Would any cycle helmet have helped here?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

al78

Guru
Location
Horsham
Back in May, I was hit by a car whilst cycling to work; I was on a roundabout aiming for the third exit (i.e. going 270 degrees around), (the car entered the roundabout from the opposite side of the roundabout to me (i.e. 180 degrees from my entry point). The car hit my rear wheel (destroying it) and I went flying through the air, hitting the road and kerb with my forehead. This caused bruising to the front of my brain and a further scan revealed a significant rotational injury. I came very close to death but miraculously came out of the coma and made a rapid recovery. I wasn't wearing a helmet at the time although one of the consultants in the hospital said that a helmet would have made no difference to the severity of my injuries. This has got me wondering if there exist any more robust cycle helmets than the styrofoam ones which may be able to reduce the impact to the brain should my head hit the ground at moderate speed (say 15 mph)?

I have been considering a helmet camera and if I were to get one I would also like to get a helmet which does have some chance of being useful when it is needed.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
I'm pretty sure no crash helmet is rated to cope with vehicle collisions. Plus if your injuries were rotational, isn't that what helmets are thought to exacerbate?

Get a handlebar camera?
 

Tin Pot

Guru
Glad to hear you've survived.

I would suggest that for a significant reduction in impact you would need something unwearable - cars have huge crumple zones, for example.

The airbag style helmets might be better at it. But I wouldn't know.

Has anyone studied the effects of covering the head with ones arms, curling up in the air so the landing isn't so bad?
 
I'm pretty sure no crash helmet is rated to cope with vehicle collisions. Plus if your injuries were rotational, isn't that what helmets are thought to exacerbate?

Get a handlebar camera?

"Snag points" are thought to arrest the sliding motion of a helmet and turn the helmet causing rotational injuries to the neck, and also the brain
 

Brandane

Legendary Member
Location
Costa Clyde
Has anyone studied the effects of covering the head with ones arms, curling up in the air so the landing isn't so bad?

I haven't studied it as such, but can only comment from practical experience. In all the many falls from bicycles I have had over the space of 50 years, I have injured my shoulders, elbows, hands, wrists, hips, knees and ribs. Never has my head been the initial contact area with the ground. Now I suspect that this may well be down to mother nature having programmed us over millions of years to protect our heads by using our hands and arms, rather than relying on a questionable piece of foam padding.
 

andyfraser

Über Member
Location
Bristol
I haven't studied it as such, but can only comment from practical experience. In all the many falls from bicycles I have had over the space of 50 years, I have injured my shoulders, elbows, hands, wrists, hips, knees and ribs. Never has my head been the initial contact area with the ground. Now I suspect that this may well be down to mother nature having programmed us over millions of years to protect our heads by using our hands and arms, rather than relying on a questionable piece of foam padding.
I've been saying the same thing. I've been cycling for nearly 40 years in total. I've had similar injuries but never hurt my head.

I had an off a couple of years ago. A woman was there.
She said "It's a good job you're wearing a helmet."
I replied with "But I didn't hit my head, I hurt my palms."
 

screenman

Legendary Member
Maybe, who knows.
 

twentysix by twentyfive

Clinging on tightly
Location
Over the Hill
I haven't studied it as such, but can only comment from practical experience. In all the many falls from bicycles I have had over the space of 50 years, I have injured my shoulders, elbows, hands, wrists, hips, knees and ribs. Never has my head been the initial contact area with the ground. Now I suspect that this may well be down to mother nature having programmed us over millions of years to protect our heads by using our hands and arms, rather than relying on a questionable piece of foam padding.
+1 although on one occasion the bike followed me over and my full touring saddlebag bashed my head onto the road after I'd skinned my elbows and knees and come to a stop. It was just a big tap tho' and I came away with a black eye. No helmets in those days except those bizzare strips of leather covered padding that road racers used to pretend had any benefit. TBH I don't think a helmet would have benefitted me on that saddlebag occasion either as it wouldn't have stopped the black eye.

Glad the OP recovered tho' and I'd go with the expert opinion on your injury @al78
 

buggi

Bird Saviour
Location
Solihull
I'm pretty sure no crash helmet is rated to cope with vehicle collisions. Plus if your injuries were rotational, isn't that what helmets are thought to exacerbate?

Get a handlebar camera?
What he said. I often wonder if a thick wooly hat wouldn't be better that a helmet.
 

buggi

Bird Saviour
Location
Solihull
They only time I seriously hurt my head was when I was wearing a helmet. I used to think that it would have been much worse if I hadn't been wearing it, then I did some research and then I came off and landed on my head without a helmet with no serious injury. It reinforced the research that helmets are a pile of poo. I now think my head injury was made worse in the initial accident by the helmet. I still wear one tho, but I'm very pro-choice.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
My lids are generally quite pricey, I don't have a 50 quid head, I'm not wearing a 50 quid lid. Both of my last 2 lids earned their stripes. Any one who thinks there would be no difference in the outcome of a moderate impact, of head to solid object, with or without a lid, must've had a moderate impact with a solid object, without a lid.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom