cycle helmets

[Orangejuicemarathoner]

I can't bear to see my nephew set off for school by bike in busy traffic, and poor visibility without a cycle helmet. I can't understand his parents allowing this. I know it's none of my business and there is nothing I can do, but I really wish this wasn't allowed

@BakingOfTheFoodCats

How Old is he? Most teens would be too embarrassed to wear one

More embarrassing to have your brain splatted on the road though isn't it.

@Psychonabike *The "whiplash" forces you describe (you mean the effects of inertia really) that cause brain injury have been taking into account in new bike helmets that offer MIPS, or have crumple zones/linings which slow the skull more gradually.

You are making a really out dated argument here*

Outdated argument for what? My argument was serious head injuries at speed in vehicles (mostly whiplash) are different to serious head injuries on bicycle (impact and some whiplash), so you can’t compare the statistics and argue that more head injuries occur in vehicles yet helmets aren’t used when travelling in a car.

Which is the point a pp was trying to make.

It is good news that helmet technology has improved to cater for whiplash injuries, but I wasn’t arguing against cycle helmets . Still doubt helmets would protect against the type of head injury you get in vehicle accidents but happy to be proved wrong.

And yes, i do know that I mean the forces of inertia “really”

Ladyg, but the chances of that happening are fairly low to be honest

Most people don't wear helmets correctly and they don't work at impacts of over about 12mph. They are worn to make drivers feel better, not to make the cyclists safer.

This is misleading rubbish that has been repeatedly debunked by scientific studies. Here are a few...

The effectiveness of helmets in bicycle collisions with motor vehicles: a case-control study. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23377086/
“There were 6745 cyclist collisions with motor vehicles where helmet use was known. Helmet use was associated with reduced risk of head injury in bicycle collisions with motor vehicles of up to 74%, and the more severe the injury considered, the greater the reduction. This was also found to be true for particular head injuries such as skull fractures, intracranial injury and open head wounds. Around one half of children and adolescents less than 19 years were not wearing a helmet, an issue that needs to be addressed in light of the demonstrated effectiveness of helmets. Non-helmeted cyclists were more likely to display risky riding behaviour, however, were less likely to cycle in risky areas; the net result of which was that they were more likely to be involved in more severe crashes.”

Bicycle helmets are highly effective at preventing head injury during head impact: head-form accelerations and injury criteria for helmeted and unhelmeted impacts. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24686160/
“In this research, our objective was to perform biomechanical testing of paired helmeted and unhelmeted head impacts using a validated anthropomorphic test headform and a range of drop heights between 0.5m and 3.0m, while measuring headform acceleration and Head Injury Criterion (HIC). In the 2m (6.3m/s) drops, the middle of our drop height range, the helmet reduced peak accelerations from 824g (unhelmeted) to 181g (helmeted) and HIC was reduced from 9667 (unhelmeted) to 1250 (helmeted). At realistic impact speeds of 5.4m/s (1.5m drop) and 6.3m/s (2.0m drop), bicycle helmets changed the probability of severe brain injury from extremely likely (99.9% risk at both 5.4 and 6.3m/s) to unlikely (9.3% and 30.6% risk at 1.5m and 2.0m drops respectively). These biomechanical results for acceleration and HIC, and the corresponding results for reduced risk of severe brain injury show that contemporary bicycle helmets are highly effective at reducing head injury metrics and the risk for severe brain injury in head impacts characteristic of bicycle crashes.”

Bicycle injuries and helmet use: a systematic review and meta-analysis
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27450862/
“Results: A total of 43 studies met inclusion criteria and 40 studies were included in the meta-analysis with data from over 64 000 injured cyclists. For cyclists involved in a crash or fall, helmet use was associated with odds reductions for head (OR = 0.49, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.42-0.57), serious head (OR = 0.31, 95% CI: 0.25-0.37), face (OR = 0.67, 95% CI: 0.56-0.81) and fatal head injury (OR = 0.35, 95% CI: 0.14-0.88). No clear evidence of an association between helmet use and neck injury was found (OR = 0.96, 95% CI: 0.74-1.25). There was no evidence of time trends or publication bias.

Conclusions: Bicycle helmet use was associated with reduced odds of head injury, serious head injury, facial injury and fatal head injury. The reduction was greater for serious or fatal head injury. Neck injury was rare and not associated with helmet use. These results support the use of strategies to increase the uptake of bicycle helmets as part of a comprehensive cycling safety plan”

Bicycle helmets - To wear or not to wear? A meta-analyses of the effects of bicycle helmets on injuries. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29677686/
“A meta-analysis has been conducted of the effects of bicycle helmets on serious head injury and other injuries among crash involved cyclists. 179 effect estimates from 55 studies from 1989-2017 are included in the meta-analysis. The use of bicycle helmets was found to reduce head injury by 48%, serious head injury by 60%, traumatic brain injury by 53%, face injury by 23%, and the total number of killed or seriously injured cyclists by 34%. Bicycle helmets were not found to have any statistically significant effect on cervical spine injury. There is no indication that the results from bicycle helmet studies are affected by a lack of control for confounding variables, time trend bias or publication bias. The results do not indicate that bicycle helmet effects are different between adult cyclists and children.”

Of course bicycle helmets are effective at preventing head injury during head impact, , but how many bike accidents involve head impact, and how many cyclists have bike accidents, surely its up to the rider to make their own risk assessment

Buy him a cool scooter helmet.. skater boy Style?

www.skatehut.co.uk/protection/helmets/skatehut-pro-helmet-matt-black-red.htm

Most helmets are complete rubbish and there is evidence that they can cause additional neck trauma.

Nope, been studied no evidence, see my post above.

@Macncheeseballs

Of course bicycle helmets are effective at preventing head injury during head impact, , but how many bike accidents involve head impact, and how many cyclists have bike accidents, surely its up to the rider to make their own risk assessment

U.K. numbers.

“In 2019, 16,884 cyclists were injured in reported road accidents, including 4,433 who were killed or seriously injured.”

“Some of the shortcomings in STATS 19 data, such as serious injuries caused by non-collision accidents, are overcome using hospital admission statistics. These statistics show that cyclists suffered a greater number of serious injuries than other road users in 2016/2017, accounting for 16,780 hospital admissions. Second in number were car occupants”

“Per billion vehicle miles, the casualty rate of pedal cyclists that are killed or seriously injured is 1,284, compared to a rate of 31 for car drivers”

“Head injuries, ranging from fatal skull fractures and brain damage to minor concussion and cuts, are very common injuries to cyclists. Hospital data shows that over 40% of cyclists, and 45% of child cyclists, suffer head injuries. A study of 116 fatal cyclist accidents in London and rural areas found over 70% of the cyclist fatalities in London had moderate or serious head injuries in London, and over 80% of those killed in collisions on rural roads.”

www.rospa.com/media/documents/road-safety/cycling-accidents-factsheet.pdf

@Nomoreusernames1244

Apologies, I misread your post.

thank you @PlanDeRaccordement

I am going to show your post to my sister and BIL

By nature of injury, hospital admissions stats will only be about the severe injuries that need treatment.

The time I bruised my rib or got road rash -- won't be counted. A lot of minor bike crashes won't be there.

Active travel plummets when helmets are made compulsory. i don't want helmets compulsory.

U.K. numbers In 2019, 16,884 cyclists were injured in reported road accidents, including 4,433 who were killed or seriously injured.

Netherlands numbers: 2020 saw the highest number of cycling casualties in the last 25 years with 229 deaths reported.

population UK = 67 million
population NL = 17 million

Total annual cycling km in NL is probably literally >> 10x higher than UK, and that's with a population that is 30% of UK. But their cycling mortality/accident rate is hugely smaller. Now why is that? It sure isn't because of cycle helmet use which is very low in NL. Let me think, what could it be....

@lljkk

Well let’s compare apples to apples. Same year. Number of deaths. Per capita.

NL 2020 cyclist fatalities were 229 (take your word for it)

U.K. 2020 cyclist fatalities were 140 (40% higher than 5yr avg. 100)

Per capita of 1m cyclist mortality rate
NL 13.47

U.K. 2.09

So, no UKs cycling mortality rate is actually 6.4x lower than the NL’s cycling mortality rate. As you say, helmet wearing is “very low” in NLs. Perhaps it is a factor for their much higher cycle deaths per capita?

U.K. numbers from
www.statista.com/statistics/866642/road-fatalities-cyclists-great-britain/

ooh, glad you found UK deaths.
I gave a link for NL deaths already.

Netherlanders cycled 15 bln km . 3x as much as UK populace.

Cycling Uk says 3.45 billion miles cycled in Uk in 2019, so 5.55 bln km.

I think that means divide that 6.4x estimate by 3 to compare relative risk per km cycled -- still 2.13x as much in NL, tbf.

People on mopeds in NL don't wear helmets. Cycling is the least of their risk tolerance...

Honestly what chance do you have convincing a child when there are grown women on here who don’t think wearing a helmet is safer Crazy.

Active travel plummets when helmets are made compulsory.

Well, not really. Australian activists claimed the compulsory helmet laws would do this but years later, studied and zero evidence....authors of this paper also looked at US and Canada helmet law impact too...no evidence there either.
:
From
The impact of bicycle helmet legislation on cycling fatalities in Australia . International Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 48, Issue 4, August 2019, Pages 1197–1203, doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyz003

“Conclusions
In the absence of robust evidence showing a decline in cycling exposure following helmet legislation or other confounding factors, the reduction in Australian bicycle-related fatality appears to be primarily due to increased helmet use and not other factors.”

“Some authors argue that bicycle helmet legislation deters cycling and that reductions in cycling head injury are due to fewer cyclists and not to the effectiveness of helmets to mitigate head injury. A US study estimated a slight reduction of 3–5% in children cycling, however, several international studies have found that helmet legislation is not a major barrier to cycling uptake, and another found mixed results of small magnitude for US children. Furthermore, to overcome the lack of robust exposure data, previous studies have compared head injuries with other cyclist injuries, e.g. arm and leg injuries.8–11,27 Trends in other injuries from these studies are inconsistent with reductions in cycling.” (Studies references are listed below)

Carpenter CS, Stehr M. Intended and unintended consequences of youth bicycle helmet laws. J Law Econ 2011;54:305–24.

Macpherson A, Parkin P, To T. Mandatory helmet legislation and children’s exposure to cycling. Inj Prev 2001;7:228–30.

Dennis J, Potter B, Ramsay T, Zarychanksi R. The effects of provincial bicycle helmet legislation on helmet use and bicycle ridership in Canada. Inj Prev 2010;16:219–24.

Olivier J, Boufous S, Grzebieta RH. No strong evidence bicycle helmet legislation deters cycling. Med J Aust 2016;205:54–55.

Carpenter CS, Warman C. Do ‘all-age’ bicycle helmets work? Evidence from Canada. NBER Working paper 24644. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2018.

Radun I, Olivier J. Bicycle helmet law does not deter cyclists in Finland. Transp Res F 2018;58:1087–90.

Huybers S, Fenerty L, Kureshi Net al. . Long-term effects of education and legislation enforcement on all-age bicycle helmet use: a longitudinal study. J Community Health 2017;42:83–89.

Kraemer JD. Helmet laws, helmet use, and bicycle ridership. J Adolesc Health 2016;59:338–44.

@lljkk

ooh, glad you found UK deaths. I gave a link for NL deaths already.

Netherlanders cycled 15 bln km . 3x as much as UK populace.

Cycling Uk says 3.45 billion miles cycled in Uk in 2019, so 5.55 bln km.

I think that means divide that 6.4x estimate by 3 to compare relative risk per km cycled -- still 2.13x as much in NL, tbf.

People on mopeds in NL don't wear helmets. Cycling is the least of their risk tolerance...

Thanks, so if reading it right, a NL cyclist is twice as likely (2.13x) as a U.K. cyclist to be killed when calculated on a per/km cycled basis.

tour de France riders all wear helmets for a reason, and they go far faster!

Formula one drivers wear helmets too. So by your logic all car occupants should also wear them.

@Moonface123

Whenever l have come off my bike l have never hit my head, always been my middle region.I have gone over the handlebars before, and come off many times, when roads are slippery etc, been cycling since a young girl.

I’ve come off my bike, hit my head and was knocked out. Was wearing a helmet and was ok. My best friend has also been knocked out after a cycling accident and again was wearing a helmet and apart from a broken shoulder was ok. Could have been a different story without the helmets.

I always wear one now but as a kid in the 80s nobody wore one!

@lljkk
I found the 2020 bn miles for pedal cycles in 2020. It was 5 bvm, so 8 bn km!!! (This is fun)
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/981967/road-traffic-estimates-in-great-britain-2020.pdf

So that changes things a bit. NLs did almost 2x as many km as U.K. so we divide the 6.4 by 2 instead of 3 and NL cyclist 3x more likely to die than U.K. cyclist.

www.thechildrenstrust.org.uk/brain-injury-information/real-stories/rta-ryan

So much hysteria about cycle helmets. The point here is that firstly it's extremely unlikely that your nephew riding to school is going to have a cycling accident, secondly if he does he probably won't bang his head. Helmets are no use against cars. If he was mountain biking, doing any form of racing or stunt riding then that is different, a helmet would be advisable because he would be far more likely to fall off and if he did the type of crash would be more likely to be something a cycle helmet would be useful for.

In addition if enforced helmet wearing made him give up cycling and take a lift or bus instead, that would be detrimental to his health.

If this indignation could be put to reducing traffic around schools, we would all be fat better off.

As to whoever mentioned seatbelts.. well they are a mixed blessing, as they do make it safer for car occupants, but unfortunately less safe for pedestrians and cyclists. I think a spike in the centre of the steering wheel would actually do more for all round road safety. There are always unintended consequences. Cars have led to a vast reduction in air quality, reduced independence for children and teenagers, obesity, and general quality of life. Fixating in the negligible benefits of cycle helmets just seems daft to me.

Cycle helmets can also cause injuries and cyclists with them on tend to be given less room/leeway by drivers who see them as "protected".

It's a personal choice & long may it remain say so....

You're fighting a losing battle trying to get a teenager to wear a cycle helmet.

@SnackSizeRaisin

Yabu. Cycle helmets are no use against being hit by a car. They are a thin bit of polystyrene tested with a 12 kg weight, cars weigh hundreds of kilos. Why do people think cycle helmets are some kind of magic forcefield to stop all accidents Anyway cycling is an inherently safe activity. He's much better off cycling than sitting in a car , both mentally and physically.

No, but they are a massive help when nudged over by a car or just coming off for whatever reason. They also save faces from massive injuries. Cycle helmets are very useful in minimalising cycling injuries.

I’ve come off my bike, hit my head and was knocked out. Was wearing a helmet and was ok. My best friend has also been knocked out after a cycling accident and again was wearing a helmet and apart from a broken shoulder was ok. Could have been a different story without the helmets.

Other people have suffered worse injuries because of helmets though, where it's altered the angle their head hits at and damages the neck, or the lip or strap catches and jerks the head back/left/right.

It's honestly the luck of the draw....