a cardboard helmet is safer than existing helmets.

[Red Light]

Usain bolt can run at 23mph but he will never be asked to wear a helmet during the Olympics. IMHO its the fact that we have to mix with bigger vehicles that puts us under pressure to wear a helmet.

And yet anything involving a bigger vehicle is likely to involve impacts which are many times bigger than those the helmet is designed to cope with. Even a 20mph collision is two and half times the maximum a helmet is designed for.

 

[Red Light]

And this sums it. The two sides of the helmet debate are so heavily entrenched, neither is for shifting. You are perfectly entitled to your opinion, and your opinion is worth no less, nor no more than that of anyone else. I assume (apologies if this is not the case) that you don't wear a helmet for your own reasons. I'm not in favour of compulsion so this is entirely your choice.

It's something i've never really had an opinion on one way or t'other before my accident last week. Cycling is very safe as you say. In over 20 years of cycling this was the first major accident i've had. I've probably fallen or tripped over as a pedestrian more times in that period and hit the ground quite hard when tackled at football and as you say, no-one would think of wearing a helmet for these activities. But i've never travelled at 35mph as a pedestrian or footballer before, nor been cartwheeled into the road several times before coming to a standstill. Yes, i know my helmet would not have been tested under these conditions, but i am adamant my injuries would have been much more serious were it not for my helmet. I think it would be pretty difficult to dispute that, so in my example, yes it might not be perfect and the design many focus on fashion as much as safety, but i am of the opinion that helmets offer "some" protection which in some cases may help to reduce injuries. I'm also prepared to accept that in some cases they may not.

Its pretty easy to disprove the "helmet saved my life" anecdotes. There are about twice as many cyclists who don't wear helmets as do. Which means there are twice as many cyclists out there having your sort of accident without a helmet as with. If you were correct there would as a result be a large number of cyclists out there who had suffered serious head injuries because they weren't wearing a helmet when they had an accident. If you go through the total numbers of serious head injuries you can estimate quite easily an upper limit no of more than a few tens of accidents a year in the whole cycling population where the helmet might have made a difference. Now its possible that you were one of those very rare (~1 in 10's of millions) cases but somehow I doubt it.

 

[benb]

And this sums it. The two sides of the helmet debate are so heavily entrenched, neither is for shifting. You are perfectly entitled to your opinion, and your opinion is worth no less, nor no more than that of anyone else.

Well, I used to wear a helmet, and then having looked at the evidence, decided not to. So not everyone is entrenched.

Yes, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But people are not entitled to their own facts. And the fact is, cycle helmets do not significantly reduce the chances of a serious head injury. The evidence is clear.

I am quite happy for people to decide to wear one, but I want it to be an informed choice. Claims are routinely made for helmets that vastly overstate their protective effect.

 

[ufkacbln]

And this sums it. The two sides of the helmet debate are so heavily entrenched, neither is for shifting. You are perfectly entitled to your opinion, and your opinion is worth no less, nor no more than that of anyone else. I assume (apologies if this is not the case) that you don't wear a helmet for your own reasons. I'm not in favour of compulsion so this is entirely your choice.
.

Not at all,

I am quite happy to argue either way, I can argue that helmets have limitations, which at least one poster has interpreted as "you hate me because I wear a helmet" and put me in the anti helmet group.

I am also quite happy to produce an evidence base that says helmets need to be better designed and full face. I am also heavily in favour of the Thudguard, any parent arguing their child needs to wear a helmet really should be making them wear these.

The real issue is informed choice

 

[ufkacbln]

Why should we? Cycling is very safe and the risk of a head injury lower than many other daily activities for which no-one would think of wearing a helmet.

Read the whole post...........

 

[Red Light]

Perhaps you could do the work on this one for us then, seeing as it is your concern.

Bwahahahahaha. My pet stalker doesn't do evidence, just opposition!

 

[ACW]

To me the 3 activities are entirely different and have different risks, it is not the same to compare them, pedestrians get injured when they mix with other types of transport, cyclist get injured when they mix with cars, in an ideal world we wouldn’t have to mix and the rate of injury would drop. no one would suggest pedestrians put on a helmet to cross the road.

 

[Boris Bajic]

To me the 3 activities are entirely different and have different risks, it is not the same to compare them, pedestrians get injured when they mix with other types of transport, cyclist get injured when they mix with cars, in an ideal world we wouldn’t have to mix and the rate of injury would drop. no one would suggest pedestrians put on a helmet to cross the road.

I find this piece by ACW convincing, up to a point.

However, there is no nightmare of magnolia tedium I find more terrible than an ideal world. Mine or anyone else's.

I spend most of my cycling life in the sticks, but if denied the joy of mixing it with black cabs and buses on Bayswater Road and Park Lane, I think I'd give up...

Churchill is quoted as saying that nothing is as exhilarating as to be shot at without result. I disagree with him on that. Nonetheless, I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds the proximity of motor traffic in the right circumstances an indispensible thrill.

 

[ufkacbln]

To me the 3 activities are entirely different and have different risks, it is not the same to compare them, pedestrians get injured when they mix with other types of transport, cyclist get injured when they mix with cars, in an ideal world we wouldn’t have to mix and the rate of injury would drop. no one would suggest pedestrians put on a helmet to cross the road.

Not according to the evidence!

Thornhill showed that the biggest single factors were alcohol 60%' simple falls 40%, and assault 30%