To tell everyone who goes cycling (and their kids) to wear a fucking helmet ?

[ApocalypseCheeseToastie]

Had a phonecall off my sis last night about eldest brother who's a keen, confident cyclist.

She'd phoned him to nag for something or other and found out he'd been laid up for the past ten days after flipping over the bonnet of a car, doing a here's Johnny moment through the windscreen (his head smashed the window) and flipping over the roof.

Luckily he's a bit of a cycling nerd, he wears a high vis vest, refelective strips on trousers etc and most crucially A DECENT FUCKING HELMET

The helmet he was wearing was smashed into little pieces, it protected him from major injury and ultimately saved his life. Leaving him with a few cracked ribs and a dodgy coller bone, without it he would have been killed, a 42 year old guy who has everything to live for. He would have left behind a family who love him, and a 12 year year old daughter who he lives for.

So please, do a shocked cheese a big favour and if you don't already have one, go out today, buy a fucking helmet for everyone, including the soddin dog if needs be.

I thank you.

You are 100% right. My dh - also keen obsessed cyclist has had a couple of falls and we've looked in awe and horror at the dented cycle hat.

All dc are militent hat wearers thanks to him insisting. And me? Er no.

Even dc tell me off and dh is . If we do family 'day out' type cycling he fixes me up with one of dc's spare's but I don't wear one if I just cycle to the village for some shopping.

They're so clumpy and uncomfortable and and ...there's NO excuse is there? I'll get one.

Is the driver who mashed up the OP's brother being prosecuted for dangerous driving?

Gawd i forgot to ask that, I imagine it will be speeding at least ?

I'll ask him when I phone again, he'll probably die from shock at two phonecalls in a week as we haven't spoke since christmas we don't get in touch often.

virtual those are really graphic examples. How awful.

I have to agree with blu though - there's a culture in the UK which makes it dangerous for all road users. The accidents described above could equally be describing car accidents which in the most part come about because at least one party is speeding, texting, distracted, tired, drunk, drugged etc - just because driving is an everyday activity doesn't mean it's not a potentially deadly one. We all take it for granted, but what else do you do every day that risks losing your own life or killing someone else?

[I'm an anal driver as well as cyclist]

yabu, and everything Fennel said.
Limits of how well helmets protect anybody
More technical discussion saying pretty much same things.

If you must feel so passionate about this, you should be equally vociferous about car occupants being legally required to wear properly-fitting helmets too, as well as horse-riders, motor-trike & motor-quad bike riders.

Apologies for the graphic examples - I just wanted to make people aware that this is what can happen if a heavy vehicle runs over part of a person. I was very upset by what the attending police officer at one of those accidents told me, and it does pray on my mind. The poor guy's fiancee saw it happen and he was conscious before passing away, but his injuries were totally unsurviveable.

I felt completely safe cycling in Germany, on country roads not cycle paths. Here I feel like I am chancing death every time I want to exercise, and I live int he country.

I still choose to wear a helmet though, but cycling helmets are relatively flimsy and they only protect one area of one part of your body in certain conditions only. They do not negate drivers from responsibility. Even if you fall on your head, you have to be unlucky to sustain a life threatening injury. But if a car going at speed hits you, you will just be a statistic.

I agree (and don't mind the language).

I'm not sure there are many horse riders these days that ride out without hats - I certainly very rarely come across them and having had my share of falls I would never do so myself nor allow my DC to.

virtual no need to apologise; it's worth knowing the facts, I just meant how awful for all concerned (must have been terrible for the drivers too, especially if they were at fault). I met a girl who was cycling in London and someone opened their car door into her, knocking her under a bus. Her injuries were horrific and she said it changed her life completely.

Whoever mentioned James Cracknell above - it's really a horrifying story, isn't it. I can't believe he was hit on an almost deserted road and it sounds like the truck driver hadn't even noticed he was there. And American roads are huuuuge too.

I actually don't feel that vulnerable on a bike. I know I am, but I'm not that afraid when out riding. But having said that I've been in a bad car accident caused by a drunk driver, so I always feel vulnerable in a car.

I taught a lad who fell off his bike, hit his head on the keen and died. He was 15. A helmet would have saved his life. My 2 yeR old always wears a helmet on her trike and will do so as long as i have a say (25!) On the balance of probabilities I would feel more guilty if she had an accident and wasn't wearing a helmet than if she was.

This has made me think... I would never get on a horse without a proper riding hat on (and I'm currently thanking my lucky stars for that, having fallen off last week and sustained major concussion that would have almost certainly been a skull fracture if I hadn't been wearing a hat) but I never think to put on a helmet when I'm cycling. I tend to think that because a bike doesn't have a mind of its own and therefore isn't capable of spooking/bolting/bucking me off, I am safe and don't need a helmet. Now I've read this I've realised how stupid that assumption is - think I might be investing in a helmet! The bike may not have a mind of its own, but the other drivers on the road do!

Can I point out that when you are wearing your cycle helmet that you fit it correctly, it serves no purpose perched on the back of your head. Also check that your childs helmet is fitted correctly fitted.

my ds is 2 and he has a bike with a parent handle on it and he wears a helmet, probably not necessary yet but im alittle bit obsessed with safety and i want him in the habit of wearing a helmet for when he's older.

My father died in 1974 by coming off his bike and sustaining a terrible head injury. He would undoubtedly have lived if he'd been wearing a cycle helmet, but I don't think they had them in those days

i think OP would like my DH. if he sees a cyclist without a helmet he will wind down the window and shout out "wear a helmet!". he recently traumatised his little brother and his friends by telling them what happens if they don't wear a helmet. (it worked.) DH had a friend who was left severely disabled after an accident when he was a child. it wasn't particularly nasty an accident but they had no helmet on suffered broken skull and brain damage. im with fennel in that cycling should be much safer but until then people need to wear helmets!

I cycle to work daily and wear a helmet, plus bright clothing and in the winter as many lights as I can fit on my bike!

I know that if a bus runs over me the flimsy polystyrene isn't going to do much, but I've had plenty of near-misses with tree roots on the cycle path, wet leaves on the road or pedestrians stepping out in front of me and it's got to be better to let the first impact of my head be partially cushioned by a helmet than just straight to my skull.

DP owns a bike shop, always wears a cycle helmet, all the staff wear them, not because they have to but because they all know of incidents where it would have potentially prevented serious injury/saved a life . He is always recounting stories of parents who are willing to spend a load of money on their own and their kids bikes but waver over the cost of a helmet for their child, or don't think they need one as well to set an example to their kids.

There will always be accidents a helmet can't do anything about but it really is not worth the risk - the idea of not wearing one because of helmet hair!!!! -imagine your next of kin having that one explained to them after you've killed yourself!

DP's own worst accident was actually caused by a pedestrian not looking before stepping out in front of him - pedestrian fine, DP multiple stitches, so it isn't all down to car drivers either.

I wish the drivers were tackled (and they shoukd wear helmets too. Many car accidents involve head injuries). What is it abiut the Futch and Germans that doesnt exist here? Why are our drivers so yobbish and loathing of cyclists?

See, as a car driver, I love it when I see a cyclist with a helmet and a nice flourescent jacket, they are probably taking it seriously, are likely to have proper lights on their bike and may be a bit older/more mature. I hate the students where I live, as they use bikes without lights/ or those very dull pedal powered ones which just blink weakly and hardly show on wet, misty, nights or when it gets dark early, which is most of the winter.

However, all the indignation over red light jumping is misplaced, plenty of cyclists do this (and not many cars). I drove home yesterday, stopped at a red light, to find a cyclist plunge into the four way crossroads not stopping and weaving in and out of a lorry (who was surprised to see them given they were on a green light). I see that type of behaviour, pretty much always from men, a lot, it's not a tiny tiny minority at all, it's quite regular for cyclists to judge whether to wait at a red light and go if nothing is coming (or so they think). I don't see how having bad car drivers on the roads negates this at all.

DH commutes across central London by bike every morning and absolutely doesn't jump the lights (my sister sometimes see him when her train gets in, and is always impressed that he's waiting at red lights) but he understands why people do. Trucks and cars can pull away far faster than the cyclists can, and it's moments like that when they pull away and then turn left or right at the junction that the cyclist is extra vulnerable. It was only last week that DH attended the funeral of a work colleague who was hit by a careless lorry driver who turned left directly into him. For some people jumping red lights is a safer prospect than gambling that the drivers next to them are going to remember to check before they turn (I don't agree btw, but I do understand)

There was a very interesting article in the paper about this a few weeks ago. Apparently in the Netherlands, where everyone cycles, hardly anyone wears a helmet (as low as 0.1% I think), and the level of deaths and injuries is way lower than in the UK. The article reckoned it was all to do with the whole culture of road use and the attitude towards cyclists, as well as proper bike lanes separate from roads etc. If you google soething like 'Dutch cycle helmets' there is loads of stuff about it. It's an interesting argument, though sadly I don't see the culture here changing in favour of cyclists any time soon.

I have kittens most mornings when I see a father one his bike with three children - one on a seat in the front, one on the back and the third on one of those tag-along cycles behind.

None of them wear helmets and the children are all, I would say between 3 and 8.

My heart takes a leap whenever I see them; have thus far resisted the temptation to say anything but have been very close.

As the friend of someone who went for a ride without his helmet and didn't come home, YANBU.

Another acquaintance was just testing his motorbike on the road outside his home, ditto.

Neither of these accidents involved any other road-user and both caused fatal head injuries. Utterly avoidable.

And oddly, the fact that a third friend was killed by a lorry passing right over him doesn't make me say, "Oh, well he couldn't have been saved so the other two shouldn't either."

I am going to show this thread to my DH. He is an avid cyclist and very sensible... except about wearing a F"£%$NG HELMET and it pees me off big time! Thankfully he isn't cycling right now but will start again next week and I have already been on his case about it as it scares me so much that he doesn't wear one.

I know he is a very good cyclist but it isn't him I am worried about. It is other irresponsible motorists and the aggressive London traffick that worries me no end.

And I see this is turning into a cyclist versus motorist thread so I will just put my point forward now. I have been more at risk of injury from bloody irresponsible cyclists in the last few years than motorists.

I also had a friend who was saved from serious head injury only by his helmet,after an accident in rural NZ caused by an icy road with no motor vehicles involved. Cycle helmets are compulsory in NZ so am always horrified to see people cycling without them. There are several parents and kids on our school run who go without. FWIW DS also has a carefully fitted riding helmet and no way would I let him on a quad bike without a helmet.

I posted on MN a couple of months ago about my cycle accident. Mine was a different scenario where I had been doing a long days ride and thought I'd finish off in the skills park. I was on my MB. I started off way to fast and hit a bend.
I had a bad crash with me going over the handle bars and smearing my face all over the gravelfor about 10meters.

Above my eye was badly cut and needed several stiches in a couple of places as well as a lot of other injuries.
THe first question at the hospital from everyone from the receptionist, nurse, consultant and doctor was ' Was you were wearing a helmet?' I was and it was badly smashed in. It has since been replaced.

I do think cycle helmets can prevent some damage but obviously can't save all head injuries in all accidents. I would never dream of going on a trail, skills park or even cycle to work without a helmet.