Springs here, time to dump the helmet

[ufkacbln]

Let's get this right - James Cracknell's survival relies as much on fold back mirror design than his helmet.

Had the mirror when it struck him not folded back, lessening the impact, the injury would have been worse... or fatal

 

[ufkacbln]

[QUOTE 1334232"]
If not then you can go and busy yourself trying to fold a piece of paper in half more then seven times after complaining to the powers that are about my posting - again.
[/quote]

Why is this so complicated - I have just done it three times, and have 24 pieces of neatly folded paper on my desk.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Let's get this right - James Cracknell's survival relies as much on fold back mirror design than his helmet.

Had the mirror when it struck him not folded back, lessening the impact, the injury would have been worse... or fatal

Serious question; what's the physics of the fold back? How much energy gets dissipated? Having seen the mess he, and his helmet, were in I was not convinced anything much had been minimised or that a fold back was involved.

 

[stevetailor125]

I'm back cycling after 24 year break and there's no way I'm not wearing my hat, I've experienced my head coming into contact with the top of a car door and the edge of its roof, I've had my head put back together and grit picked out so the helmet stays. Just my view I suppose we all ride in different conditions and how ever safe we are its the other drivers etc that may not be, the one that hit me stopped, made eye contact with me then waited till I was a few feet away before turning across my path

 

[Melonfish]

i agree with steve here, we all cycle in different conditions. personally my commute is a 5 mile stretch 70% of which are farm lanes with barely any traffic. and only one 1.5 mile stretch is high traffic volume. so generally i'm happy without the helmet.
should my route have to alter or increase and hit more high volume i would consider the helmet defo.
pete

 

[Bicycle]

I don't do the science or the fancy-Dan arguments...

I wear a helmet (mostly) because I spooked myself one wet day and have worn one almost ever since.

I used to much prefer wearing a cotton cap (TdF style) but hate the fact that superstition has taken that pleasure from me.

I also no longer ride whilst wearing my good watch, as I once smashed the glass in an accident....

I used to wear a lucky scarf when riding a motorcycle... and had a ridiculous starting sequence for my motorcycle....

All superstition and I'm beginning to resent the way I am about luck and fate....

I hope to become less superstitious soon, touch wood.

 

[fossyant]

OK another view.........

I use my bin lids as a sweat management system.

 

[vfast1]

Hi all. Just joined and saw this topic and thought i'd just add my bit! I have been cycling to work now since the end of Jan and its a 6mile ride. Just recently joined our cycle to work scheme so i'm now the proud owner (well my company is!) of a £600 hybrid. Anyway with regards to wearing a helmet after what happened to me earlier this week i'll be wearing one whenever i get on my bike no matter what sort of terrain or however long the journey. I was cycling from work along a quiet country lane (same route home every day) and hadn't been on the bike for more than 5mins. Surrounded by farmland (i live in N.Wales) along the hedge route there is some temporary metal fencing as there is work being done underground in the area to do with the offshore windfarms that we have. Well basically as i was about to approach said fencing the wind picked up and the fencing blew over straight into me knockng me off my new £600 bike and i hit the ground hard. I mean the timing could not have been better! Its almost as if someone saw me coming and pushed the fence into my path. Anyway luckily for me i hit the grass banking and not the tarmac otherwise im sure i would have been knocked out. After just lying on the ground for a few seconds i checked myself over (actually i was more worried about my new bike!) and i had a few cuts and scrapes and the bridge of my nose was cut with blood dripping down it due to my glasses digging in. I took my helmet off and i had a friction burn on my forehead where my helmet had rubbed against the skin and basically that was it but then looking closely at the helmet it was dented where the metal pole of the fence had struck. God knows what state i would have been in if that pole had struck me if i wasnt wearing a helmet.

So basically i can understand some people saying about how they're careful cyclists and that they've been riding for years without crashing and that the route they ride are country lanes with hardly any traffic so dont see the need to wear a helmet etc etc but at the end of the day how can you control things that you have no control over? Its not you that you need to worry about its the idiot drivers that are out there and the freak events like a fence falling into your path that you cant control. Accidents do happen people whether you're in control or not!


Safe riding all.

MAT

 

[Downward]

I have for the short journey via the Cycle Route (No traffic) but on the Road I'll put the helmet on.

 

[sadjack]

Hi all. Just joined and saw this topic and thought i'd just add my bit! I have been cycling to work now since the end of Jan and its a 6mile ride. Just recently joined our cycle to work scheme so i'm now the proud owner (well my company is!) of a £600 hybrid. Anyway with regards to wearing a helmet after what happened to me earlier this week i'll be wearing one whenever i get on my bike no matter what sort of terrain or however long the journey. I was cycling from work along a quiet country lane (same route home every day) and hadn't been on the bike for more than 5mins. Surrounded by farmland (i live in N.Wales) along the hedge route there is some temporary metal fencing as there is work being done underground in the area to do with the offshore windfarms that we have. Well basically as i was about to approach said fencing the wind picked up and the fencing blew over straight into me knockng me off my new £600 bike and i hit the ground hard. I mean the timing could not have been better! Its almost as if someone saw me coming and pushed the fence into my path. Anyway luckily for me i hit the grass banking and not the tarmac otherwise im sure i would have been knocked out. After just lying on the ground for a few seconds i checked myself over (actually i was more worried about my new bike!) and i had a few cuts and scrapes and the bridge of my nose was cut with blood dripping down it due to my glasses digging in. I took my helmet off and i had a friction burn on my forehead where my helmet had rubbed against the skin and basically that was it but then looking closely at the helmet it was dented where the metal pole of the fence had struck. God knows what state i would have been in if that pole had struck me if i wasnt wearing a helmet.

So basically i can understand some people saying about how they're careful cyclists and that they've been riding for years without crashing and that the route they ride are country lanes with hardly any traffic so dont see the need to wear a helmet etc etc but at the end of the day how can you control things that you have no control over? Its not you that you need to worry about its the idiot drivers that are out there and the freak events like a fence falling into your path that you cant control. Accidents do happen people whether you're in control or not!


Safe riding all.

MAT

If you had been walking past would you have been wearing a helmet? This could easily happened to someone walking could it not? What you describe does not seem just a cycling issue.

Its all about perceived risks and you make your own mind up whether to wear a helmet or not.

 

[ufkacbln]

Maesycymmer walker, 64, injured in ravine plunge
A WALKER suffered a head injury after plunging down a ravine in the Valleys, emergency crews said yesterday.

The 64-year-old man from Maesycwmmer, Mid Glamorgan, fell more than 8m (26ft) in the accident on a path on the Rhigos mountain on Sunday, which happened in front of his horrified wife.

He was located by the Central Beacons Mountain Rescue Team. The rescue operation involved South Wales Fire and Rescue, Bro Taf NHS Ambulance Service and the Air Ambulance.

The man was found on a path near the old watchman’s hut on the A4061 Rhigos Mountain Road. He was immobilised as a spinal patient before being transferred to Cardiff’s University Hospital of Wales.

The man, who has not been named, had been walking with friends and his wife as part of a ramblers’ group when the accident happened at the end of their walk.

Members of the party gave first aid while emergency services were called, before the Air Ambulance took him to hospital.

source: walesonline.co.uk

Mountain Rescue Committee for Scotland report on Scottish Mountain Rescues from 1964 to 1993 showed that the majority of walkers who suffered fatal head injuries were nor wearing helmets!

So basically i can understand some people saying about how they're careful walkers and that they've been walking for years without falling and that the route they walk are country lanes with hardly any danger so don't see the need to wear a helmet etc etc but at the end of the day how can you control things that you have no control over? Its not you that you need to worry about its the other walkers that are out there and the freak events like a fence falling into your path that you cant control. Accidents do happen people whether you're in control or not!

How can walkers possibly not wear helmets?

 

[Red Light]

God knows what state i would have been in if that pole had struck me if i wasnt wearing a helmet.

Almost certainly fine. There are about three times as many people riding around without helmets as with with presumably the same sorts of accidents happening to them as helmeted cyclists. Yet there are not vast numbers of deaths and serious injuries amongst them which indicates most of the accidents where cyclist thought their helmet saved them it didn't.

But you make an excellent case for wearing a helmet whenever you are out and about be it on a bicycle or on foot. There seems to be nothing other than coincidence about you being on the bike at the time. You could equally well have been on foot and had the pole hit your head. But if you feel you are at serious risk of what was obviously a rare freak accident, then its your decision how you protect yourself from it happening again.

 

[Red Light]

I have for the short journey via the Cycle Route (No traffic) but on the Road I'll put the helmet on.

Which is a curious logic given that helmets are designed to protect against the sorts of fall you might have on a no-traffic cycle route but absolutely not designed to cope with being hit by motor vehicles which is way beyond their designed capability.

 

[stowie]

Which is a curious logic given that helmets are designed to protect against the sorts of fall you might have on a no-traffic cycle route but absolutely not designed to cope with being hit by motor vehicles which is way beyond their designed capability.

Logic rarely has any look-in when us humans are assessing risk. I will not bother with a helmet when cycling locally (shopping etc.) but will use one if going on a longer journey. I know there is very little logic with this approach, but do it all the same!

 

[Downward]

Which is a curious logic given that helmets are designed to protect against the sorts of fall you might have on a no-traffic cycle route but absolutely not designed to cope with being hit by motor vehicles which is way beyond their designed capability.

Cycle path with grass verges either side v road with tarmac either side. If i do come of it'll be going about 10mph and on the folder it's a lot easier to dismount if any problems.

If I am clipped in on the Roadie or Hybrid on roads with traffic going past I don't have as much control.