gets a bump.  Sliding off slippery footbridges with handrails in the ice springs instantly to mind, as that was the last serious off I had.

What exactly is it youre sacrificing by wearing a helmet?  Certainly not road sense; anyone with an ounce of intelligence knows that one isnt a replacement for the other.  You might look a bit silly, but quite frankly Id rather that minor embarassment than the shame of having to explain to an A&E crew why I didnt think wearing a helmet was really necessary as they stitch my scalp up.

Quote from: maximusotterFoam talismans and other semi-religious actions do not reduce this risk, but responsibility do.

where do i buy a foam talisman?
i would like 6 to hand around my bollocks while i work.

Youre sacrificing comfort and practicality. Cycling is no more dangerous than many other activities where one wouldnt think of wearing a lid, so why are people so religiously adament about using one for just this activity? Its religious zealotry and self righteousness more than any sort of compassion. Its the adoption of a meme, and the refusal to let it go even though logic is breathing its garlicky breath into your face.

Why should I sacrifice discomfort and practicality to prevent the two or three additional cranial lacerations Ill likely get in my lifetime. Ive already had two. The time I spent at the hospital getting stitched up was a minor inconvenience and no big deal. Because of the angle of impact, neither incident was preventable by helmet. Should I wear one and be uncomfortable for that "just right" impact I might get if I cycle continuously for ten lifetimes? How rediculous is that!

Life is full of risk. Take care of the big stuff: dont jump out planes, dont ride motorcycles drunk, dont try to have sex with intoxicated manatees, avoid owning firearms, make sure youve got the bow and arrow pointed the right way, etc--but dont sweat the small and itsy beetsy stuff like bike helmuts. Might as well require styro fedoras for Chicago pedestrians in January and February if theyre caught without Florsheim crampons.