Helmets are your friend

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  • rsclause
    rsclause Posts: 3,103 Member
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    I have been less than perfect about wearing my helmet during short rides into town. Thank you all for pointing out how important this can be. I will do better.
  • lokihen
    lokihen Posts: 382 Member
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    Just ordered my RoadID. Thanks for the link.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
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    rsclause wrote: »
    I have been less than perfect about wearing my helmet during short rides into town. Thank you all for pointing out how important this can be. I will do better.

    Helmets are like condoms; you don't need one for every ride, you just need to know which kind of ride it's going to be before you start. :wink:
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    denversillygoose wrote: »
    PS- The bike is okay

    Hope someone paused his Garmin... ;)

    Fwiw I agree about helmets, I once got a wall and broke my shoulder in three places. Skull was intact other than some concussion.
  • tiptoethruthetulips
    tiptoethruthetulips Posts: 3,361 Member
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    In Australia it is compulsory to wear a helmet, not sure how strictly it is enforced, but it is only occasionally that you see someone without an helmet.
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
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    I always wear RoadID, even when I'm not out running / hiking / whatever. But, I also have medical issues that are important. I wear a necklace, though, and I'm not sure EMT's always check for that because it is under my shirt.
  • BlueSkyShoal
    BlueSkyShoal Posts: 325 Member
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    My brother's a very careful biker, but he's still been hit twice by cars. His helmet saved him both times. I think the modern helmets actually look rather snazzy and futuristic compared to what I had as a kid. ;)

    Sidenote: you have to buckle the helmet strap for it to be effective, or else it'll fly off your head when you get hit. This might seem obvious, but I see a lot of people biking with the straps hanging loose!
  • denversillygoose
    denversillygoose Posts: 708 Member
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    BlueSkyShoal wrote: »
    My brother's a very careful biker, but he's still been hit twice by cars. His helmet saved him both times. I think the modern helmets actually look rather snazzy and futuristic compared to what I had as a kid. ;)

    Sidenote: you have to buckle the helmet strap for it to be effective, or else it'll fly off your head when you get hit. This might seem obvious, but I see a lot of people biking with the straps hanging loose!

    Also wearing it on the back of your head is pretty ineffective. I see this all the time, especially on kids. :(
  • __TMac__
    __TMac__ Posts: 1,665 Member
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    That would be awesome. And while we're working on that, we have helmets. :)
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    TmacMMM wrote: »
    That would be awesome. And while we're working on that, we have helmets. :)

    The observation I'd make is that any time I've been hit by a cage my head has been the least of my worries. That said any car impacts have been sideswipes, I've never been tail ended or t-boned, which are both very different.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    A couple months ago I witnessed a bike ride out right in front of a motorcycle. Bicycle rider wasn't wearing a helmet and went to the hospital in critical condition. Motorcycle rider said he never usually wears a helmet but was that night. I bet he wears it from now on now.
  • besaro
    besaro Posts: 1,858 Member
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    nothing sexier than someone in a bike helmet. seriously. its a total turn off for me when i see people riding around without them.
  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
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    denversillygoose wrote: »
    I for one, look like a total dingus in a helmet.

    nothing says dingus like permanent brain damage though . . . especially when it might have been preventable.

    i was annoyed a few years ago when i took a possibly-broken thumb to the er after a bike spill, and got asked by every. single. person. manning the medical conveyer belt if i'd been wearing my helmet. i got a little testy by about person six, but my non-damaged head understand their reasons for flogging the topic to death.

  • tcatcarson
    tcatcarson Posts: 227 Member
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    Remember, a much more common cause of head injuries is simply falling, and we (and children!) are far more likely to receive a head injury INSIDE a car than out of it.

    So the message is clear - if you value wearing a helmet on your bike, you should be wearing a helmet everywhere!
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    tcatcarson wrote: »
    Remember, a much more common cause of head injuries is simply falling, and we (and children!) are far more likely to receive a head injury INSIDE a car than out of it.

    So the message is clear - if you value wearing a helmet on your bike, you should be wearing a helmet everywhere!

    As ever, it's not that clear cut. Personally I'm hostile to mandatory helmets, despite using one myself. I choose, and my riding behaviour is influenced accordingly.


    The big bike helmet debate: 'You don’t make it safe by forcing cyclists to dress for urban warfare' | Life and style | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/mar/21/bike-helmet-cyclists-safe-urban-warfare-wheels
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
    edited March 2017
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    This is why I don't bike on the road. I mountain bike on trails. You can still get injured, but at least when you collide with another bike, it's more of a fair fight. I've heard so many nightmare stories of cars driving stupidly around bikes and getting people killed. I don't run next to roads, either. Along with all the creepers hooting and hollering, I've had a few close calls with distracted drivers almost hitting me. :s

    ETA: I agree with the poster who said that helmets were like seat belts, and it feels like something is wrong when you aren't wearing one! Everybody I see is wearing them where I live.
  • dutchandkiwi
    dutchandkiwi Posts: 1,389 Member
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    I don't wear a helmet, did it once when in NZ where it is cumpulsory - Completely put me off cycling because of the headaches. Plus I know a fair few head injury surgeons are not convinced. both for the type of injury as wel as protection - Research suggests that if a cyclist wears a helmet cars will move closer to a cyclist in normal circumstances and thus increase the danger to the cyclists.
    I am of the opinion that the poblem is not the cyclists but the stupid drivers that need educating. Feel that the helmet punishes those that take the healthy route.

    That said I am in the Netherlands where we have a generally very good cycling infrastrucure in many cases (though not always - where I live there are no cycling lanes in the inner city) and where a driver is always guilty in an car/cycle collission (also with pedestrians) as they have a duty of care towards the more vulnerable in traffic. Only if there is proof that the cyclist or pedestrian is wrong (skipping a red light) will they be let off the hook. That simple change in law saved more lives than any helmet ever can
  • tiny_clanger
    tiny_clanger Posts: 301 Member
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    MeanderingMammal wrote: »

    As ever, it's not that clear cut. Personally I'm hostile to mandatory helmets, despite using one myself. I choose, and my riding behaviour is influenced accordingly.

    The big bike helmet debate: 'You don’t make it safe by forcing cyclists to dress for urban warfare' | Life and style | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/mar/21/bike-helmet-cyclists-safe-urban-warfare-wheels


    I was just about to link to that article! I particularly like
    Yes, a helmet might make you safer if you get knocked off. However, it might also, even marginally, increase the chance that this happens in the first place.

    and
    The lessons seem clear and worrying. For one thing, no matter which outfit was worn, a small percentage of drivers still overtook dangerously near, at a distance of 50cm or less. More than this, it seemed drivers were perfectly able to distinguish between different types of rider, and to read and absorb any message displayed. But rather than adjusting their driving to the perceived experience of the cyclist, it was only when faced with a threat to their own welfare – a police rider filming their actions – that many allowed a cyclist more space on the road. Most alarming still, some seemed to treat the mild attempt at deception of “polite” as a reason to almost punish the cyclist.

    We need to address the root causes of cycle fatalities, and that is that cyclists are endangered by sharing space with motorised vehicles.
  • crackpotbaby
    crackpotbaby Posts: 1,297 Member
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    Where I live (Australia) helmets for both motorcyclists and cyclists - even recreational, kids etc - are required by law. This has been the case as long as I can remember and I'm 35.

    There is also a new local law which means cars need to allow 1m distance when passing a cyclist. She since the introduction of this law you can see, even as a driver, other cars giving space to bikes.

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