Would any cycle helmet have helped here?

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I also wonder how much the statistics are skewed. I was involved in a collision with a van several years ago now. I was, at the time, wearing a helmet. The collision was such that I took the impact on my right elbow before falling at incredibly slow speed onto my left elbow (I was left hooked and braked frantically before the collision). At no time did I come anywhere near hitting my head. When I went to A&E several hours later just to check that the elbow was only bruised, not fractured, the check-in nurse asked if I was wearing a helmet - which was completely irrelevant to the collision and the injury. However, I may now be recorded in the 'collision but was wearing a helmet, therefore no head injury' box for all I know. Or in the 'helmet wearing makes A&E admission more likely' box.
 

Crandoggler

Senior Member
It amazes me that people wouldn't want to wear one irrespective of the protection against potentially fatal crashes. Why not look below that, where your head may scrape the road, or provide such impact protection to prevent even a hint of brain damage or skull fractures. Is it really that important to make a point of not wearing one, that you may compromise your head and/or face from scarring at best, to fractures at worst?

I understand that the main reason people don't wear one is to promote safe cycling and to force motorists to pass safely and that the protection isn't as glamorous as previously thought - Apparently. But is it any hardship? Where the accident isn't anyone's fault but your own? Then what?

This is a general query. I'm not trying to stir emotions.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
It amazes me that people wouldn't want to wear one irrespective of the protection against potentially fatal crashes. Why not look below that, where your head may scrape the road, or provide such impact protection to prevent even a hint of brain damage or skull fractures. Is it really that important to make a point of not wearing one, that you may compromise your head and/or face from scarring at best, to fractures at worst?
The impact protection is limited (flat or kerb at standing-fall speeds) and scraping the road is also mitigated by softer hats and possibly made less likely by a smaller lighter head. The most common cycle crash helmets do not cover the face, so that's a red herring.

I understand that the main reason people don't wear one is to promote safe cycling and to force motorists to pass safely and that the protection isn't as glamorous as previously thought - Apparently. But is it any hardship? Where the accident isn't anyone's fault but your own? Then what?
Is that the main reason? I'm not sure whether it promotes safe cycling or not - I feel it makes it look less dangerous, but that's not the same thing. Sadly, I know from experience that being unhelmetted doesn't "force motorists to pass safely" (although I feel it gets you a bit more room most of the time). And I've never seen anyone claiming glamourous protection as a reason for wearing a crash helmet, so being less glam than expected seems unlikely to be a reason for stopping wearing one.

Personally, I don't wear one because it seemed correlated with neck pain and I never wore one when growing up, so I thought they can't be essential. After the neck pain, I investigated helmets more and they do not seem to offer a net benefit in the real world. I also find it much more practical not to carry a helmet around when off the bike (I ride for transport at least as much as for its own sake).

Is it hardship? Well, for some, who use a bike because it's cheaper to run than a car, then another £30 or whatever for a decent crash helmet after each time it's dropped (or 3 years if it lasts that long) might actually be a hardship. EDIT: Even if not a hardship for others, carrying a special thing around is inconvenient. If you had to carry your bike around all the time while out and not riding, you'd probably use it less, wouldn't you? I certainly still hire a bike from multidock city schemes sometimes just so I don't have to carry or store the folding bike while stopped. Finally, for me, helmets are eventually painful.

If the accident is my own fault, then I'll deal with the consequences, but as well as the "risk compensation" theory, there is some suggestion that not wearing a crash helmet keeps my brain cooler in summer, so I'm less likely to F it up and cause my own crash. Touching wood as I write this - it's been a very long while since I had an injurious crash while cycling. I've injured myself walking more! Yet I keep reading stories about all these people cycling while wearing crash helmets who crash all the while and I don't know whether they're right to wear crash helmets because they're the sort of riders who need them, or if the crash helmets are somehow making them crash more frequently. The anecdotes certainly seem persuasive that there's something going on/wrong, don't they?

This is a general query. I'm not trying to stir emotions.
I have answered in that spirit. Hope that's OK.
 
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It amazes me that people wouldn't want to wear one irrespective of the protection against potentially fatal crashes. Why not look below that, where your head may scrape the road, or provide such impact protection to prevent even a hint of brain damage or skull fractures. Is it really that important to make a point of not wearing one, that you may compromise your head and/or face from scarring at best, to fractures at worst?

I understand that the main reason people don't wear one is to promote safe cycling and to force motorists to pass safely and that the protection isn't as glamorous as previously thought - Apparently. But is it any hardship? Where the accident isn't anyone's fault but your own? Then what?

This is a general query. I'm not trying to stir emotions.


There is an item called the Thudguard

Endorsed by medical experts and RoSPA

It amazes me that people wouldn't want their children to wear one irrespective of the protection against potentially fatal injuries. why not look below that, where the infant's head may hit a piece of furniture or provide such impact protection to prevent even a hint of brain damage or skull fractures. Is it really that important to make a point of not making your child wear one, that you may compromise your child's head and/or face from scarring at best, to fractures at worst?



The Thudguard is by these standards
 
What concerns me is always the over estimation of the efficiency of helmets


Once again we have the ill informed and dangerous presumption that the average cycle helmet protects sgainst facial injuries

They do not cover the face, nor do they offer any protection of the facial area

As @User suggests there is a notable lack of knowledge of the research
 

Crandoggler

Senior Member
I'll bet you a pound to a pinch of shoot, if I scrape my face along the floor whilst wearing a helmet, my facial scarring would be less than that of someone who was wearing nothing. I never claimed to gather knowledge on the subject, I was merely asking a question on the subject to gather that knowledge. I own a helmet and wear one. Ill informed or not, it's what I do.

Obviously the non wearers seem to have a complete personality failure as, quite frankly, you're utterly condescending, foul tempered and total pricks. I'm sure you're a barrel of laughs down the pub.

Maybe it's a good thing that you don't wear one.

Done with this thread. Wish I never asked. :okay:
 

Mugshot

Cracking a solo.
Thank you for your contribution :smile:
 

srw

It's a bit more complicated than that...
I'll bet you a pound to a pinch of shoot, if I scrape my face along the floor whilst wearing a helmet, my facial scarring would be less than that of someone who was wearing nothing.
If it's a full-face motorbike job, perhaps.
I'm sure you're a barrel of laughs down the pub.
The ones I've met have been great company - even when I have been helmeted.
 

Justinslow

Lovely jubbly
Location
Suffolk
I don't know anyone who cycles who doesn't wear a helmet.
I know quite a few cyclists.
I see very few cyclists on the road without helmets.
Non wearers are in the minority (in East Anglia)

Just some statements by me. No idea if it means anything!
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
Non wearers are in the minority (in East Anglia)

Just some statements by me. No idea if it means anything!
It means you have odd definitions of minority or East Anglia, unless you have good evidence for that claim!

Crash helmet wearers are a tiny minority in Cambridge and King's Lynn. There are more in Norwich, where the cycle facilities are worse and a smaller fraction cycle, but I'd still say it looked like a minority, as they are in the UK overall, according to ETSC.
 

Justinslow

Lovely jubbly
Location
Suffolk
Really? I cycle widely in East Anglia. I'd say non-helmeted cyclists are the majority - particularly in the cities such as Cambridge and Norwich.
To be fair I don't ride in the cities or towns but out in the sticks, there my statements stand. So maybe there is a district difference in people's attitudes according to where they ride?
 
I'll bet you a pound to a pinch of shoot, if I scrape my face along the floor whilst wearing a helmet, my facial scarring would be less than that of someone who was wearing nothing. I never claimed to gather knowledge on the subject, I was merely asking a question on the subject to gather that knowledge. I own a helmet and wear one. Ill informed or not, it's what I do.

Obviously the non wearers seem to have a complete personality failure as, quite frankly, you're utterly condescending, foul tempered and total pricks. I'm sure you're a barrel of laughs down the pub.

Maybe it's a good thing that you don't wear one.

Done with this thread. Wish I never asked. :okay:

do you include the British Dental Association in your insults?

After all they are the ones who evidenced the lack of facial protection and campaign for improved design
 
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