Why do people ask about helmets when you scrape your knee ?

[Blackandblue]

I have on occasion asked whether the enquirer wears one when driving his/her car. "Don't be daft" they usually say. "Tell that to Michael Schumacher", I reply. Probably need to update the Grand Prix driver reference now, though.

 

[ChrisKH]

I'm told cycle helmet vent tanning is incredibly sexy so that's why I wear one.
But mostly to avoid the wrath of Mrs. KH and all the patronising little KH's who have to wear one too.

 

[Theseus]

Coming down a hill a while ago I had a partial brake failure and ran into the back of a van slow enough not to cause any damage, but fast enough for the bike to lift rear wheel off the ground to almost vertical. I stepped off the saddle and ended up standing with the front wheel between my legs. Nothing damaged apart from my ego.

Comment from a bystander: "I bet you will wear a helmet from now on"

 

[smeg]

Invariably everyone I mentioned it to asked whether I was wearing a helmet. Even people in my club (nearly all helmet wearers) who know I don't.

No amount of pointing to the fact that every bit of me had been damaged EXCEPT my head would convince them that it was utterly irrelevant.

A helmet isn't to protect your head from hitting the tarmac it's to protect it from the eggs thrown from passing cars.

 

[goo_mason]

BhoyJim was rather glad of his helmet when Magnatom toe-poked a traffic cone into his path last Sunday.

He went down hard before he even had a chance to blink, and got a really decent dent in his helmet as his head had smacked off the road.

The moral here is that we probably don't need to bother with helmets, but we do need to keep danger (in the shape of Maggers) off the road...

 

[D4VOW]

I have on occasion asked whether the enquirer wears one when driving his/her car. "Don't be daft" they usually say.

That is quite funny because I have never hit my head when falling from a bike but I have hit my head twice in car accidents. The only time you will see me wearing a helmet is when it's mandatory. The case for not wearing a helmet far outweighs the case for wearing one, unfortunately the namby pambies in H&S and all the sheeple out there along with the help of the media will eventually get their way I certainly don't begrudge anyone that chooses to wear a lid though, everybody should be allowed to make their own choice

 

[MacB]

The moral here is that we probably don't need to bother with helmets, but we do need to keep danger (in the shape of Maggers) off the road...

this maybe needs exploring in more depth, perhaps a known deviant and troublemaker cyclists register? Certainly Mags has gone too far with his 'staged' problems for the camera. When something has dominated your life so much that you manufacture an incident, at the expense of a fellow cyclist, just for the footage, then you really have a problem. He's gone a long way to the darkside, he ven looks pleased with himself in some of the PfS pictures!

 

[4F]

I'm told cycle helmet vent tanning is incredibly sexy so that's why I wear one.
But mostly to avoid the wrath of Mrs. KH and all the patronising little KH's who have to wear one too.

tut tut Chris, what are you man or a mouse ?

 

[magnatom]

this maybe needs exploring in more depth, perhaps a known deviant and troublemaker cyclists register? Certainly Mags has gone too far with his 'staged' problems for the camera. When something has dominated your life so much that you manufacture an incident, at the expense of a fellow cyclist, just for the footage, then you really have a problem. He's gone a long way to the darkside, he ven looks pleased with himself in some of the PfS pictures!

Oi! I'll have you know I didn't have my helmet camera on at PfS. However, I must admit it did look like a spectacular crash that would have been a youtube classic!

 

[MacB]

Oi! I'll have you know I didn't have my helmet camera on at PfS. However, I must admit it did look like a spectacular crash that would have been a youtube classic!

No camera........even worse.....you hurt that poor man just for a dress rehearsal!!!!!!!!!!!!...there is no hope

 

[GrasB]

2 accidents with a helmet & bad neck injuries due to helmet snagging besides that mainly road rash & 2 without a helmet with only road rash, a broken bone in my leg & bruises. Now the only time you'll see me wearing is helmet is when I'm riding proper off-road. On the same note we need to give medium sized quadrupeds road safety lessons.

Anyway you're right, a group of doctors said to me after I was hit by a car "So you'll be wearing a helmet now", I just looked at them blankly & said in a really sarcastic voice "Yeah, a lump of polystyrene on my head would have done wonders for my [broken] leg".

 

[ufkacbln]

There is a massive vested interest as it enables people to avoid the blame for accidents wherever the victim is injured.

It shifts the blame effectively from"Sorry I hit you and caused injuries" to "I may have hit you, but as you were not wearing a helmet I have no responsibility for the injuries"

That is why it is so popular.

 

[2Loose]

I watched my boss take a tumble and get quite gruesome grazes on both sets of knuckles earlier in the week (he held on to the bars even as the rear wheel went over his back) and when we got back to the office, the first 2 questions were; 'how did he graze his knuckles' and 'was he wearing his helmet' - ffs! like it would have saved his knuckles!

Did have to chuckle when I pointed out the lack of logic though!

 

[purplepolly]

Ithe first 2 questions were; 'how did he graze his knuckles' and 'was he wearing his helmet' - ffs! like it would have saved his knuckles!

is he a bit of a knucklehead then?

 

[2Loose]

is he a bit of a knucklehead then?

Chuckle - will pass that on to him, I like an equaliser!