Bit of a catch 22 really isn’t it, anyone with a high enough IQ to be covered by that would know that a helmet won’t protect against brain injury. They simply aren’t designed to.

I don’t wear one if I cycle to the village for breakfast. It’s 3 miles of off road paths. Very low risk.

I always wear one for commuting / ‘cycle sport’ as the risk is much higher.

Compulsory helmets is a bad idea.

Maybe if you hadn’t been wearing the helmet you would have seen the branch and ducked. Or just riding slower.

Had branches drop in front of me a few occasions and funniest was a branch dropping in front whilst going up hill…even with a helmet still had splinters in my forehead 🙂

I always wear a helmet, Im certain its saved me a few times, Im just as certain the only thing that would happen if made law is the prices would go up. Remember when the ‘Govt’ scrapped VAT on helmets? It just made the manufacturers another 20% (17.5 at the time).

As a confirmed halfwit who needs telling what to do and what to wear while doing it I am so grateful for the input from you higher IQ’d chaps, your brain’s truly are an asset for all of humanity…

With that in mind could you help me with some other decisions? I don’t want debate or point/counterpoints to consider just a hard, fast answer that I can rely on as it wasn’t generated by my thicky Brain or twitter…

1- How should I vote in the EU referendum?
2- should I change career?
3- where should I invest my savings?
4- should I stop reading twatty helmet debates on STW?

1. In
2. Definitely
3. Post Office
4. Yes

I’ll agree to compulsory helmets only if we can force families out for a bimble to wear them properly over their head not balanced on the back of the head with forehead exposed, if you can promise that I’ll be a good boy and wear mine everytime, even those days I ride off down the road without it and think oh **** it I’ll be fine…

Compulsory for all: NO
Compulsory for young kids (lets say younger than ~12): Maybe

I also find it slightly strange that people seem to just talk about helmets preventing major brain injuries, I think in the vast majority of cases helmets prevent MINOR injuries, like scuffs, scratches and bruises, and all those minor injuries never make it into the statistical lists that people love to band about!

1- out
2- no
3- under the bed
4- no

ghostlymachine – Member

anyone with a high enough IQ to be covered by that would know that a helmet won’t protect against brain injury. They simply aren’t designed to

Absolute shite.

You know I’m right because I underlined it.

you forgot to put FACT at the end though

There’s a lot of confusion here.

Yes: helmets can reduce the severity of some crashes. They are not a magic cure-all. They are designed to withstand low-speed crashes (the standard test drops them from a height of 2m onto the ground).

http://www.bhsi.org/testing.htm

So if that’s what your crash involves, it could help.

But that’s *not* what this is about, which is whether they should be compulsory. The answer to that appears to be *no* because the large number of people who don’t take up cycling, and so suffer ill health as a result, more than outweighs the small number of people who are injured by low-speed bike crashes involving their head.

That’s probably too complicated for most people, I expect most of you gave up reading at the first sentence, so everyone should carry on talking utter tosh for the next few pages.