When people don’t wear bike helmets

[Blackbinsack]

I know there un cool not the comfort-ablest thing and pain to have to carry once your bikes locked up. but why don’t more people where them I once fell off my bike and my helmet completely cracked could of
Been my head had I not worn it 26,000 people are treated in hospital for brain and head injuries every year due to not wearing a helmet.

[Ifonlyfor1day]

Yanbu. One of my NDN cycles. She wears a helmet and reflective clothing, she cycles with her DC and none of them have a helmet or any protection cycling beside her ... Madness

[Eeeeek2]

I've only just managed to get dh to buy one by stating that we can't tell our child to wear one when daddy doesn't his reason is it will pull his hair out!

My helmet(s) have certainly saved my head from a fair bit of damage, no it isn't going to stop me getting hurt completely if I get hit by a car again but it can't hurt.

[Grandmaswagsbag]

So I think you can probably divide the debate into those who have either had a near miss themselves or know someone who has and realise that helmets can save lives and serious injuries and those who haven’t/don’t.

[ivykaty44]

Frangipani big assumption there... we’ve had more than one smashed helmet in this household

[PolkaHots]

Perhaps wearing a helmet should be a personal choice, but treatment on the NHS not be free if one isn't worn and the cyclist has an accident

You've not thought that one through, have you?

[Sparklingbrook]

There's quite a long thread in here at the moment about wearing flip flops while driving.

Loads of people saying they never wear anything else to drive in and they have never had a problem, followed by others with terrifying tales of flip flops wedged under pedals.

People do risk assessment based on personal experience.

[StopWhisperingStopShouting]

Of course you are! But lack of basic grammar makes for difficult reading.

[ivykaty44]

I’m strongly in the camp that you should decide yourself whether you wear a helmet

But don’t think they will save you from an inattentive motorist

[brizzledrizzle]

because DS1 came off his bike a few years ago and filled his arm with gravel which had to be picked/cut out with tweezers and scissors at A&E with a bit of cauterisation for good measure.

I've had the same unpleasant experience. I fell over playing netball on a newly gravelled court at school and had to go to A&E and have it all picked out of my shins, it was exceedingly painful.

[Semster]

My view is that if I can spend £20 or do on a helmet that MIGHT reduce the severity of my head injury IF I fall off then why wouldn't I?

I hope you wear it at all times?

[Gemini69]

I always wear my bike helmet.. I don't care how bad my hair looks .. my helmet has saved me on at least one occasion from a bad accident.. my face would have been alot worse had I not been wearing one...

[WingsOnMyBoots]

My grandma is always 100% correct!

[Sparklingbrook]

Oh ouch brizzle. The first thing they did to DS was stick a big needle in for anaesthetic, it was awful.

He still has the scar, looks like a burn.

[Planesmistakenforstars]

I road cycle a lot, and I never wear a helmet. Most of the reasons why have already been covered. Also I find them uncomfortable, and therefore distracting, and therefore dangerous. I feel safer not wearing one.

[Iamtryingtobenicehere]

Another one with @Queenofthenights.
Why is op having issues with other adults making a choice to wear or not wear a helmet, when poor grammar and appalling spelling is equally important.

[brizzledrizzle]

The first thing they did to DS was stick a big needle in for anaesthetic, it was awful.

Times have thankfully changed, they didn't bother with anaesthetic!

[LakieLady]

Very similar arguments were made against the law requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets.

I don't think anyone can deny that motorcycle helmets have saved a lot of deaths and serious injuries, and improvements to helmet design and materials means that the arguments against have very little validity these days.

I feel sick when I think of all the times I rode pillion without a helmet now, and I was fiercely opposed to making them compulsory at the time.

If they made cycle helmets compulsory, I'd welcome it. And I genuinely believe that the increased size of the market would make investment in improving helmet effectiveness more attractive.

[whatwouldbe]

the majority of head injuries happen during car accidents. I hope you wear a helmet whilst driving too.

it is actually much more complex and simulation wearing a helmet will not help you in many situations but put you at a greater risk (it has been well evidenced that cars give less space to helmet wearing cyclists cyclists as they are perceived as less vulnerable and therefore, cyclists are more likely to be involved in an accident).

In countries where millions ride and hardly anyone wears a helmet (Netherlands), there are less serious injuries than in the UK.

We need to make cycling saver by providing the right infrastructure. enforcing a helmet on our current road conditions won't help.

[megletthesecond]

Because I cycle slowly and stick to the paths. We're lucky to have cycle path pavements and empty paths, because everyone is in their cars.
Once in a blue moon I take a route that involves a 5 mins stretch of quiet road and I wear my helmet for that.

[FrangipaniBlue]

Frangipani big assumption there... we’ve had more than one smashed helmet in this household

Im not sure which assumption you mean @ivykaty44 but that's kind of my point, posters are saying "I don't wear one because cycling is safe, statistically" as though they think it'll never happen to them, but it does happens as you're saying, so would you say it would it have been worse or the same if there had been no helmet on the heads of the helmet smashers so to speak?

I struggle to believe that a skull can withstand the same level of impact as a helmet so I'd probably say worse without one....

I know someone who came off his pushbike at around 30mph and spent time in intensive care. I've seen what his helmet looked like. He is unequivocal that the helmet saved his life, and was told so by the medical professionals he dealt with.

yes @Semster I do, I would never get on my pushbike without a helmet.

[LemonysSnicket]

WEAR.
THEYRE.
MOST COMFORTABLE.

Fucking hell

[ivykaty44]

Semster asked if you always wear your helmet?

[bettytaghetti]

dimots If you're knocked off your bike by a lorry a helmet won't save you
Try telling that to James Cracknell. He may have suffered a devastating brain injury, but there is no doubt that his helmet saved his life.

DH recently came off his bike during a cycling event and his helmet definitely protected him from more serious injury, thank God. You try coming down a hill at 30-40 mph and see if you feel comfortable not wearing a helmet.

And FWIW, I'm definitely (see, I can spell that word correctly too!) with Queenofthenights too! Why can't people realise that what they are hearing in speech is could've, not could of. That apostrophe-v-e is for the abbreviation of have. Rant Lesson over!

[LakieLady]

People are idiots, as is proven when Summer seems to mean that protective leathers for riding a motorbike are no longer necessary.

That makes me mad, too. The first time I came off a bike and hurt myself, I would have been properly fucked up if a friend hadn't insisted I borrow his leather jacket as it had got cold.

Thankfully, I just got a slight graze and a dislocated shoulder, but the jacket and the jumper I had on underneath were trashed. There would have been an awful lot of me left on the road if I hadn't been wearing that jacket.

[ferrier]

The effectiveness of helmets has not been proven. Even the NHS says that. So I'll carry on not wearing one thank you.