...to not make my 5 and 3 year old wear a cycle helmet?

[blindasabatenburg]

Am I failing to protect them sufficiently? Nobody wore helmets when we were kids and I don't recall anyonr suffering a serious head injury, though we all came off from time to time.

They could just as easily fall from a climbing frame at the park, but nobody would insist on a helmet for the park!!!

Pedestrians probably get killed by a car running over them or crushing their internal organs to a pulp, not a knock on the head. I'm sure head injury isn't the main cause of death. You may as wekk suggest body armour for everyone near a road.

Its not just death, but head injuries that are of condern.

suckmabigtoe: risk per mile is higher walking. risk per hour is higher cycling.

www.cyclehelmets.org/papers/c2014.pdf

PatPig I would be interested to know how many of those pedestrians were injured/killed while walking along a pavement, and how many were crossing roads when their injury occurred. I would imagine that pedestrians are relatively safe simply walking along a pavement (aside from the small risk of drivers mounting the pavement). Most young children riding bikes, do so on the pavement/in the park and not on the road and so those stats don't strike me as a valid comparison. Impact with cars aside, a child on a bike on the pavement runs the risk of falling of their bike and bashing their head. A child walking along a pavement may fall over but risk of head injury would almost certainly be less, I would think.

Patpig, why not try bouncing you head off the floor a few times and see how that feels? Do you seriously think it's all propoganda of those pesky money-grabbing crash-helmet manufacturers?

I suppose you diagree with martial arts padding, rugby mouth guards, riding hats, and groin protectors (no man ever died from a kick to the nuts did they?). We don't really need to wear shoes either do we?

patpig i had initially thought you knew something the rest of us didn't but after seeing your "play in the traffic" comment i've realised it's all just made up right there in your head.

I don't think anyone on this thread will make you change your mind so I can't see why you started it really. Of course YABU and your argument about not wearing them when you were young is ridiculous. We didn't wear seatbelts, people smoked indoors around kids and lots of other things have changed in that time.

I am not asking for a row. I may be swayed. It is just that I don't really know, from what research I have done, whether the benefits outweigh the risk. It seems that you may risk a different type of injury by wearing a helmet. Head injury or spinal injury? Neither option is great. Which is why I am currently left feeling it is just a typical risk you take by living, like leaving your house, or getting in a car (with a carseat!)

My kids fall over quite a lot on their bikes, so I think they could easily whack their heads. I have a scar on my head still from where I fell off mine and had to have stitches when I was about 6. I wish I had been wearing a helmet then (they didn't exist).

Presumably kids are more likely to suffer a head injury when walking because they spend infinitely more of their time walking. Doesn't mean that walking is more dangerous.

There's good evidence that drivers will give far less room when overtaking cyclists wearing a helmet compared to those not wearing one.

There's huge amounts of very good research out there that is ambivalent towards any benefit of cycle helmet wearing.

Seatbelts is entry different, research has clearly shown there is a clear benefit to wearing them (just as there is clear evidence of the harm from smoking). I don't think you can compare the two.

For those statistics to be of any use you would have to know the percentage of people that cycle. The cycle injuries are half the pedestrian ones but I bet the percentage of cycle journeys to walking ones is significantly less than half.

You aren't comparing like with like. The statistics don't say anything useful without further information.

Moomins
The leading cause of pedestrian death is in fact head injury, comprising 75% of all fatalities. ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/specialist/knowledge/vehicle/key_issues_for_vehicle_safety_design/what_are_main_crash_injury_problems.htm

pat what were the total numbers of pedestrians and cyclists - I'm guessing the accident rate for cyclists as a percentage of every child on a bike is far higher than the comparative for pedestrians.

You sound like my MIL, who has (seriously) asked me why I bother with car seats for the DC, as no one did in her day and she doesn't know any child killed in a car accident.

X post with big

Why risk a head injury? Put a helmet on them!

My Ds and Dd are both 5, at the moment they do not wear helmets for the simple reason they barely go quick enough to hurt themselves, as soon as they improve enough to go a bit faster and especially out in their own then the helmets will be going straight on.

Patpig- I thought from your earlier post you had evidence to back up what you said hence my genuine interest but you actually don't.

I'm assuming more people are killed by baked beans tins landing on their heads, or death by string related accidents than are killed on bikes/scooters. A car knocking someone crossing the road isn't really comparable with a child crashing off their bike and smacking their head. Bikes don't go as fast as cars. These kids won't be on the roads, they will be on the pavements or in the park.

I'm sure more pedestrians are injured by cyslists going through red lights or over the pavements. Or possible more cyclists getting injured by doing the same.

What's that got to do with a little kid smacking their head on the ground when they take a tumble? As I said, a nasty bash to the head often requires a trip to a+e.

Rainbowinthesky: I'm not sure what you are asking me to prove. If lives can be saved by making cyclists wear helmets, more lives can be saved by making pedestrians wear them.

My son had to go to A+E when he hit his head on the pavement playing chase.

Objectively such games are far more dangerous than cycling, but we don't insist on special equipment for playing them.

My sister worked for a brain injury rehabilitation trust for a while. More than one of the clients she worked with was there due to sustaining head injuries from falling off a bike. One was hit by a car, another fell on the pavement and hit their head on the ground. Both injuries would have been much less severe if they had been wearing helmets.

When I was 7, I went over my handlebars and into an underpass wall. Without my helmet, I would have cracked my skull at the very least.

Helmets do bring risks, but usually only when they don't fit properly, or are not done up tight enough.

Do you want to risk either of your children falling off and hitting their head?

www.brake.org.uk/facts/why-cycle-helmets-save-lives.htm

There is evidence as patpig and bojangles say, that say that helmets aren't effective....

Gut reaction, is that theft are of flute a good thing. But from what I have read in the past, it isnt that straight forward

Do you have to wear a helmet in Holland? I think I remember research from Holland...

Yabu. DH was cycling along a cycle path a month ago with DD in the trailer wearing her helmet. He was knocked off his bike by an idiot driver and smashed his leg - no head injury from the fall.

When the bike was knocked over the trailer was turned over twice and ended up upside down in the road. Luckily a car had stopped and moved the trailer. Dd had a small scratch in her nose and was otherwise unhurt.

I know the arguments for and against helmets and have no issue with adults not wearing helmets when thry've decided to take the risk. I think it is silly to make that decision for your children, particularly if they're passengers in your bike.