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.

[FrangipaniBlue]

there are clear statistics showing that the biggest cause of head injuries are car accidents

Do please show us where these statistics are?

According to the UKABIF "Road Traffic Accidents account for 50% of all traumatic brain injuries. This includes^ cars, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians hit by vehicles^"

Same information is on .gov website and Headway, ie yes the biggest cause of traumatic head injury is a RTA, see above for what constitutes an RTA.

Clearly not just cars.

[Uyulala]

And yes, before anyone comes along to point it out, I have made mistakes in the above post! Shoot me now for not previewing . As if I'm writing a formal letter or doing my Uni coursework.

[0ccamsRazor]

books Hollands infrastructure for cyclists

[cloudyweewee]

My DH is a cycling instructor and only wears a cycling helmet when he's teaching children. When he's teaching adults or riding for pleasure, he never wears one as they offer no protection above a certain speed.

[itstimeforanamechange]

I hired a bike recently in a place with off-road cycle paths so I didn't wear a helmet.

I do wear one at home but I know it would be completely useless if I came off my bike. I have to wear one for events/organised rides (insurance reasons).

The only time I have hit my head was a few years ago when I walked out of my mum's house, promptly slipped on some ice, fell over and hit my head on her doorstep. Fortunately I have a very hard head and was fine beyond some mild concussion. I also fell over earlier in icy conditions this year but only hit my leg that time. It is more dangerous walking along an icy road in winter than it is cycling.

Drivers like you to wear one because they think it absolves them from any responsibility towards you if you don't wear one. But if a lorry squashes me a helmet won't help. The best thing cyclists can do to stay alive is not ride up the inside of lorries/buses. When I am walking around in London they terrify me.

I think helmets for cyclists are a red herring and what we really need is well maintained cycle paths.

[itstimeforanamechange]

The most protection a helmet will give you is from the judgmental stares from others

This!!!

[SpicyTomatos]

Think of a bike helmet like gardening gloves. Useful protection against cuts and scrapes, but not so useful against an axe or chainsaw.

[paganmolloy]

It's odd how folk stress about bike helmets or ski helmets but not helmets for anything else, like what some folk upthread have pointed out (more accidents in cars, falling as a pedestrian). There are plenty injuries from using a trampoline wrongly or kids just playing in the garden, why not wear a helmet for everything?
It's the perception of danger that has increased, not the danger itself. I grew up in the 70s, no helmets to be seen anywhere on the road or on the slopes. There are more accidents resulting in death caused by poor driving so lets get worked up about that rather than a person not wearing a helmet on a bike because that in itself does not cause accidents.

Apart from the few assholes that do not ride by the highway code, the reason roads are perceived to be a danger is because of other road users. If all motorised vehicles were removed then the roads would be perfectly fine but the onus is always on the person cycling. We need only pass our driving test once then never look at the Highway Code again. And rules 1-35 apply to pedestrians but who has ever looked at the Highway Code as a pedestrian - there is no legal requirement. It's not until you get to rule 89 that drivers are mentioned.
Folk can pass a test in a city centre but have no idea how to drive on country roads, similarly someone could pass their test in Orkney and then go drive down to London. Would a pilot of a passenger plane be allowed onto it without first being in a simulator - no! Our driving standards need tightening up and if I were Queen that would mean a compulsory test every five years.

[Gottokondo]

@paganmolly

I have been saying that for years! I hope more people will read your post. I just can't believe that you can pass your test at 18, not drive for 50 years and then get in a car and go! I met someone who actually did that and it was really dangerous. Also, things change. My dad has been driving for 50+ years but he really can't keep up with how traffic and traffic regulations have changed. It is really irresponsible.

[RedPony1]

I'm at this post!!

I'm a true helmet advocate, for both cyclists and horse riders. I can't believe the 'it won't happen to me, wouldn't save me' attitudes.

I have seen first hand helmets save lives of horse riders, including myself, when i was dropped on my head against a wall after being flung through the air. I cam away with zero head injuries (i did break my spine in 4 places though) My hat was absolutely wrecked, that would have been at the very least a fractured skull if i was hatless.

Helmets should be a legal requirement, without question. There is no valid argument against it that i would ever accept.

Helmets however, should be of a high regulated standard (same as horse riders helmets) and substandard helmets taken off of the market. They should also be professionally fitted, at least for children (some of the fittings of helmets on children i have seen have been shocking!)

[Uyulala]

My 2 year old doesn't wear a helmet on her scooter because she doesn't ride it on her own. I'm always there to steady her or push the scooter.

I wore a helmet as a kid, but once I got to secondary school years I refused to wear one as nobody else I rode a bike with did. And it ruined my hair (problems of a teen). Tbh that's the one reason I would never ride a bike now or a motorbike - I don't want to wear a helmet, so I shan't bother.

[Hillarious]

A friend is a forensic scientist who does work for insurance companies. He claims that questions are asked about whether or not a cyclist involved in an accident was wearing a helmet, and that the response can have an impact on any insurance claim made.

[Etymology23]

I’m keen to see the “12mph” scientific literature if anyone has a link to the studies?

I’m in the camp of knowing people who have had a near miss and therefore wearing a helmet. Occasionally I just can’t bear the prospect of the heat etc, but I view that as making a more dangerous decision at that time.

[Lethaldrizzle]

The more people cycle the better. You only have to look at Australia where helmets were made compulsory to see how it decimated the cycling population

[VickieCherry]

I cycle, I wear a helmet. It seems a bit daft not to - no, it probably won't help if you get hit by a lorry, but it almost certainly will if you fall off your bike at low speed and hit your head on the kerb. Either is possible.

I very occasionally leave the helmet off if I'm cycling through a park, as the wind does feel lovely in your hair and I feel safer away from traffic. I am however well aware that I'm being a bit stupid.

I think the best thing to help cyclists would be for more people to cycle. It's only when you're riding a bike regularly that you experience and understand the spectacularly stupid and dangerous things drivers do.

[itstimeforanamechange]

Why do you think you are being a bit stupid when you let the wind go through your hair? If you walked through the park you could slip on a leaf or some dog poo and fall on your head. The risk is no less than when you are cycling, in fact it is probably greater as you (probably) walk a lot more than you cycle.

As the PP said a few posts above, 99% of people don't wear a helmet correctly anyway. They won't help if they are not correctly fitted.

He claims that questions are asked about whether or not a cyclist involved in an accident was wearing a helmet, and that the response can have an impact on any insurance claim made

his claim is correct - insurance companies do try to wriggle out of paying for claims if a cyclist wasn't wearing a helmet. In fact the police try to wriggle out of investigating accidents when the cyclist wasn't wearing a helmet.

Lots of people say they were saved by a helmet. Some will be right especially mountain bikers who eg connected their head with a tree or racing cyclists who come off at speed. But a lot of people forget that a helmet has more surface area than your head, so if you fall off, it is more likely that your helmet will get a whack when your head would not have done.

[BlueBug45]

@Etymology23 buy a reasonably priced adult helmet - it will tell you exactly what conditions it provides protection up to. In addition they all have to comply to safe standards - they are different in Europe, US and Australia - and you can look up exactly what they mean.

Incidentally in my area due to bike training in schools every summer you see 10-11 year olds on the roads who cycle much better than their accompanying parent. So you will see kids refusing to go down the sides of vehicles at junctions and placing themselves in primary position, while their helmet wearing parent places themselves in positions where it is hard for drivers to see them.

[dimots]

Horse riding helmets are different. They are much more robust than cycle helmets - more like motorbike helmets.

Cycle helmets could not be made to the same standard , due to the risk of heat exhaustion.

[dimots]

And yes, heat exhaustion can kill

[whatwouldbe]

As for those who are so pro helmet, can you please provide some link to research which proves that wearing a helmet does save lifes rather than providing anecdotes?

[Grandmaswagsbag]

Where would you find ‘evidence’ that helmets had saved lives or bad injuries? You either die or you don’t, I’m sure it’s not going to be recorded any where ‘would be dead if it wasn’t for helmet’. It’s all going to be anecdotal, but having seen a helmet smashed into pieces and thinking ‘that would have been my skull’ is pretty sobering. I’ve seen this happen several times amongst friends and family. Most recently to my husband who was told by his consultant that he probably wouldn’t be here if he hadn’t been wearing it-does that count as enough evidence for me that it’s a good idea.

[ferrier]

I don't wear a helmet. My dc does. He only does because school insist he does. If I had my way he'd park his bike outside school and be done with the helmet. But because he wants to be with his friends in the cycle shed I allow my principles to be overridden.
I do enjoy cycling into the school helmetless though! Sadly i havent been asked about it yet by any member of staff.

[Zampa]

I won't bore you all with references but if people are genuinely interested in looking at them, browse //www.cyclehelmets.org

Trends in fatal and serious injuries across whole cycling populations shows no reliable evidence that wearing a helmet reduces the risk of life threatening injury.

Also, car drivers give cyclists with helmets less room when passing them than when passing helmet less cyclists. It could be more dangerous to wear a helmet!

[Zampa]

@Etymology23 I think people are referencing the 12mph speed as this is the standard to which helmets are tested (EN 1078).

[paganmolloy]

The media don't help by portraying any cyclists without helmets as somehow deserve what they get .... 'the cyclist, who wasn't wearing a helmet, sustained life threatening injuries when flattened by a lorry'

And my other bug bear - can we please all stop referring to cyclists, drivers etc. then grouping them (bad behaviour and all) according to the vehicle they are using. Bikes, cars and lorries are inanimate objects BUT THEY ARE OPERATED BY HUMAN BEINGS, and some of those human beings are assholes. Let's think of each other as human beings, just using a different mode of transport then perhaps the roads will be a bit more harmonious rather than the fecking gladiator pit they have become.