I would suggest YOU need to wear a helmet as you clearly have no idea where your limit is or how to fall off a bike without hitting your head

LOL… what an arrogant, assuming thing to say STATO.

I can understand why folk wont wear armour to ride… bulky, restricts movement and not too comfy, however I cannot understand why anyone would risk not wearing a lid – cheap, well vented and good fitting helmets are the norm now. The way I see it is that if you crash and break a leg/rib etc. – not the end of the world – however If you have a major head injury and need to be assisted the rest of your life then I will be wearing a helmet even if there is the slightest chance it could prevent an injury.

Its a risk thing – how much are you prepared to take and what type of injury would you be prepared to sustain depending on how likely you are to fall. I ride the bike within my limits and fall very little – hence a helmet and gloves does this trick, occasionaly knee pads when I am pushing it a bit. When I snowboard I always wear helmet, wristguards and spine protector as I always fall on my back and have broken a wrist before. I know loads of people who dont bother, however I am not willing to risk a spine injury.

On people that I am close to that have been injured and saved by helmets, my wife fell on a 'green' forest road trail by losing control and fall in off a 5ft drop of a bridge into a stream. This was an unpredicatable accident and my wife had no intention of riding hard off road – the combination of speed and conditions caused the crash… result – 1 broken neck (C2 vert.) knocked out (I had to pull her out water), a broken wrist, smashed teeth, 1" gash in lip and severe cuts and bruises. The helmet was ruined and had severe cracks all over front – This saved my wife from much more sever facial injury as it caught the impact of the rock and possibly saved her from a fractured skull.

My bro also backfliped on a minor jump – whole rear section of a tough helmet fell away when he stood up – hate to think what might have been.

Sure a helmet will not prevent severe injury, my wife still broke her neck! but it may stop your most important part of your body (for some!) becoming redundant.

I think trail centres (where many novices cut their MTB teeth) should have compulsary helmet wearing, in fact I though their health and safety would demand it?

I've had two fairly big offs where helmet helped. Latest one was a tree in Glentress this year. Broke my wrist, but hit it with my head first. Certainly saved me worse damage. Couple of years ago came off in France and dug a furrow face first until I hit a rock under the ground and back flipped. Once again helmet saved me. And was not on down hill section just joining trail from the road.

As this is descending into the usual dismal cobblers we see when ever helmets are mentioned, it's important to remember that anecdote is not the same as data…

The road users most at risk from head injury are pedestrians and young drivers. [1] [2]
In Great Britain, 6 times more pedestrians and 18 times more motor vehicle occupants suffer lethal head injuries than cyclists. Pedestrians and motor vehicle occupants also suffer more lethal injuries to the abdomen and thorax. [3] [4]
Children are 2.6 times more likely to suffer head injury through jumping and falling than by cycling. [5]
More than 99% of head injuries seen by UK hospitals do not involve road cyclists. [6]
Helmets for motorists are much more effective than those for cyclists and more beneficial than seat belts, interior padding or air bags. Their potential for reducing injury is 17 times greater than that of cycle helmets. [7] [3]

References

[1] Risk in cycling TRRL working paper SP/RS/75 1988, based on National Travel Survey.
[2] Ramet M, Vallet G. Typologies des accidentes du trafic routier a partier de 5459 dossiers. INRET, Rapports INRET/LCB Aug87 p106.
[3] Kennedy A. The pattern of injury in fatal pedal cycle accidents and the possible benefits of cycle helmets. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 1996 Jun;30(2):130-3.
[4]Department for Transport transport statistics.
[5] O'Rourke NA, Costello F, Yelland JDN, Stuart GG. Head injuries to children riding bicycles. Medical Journal of Australia, 1987;146:619-621.
[6] Derived from data from the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, and
Thornhill S, Teasdale GM, Murray GD, McEwen J, Roy CW, Penny KI. Disability in young people and adults one year after head injury: prospective cohort study. BMJ, 2000 v320 p1631-5.
[7] McLean AJ, Fildes BN, Kloeden CN, Digges KH, Anderson RWG, Moore VM. Prevention of head injuries to car occupants: an investigation of interior padding options. Federal Office of Road Safety, Report CR160.

http://cyclehelmets.org/index.html

Instead of spouting the same old uninformed rubbish, take a look at an alternative viewpoint, then make your own mind up.

Slightly different tack,
in oz helmets are compulsory and i hate having to don a lid to ride slowly to the shops.
On a longer ride(mtb/road)helmet is part of the kit,but when i cycle tour
i carried it on the trailer and only put it on in towns.
should be personal choice
bloody nanny state 🙄

Indeed – you simply do not know what would have happened without a helmet and whilst protecting from some injuries a helmet makes other types worse – neck breaks being a classic example. You have an increased risk of neck break if you wear a helmet.

Also injury free head impacts with a helmet would not mean death or serious injury without a helmet. If you would have had a serious or fatal injury without a helmet the same impact with a helmet you will still be injured but obviously of less severity.

TJ – I find it hard to believe the chances of a neck break will have increased with a helmet (unless you are saying that your skull caving in softens the blow). In the case of my wife's neck break, this was most likely cause by a severe whiplash motion caused by a 5ft drop face first onto a rock. I do believe (and so did the doctors) that both sever head trauma and extensive facial injuries are likely to have been prevented by the helmet.

I agree that it is up to the rider to decide what suits, but in my view there are so many variables out with the riders own skill that can dictate a crash (especially on the road!) that it doesn't make sense not to wear on – I just don't think it is worth a chance. In terms of anecdotal evidence, I have seen 2 major accidents to close relatives and a few others with friends that were likely to be much worse with no helmet – that is good enough for me!

While it may be comfier to not wear a lid, its also comfier not to wear a climbing harness and crampons when winter climbing… I might be OK without this safety equipment, but who knows…

Had a look at this site

http://cyclehelmets.org/1019.html

Does seem more biased in favour of not wearing helmets – I think that sound facts could be generated from either side of the argument for and against. I think it comes down to how much risk you are willing to accept.

That said I cannot possibly see that a lightweight good fitting helmet can actually increase your chance of injury (making your head heavier or larger can contribute to injury – ?!?! (for a 400gsm helmet!) – so are big headed riders more likely to die in a collision, maybe you should ensure that you shave your head too – nonsense!!!)… therfore myself, my wife and child will still always wear theirs anytime we ride our bikes.

And I especially pity those that don't wear a lid at kiroughtree – I am a very experienced rider and have had a pretty big 'off' at those trails. Rather them than me!

I saw a bloke smoking last week. Crazy fool!
And i suspect my neighbor doesn't always eat 5 portions of fruit and veg. I'm tempted to go round and tell him there's a risk he could die, but some idiots take this sort of advice badly. Still, Darwin's laughing at them.