Why wouldn't you wear a helmet

[Brandane]

And yet your just as likely to die under the wheels of 60ton artic on a short journey at under 30miles an hour, Accidents occur irrespective of distance or speed. and can be just as fatal.

Correct again; and no helmet - motorcycle or otherwise - is going to protect you from that. The same artic could run you over when you are out walking. This discussion is now going around in never ending circles; so I am out.

 

[summerdays]

No I don't want to convience anybody, My point was actual safety is an irrelivance, its attitudes that decide on wether you wear a helmet or not,
not dubious statstics. Its all about perception not effectiveness

My perception is that a helmet is going to keep the hair out of my face but on the days I quite fancy having my hair blowing in the wind then that's ok then. I also perceive that if involved in an accident with a car/lorry there isn't very much there to protect my head.

 

[summerdays]

My point was actual safety is an irrelivance,

So you think nobody wears a helmet for safety reasons then? just fashion? Why do the ones who want the rest to wear helmets insist they would be so much safer then?

 

[Brandane]

No I've had to many close calls not to know I take my life in my hands on public roads. - I regard parachuting at night as less dangerous

Ach go on then, one more post!
If the above was the case in my experience; having cycled for about 50 years now, I would give it up. At the very least I would be looking at what I was doing wrong to make cycling so dangerous.

 

[benb]

I think cycling is dangerous, I think driving a car is dangerous, or parachuting or skiing, hill walking can kill, theres an eliment of danger in most things.

"element of danger" is not the same thing as "dangerous"
Maybe if we had said "not particularly dangerous" it might clarify things.
Cycling is overall a fairly low risk pastime.
There are plenty of activities that also have an element of danger. Do you wear a helmet when doing them? If not, why not?

I regard parachuting at night as less dangerous

The frankly, you don't understand the first thing about evidence.

 

[martint235]

I think cycling is dangerous, I think driving a car is dangerous, or parachuting or skiing, hill walking can kill, theres an eliment of danger in most things.




No only in situations were I am likely to smack my head
Would you wear a motorbike helmet if it wasn't a legal requirement?

I'm really in trouble here. I've been cycling for oh about 25 years. Commuting in London for at least 20 of those. I smacked my head really hard once on the back of a tipper truck whilst travelling at between 20 and 25mph. That hurt. I'm 99% sure it would have hurt if I'd been wearing a helmet. However it's worth point out that I didn't die. Did NOT wearing a helmet save my life? We'll never know.

Here's the rub though. I'm 6'6" and rarely get through a week without banging my head on a doorway of some kind. Before my weekly haircut, the first question is "Any scabs?". So I suppose I should wear a helmet all the time but then that would make me 3 inches taller and if I forget to duck now, god knows how many times I'd bang my head then.

 

[w00hoo_kent]

And yet your just as likely to die under the wheels of 60ton artic on a short journey at under 30miles an hour, Accidents occur irrespective of distance or speed. and can be just as fatal.
who's safety conscious? - I'm danger aware and try to avoid it - but hell I used to jump out of planes over woods at night - so who am i talk of avoiding danger.

I'm a bit confused here (actually, I'm a lot confused but lets gloss over that bit) are you talking statistics for short journey motorbike accidents here, some kind of fatalistic inevitability, or just odd anecdotes. I know if I chose to motorbike to the shops in trainers, combats and a T-shirt the only thing I had to fear was a mechanical (and I worked on keeping those very unlikely) because I was being incredibly risk averse on roads with both good vision and minimal junctions. Potentially so would @Brandan have been.

As individuals there's a lot you can do to make things safer or to change the likelihood of some injuries. I could not commute in London for instance (it would be difficult as I don't really work anywhere else, but, you know). As it is I commute (which is good in the big statistics side of things, I'm getting fitter or at least not fatter) I wear a helmet (which is good in the personal anecdote side of things, I believe I'm less likely to get scabs that way). And I try to avoid dying under a bus/car/van/lorry 'cause neither the fitness, nor the helmet will do an ounce of good with that. I am in your camp in that I believe the cycling I do has an element of danger to it that is not of my choosing. I guess I'm not with you as I don't believe my plastic cap matters one iota for the big picture fatality stuff in that.

 

[broadway]

No only in situations were I am likely to smack my head
Would you wear a motorbike helmet if it wasn't a legal requirement?

I have smacked my head more times off a bike than on it, so I only need to wear a helmet when I am not on a bike..

If a bicycle helmet gave as much protection as a motorcycle helmet then maybe you question would be worth answering.

 

[Bazzer]

No I've had to many close calls not to know I take my life in my hands on public roads. - I regard parachuting at night as less dangerous

We all take our lives into our hands on public roads; whether as pedestrian, cyclist, or vehicle driver.
If a 40 tonner runs over me, a helmet isn't going to stop the Grim Reaper paying me visit..
On the other hand, if the 40 tonner close passes me causing me to fall off, then based upon the bits of me which have been hurt in previous bike accidents or incidents, I would expect to hurt, in descending order, the following,
Hips
Knees
Elbows
Wrists
Shins
Forearms
Testicles
Head

As I said in an earlier post, I have no intention of looking like a 7 year old dressed by its parents for its first trip to a skateboard park, simply to protect everything which could be hurt.

Yes there is always the chance that I could hurt my head whilst cycling, but I have genuinely bashed my head many more times and far more severley whilst not riding my bike. - I would include in this, the head of a 14lb sledgehammer whilst it was being used to drive in a post I was holding.

 

[Licramite]

I'm really in trouble here. I've been cycling for oh about 25 years. Commuting in London for at least 20 of those. I smacked my head really hard once on the back of a tipper truck whilst travelling at between 20 and 25mph. That hurt. I'm 99% sure it would have hurt if I'd been wearing a helmet. However it's worth point out that I didn't die. Did NOT wearing a helmet save my life? We'll never know.

Here's the rub though. I'm 6'6" and rarely get through a week without banging my head on a doorway of some kind. Before my weekly haircut, the first question is "Any scabs?". So I suppose I should wear a helmet all the time but then that would make me 3 inches taller and if I forget to duck now, god knows how many times I'd bang my head then.

Serves you right , you shouldn,t be so flamin tall. you would hate my job I work in old cottages allot which for a midget like me is OK, but with my site hat on I bang my head all the time on scaffolding (very low scaffolding that is) - but at least I don't take chunks out of it,
So you don't feel head protection is worth the effort? I would have thought a head into a tipper truck would have made you think about it, but everyones experience is different,
I don't regard cycle helmets as life or death more as injury mitigation, I believe they will help (from practicle testing) buty if you don't or don't see the need all the statistics or improved helmet design will not make the slightest difference.

 

[Licramite]

We all take our lives into our hands on public roads; whether as pedestrian, cyclist, or vehicle driver.
If a 40 tonner runs over me, a helmet isn't going to stop the Grim Reaper paying me visit..
On the other hand, if the 40 tonner close passes me causing me to fall off, then based upon the bits of me which have been hurt in previous bike accidents or incidents, I would expect to hurt, in descending order, the following,
Hips
Knees
Elbows
Wrists
Shins
Forearms
Testicles
Head

As I said in an earlier post, I have no intention of looking like a 7 year old dressed by its parents for its first trip to a skateboard park, simply to protect everything which could be hurt.

Yes there is always the chance that I could hurt my head whilst cycling, but I have genuinely bashed my head many more times and far more severley whilst not riding my bike. - I would include in this, the head of a 14lb sledgehammer whilst it was being used to drive in a post I was holding.

According to A&E statistics head injuries accounted for 40% of injuries in RTAs , now if you devide the body up equally each bit should get roughly 14% of injuries (based on area of burns calcs) yet heads take 40%
now it could be heads get bashed more or head injuries are more likely to put you in A&E.
Some of the off roaders I've cycled with body armour - but the way they cycle (or routes they cycle) they need it.

 

[martint235]

Improved helmet design and, as has been said so often on helmet threads, evidence. Reliable evidence. That they work and that they don't pose other risks. Then I'll re-evaluate. At the moment judging on personal, anecdotal evidence the best protection I have against a brain injury is a stupidly hard skull.

Google the web and see the evidence around motorbike helmets and their effectiveness compared to the "evidence" presented in favour of the polystyrene shell including all the people posting pictures of cracked or smashed helmets (ie failed) and saying "That saved my life that did"

 

[martint235]

Hips
Knees
Elbows
Wrists
Shins
Forearms
Testicles
Head

You forgot ribs. I always seem to crack my ribs

 

[Licramite]

So you've been duped by those clever marketing people employed by helmet manufacturers. Thanks for clearing that up.

You could well be right,
So It was them hitting me on the head last time I cycled through the woods - I felt someone was trying to get me!

 

[RedRider]

I've banged my helmetless head a couple of times whilst cycling, pure rider error on both occasions.
I didn't die.
The second time I was wearing a cap and once I'd dusted myself down and picked a little grit from my leg I noticed it's peak had rotated somewhere around the back of my right ear hole. Had I been wearing a helmet I probably wouldn't have broken my neck and died but you never know.
The quiff was squew-whiff though.