JPR
Max, the same applies to wearing a helmet while driving or walking. I presume you wear a helmet for those activities, or have you just called yourself stupid

Except it doesn’t does it. When “wlaking or running” you are NOT constrained by a bicycle! What i mean is that if you trip and fall whilst “on foot” in the vast majority of situations you put your hands, and often feet too, to break your fall. The statistics for falls “on foot” bear that out, with the common result being a wrist injury.

On a bike, it’s very different. The fact you are seated, with hands on a handle bar means that often in a “fall” you are pivoted “up and over” the front wheel / handle bars. Now, you are very very much more likely to land on your head, without being able to break your fall with an upper or lower limb.
And that’s before we get to the “average velocity” of the devices. Anyone, can do 15mph on a bike without trying hard, pretty much only an oylmpic athlete can run at 15mph. So, on a bike you are, on average, going faster than when on foot (with the corresponding higher chance of impact injury)
Finally, being on a bike puts you in a more dangerous position regarding other road users, which you are much more likely to interact with. On foot, you don’t generally walk down a road, but stay on the pavements and cross on crossings etc.

If you look at the facts, with a calm, sensible head (sic) the advantages to always wearing a helmet when cycling are so overwhelming, that, like i said, you’re an idiot if you don’t.

(And i do wear a helmet when driving my rally car! In the UK, it is currently illegal, and since airbags were invented fairly pointless, to wear a helmet whilst driving a car on the road)

Hope you wear a helmet next time you go to the pub max

Conclusions: Alcohol related falls are more often associated with severe craniofacial injury. The severity of both limb and head injury is greater and correlates directly with blood alcohol concentration.

You would literally be insane not to

walking is pretty risky too

What would a cycle forum be without the weekly helmet thread.

Wear one, dont wear one, couldnt care less it just amazes me others get so bothered by it.

As much as I agree with Picard it’s tempting to respond just to piss off Junkyard but…

WTF? Are there some wannabe mods on here who see it as their job (it isn’t) to tell people what they can and can’t say on a forum?

Can I suggest if you want to dictate what people and can and can’t post about, start your own forum somewhere.

Most definitely this., though there is a degree of irony in the statement – but hey, **** it

My word, in fear of swiftly diverting this topic right off thread !!!!!!!

I never drive my Caterham without wearing my Motorbike helmet which means that I’m actually breaking the law ?
I never knew it was illegal to drive a car with a lid on.

Are there some wannabe mods on here who see it as their job (it isn’t) to tell people what they can and can’t say on a forum?

it seems like you are telling me what i can say [ oh the irony] and with less manners.

Can I suggest if you want to dictate what people and can and can’t post about, start your own forum somewhere.

Again oh the irony

I dont care what or where folk debate i thought for once we might act like grown ups and just sympathise with a guy who saw his elderly dad injured in front of his kids and is awaiting results of an overnight observation.

Forgive me for the optimism, flame away ,debate helmets and insult anyone who disagrees.
it is the grown up and mature thing to do and I know in real life if i ever visit a loved one in hospital with a head injury I will be sure to make sure they know the helmet did **** all.

I am no more pissed of than when I see small children squabbling over the tv remote. I have learnt what to expect on here over the years and accept few on here realise there is a time and place for debate and a time and a place for sympathy.

Wear one, dont wear one, couldnt care less it just amazes me others get so bothered by it.

I don’t like being called stupid. I don’t like anecdotal evidence being used in lieu of actual evidence.

I am no more pissed of than when I see small children squabbling over the tv remote. I have learnt what to expect on here over the years and accept few on here realise there is a time and place for debate and a time and a place for sympathy.

Oh, the irony.

I’m just glad I’ve never seen small children arguing over a TV remote ?

For the record I don’t wear a track suit, I don’t posses a road bike and I don’t wear Jewelery.

And is it not “oh the Ironing” on STW ?

Thanks for the response (all of it).

Personally I experienced some compelling evidence yesterday to convince me riding with, is better than riding without, but we still have freedom to make our own choices. So go where your head leads you (no pun).

Dad had a good night, sitting up in bed. Internal bleeding has stopped – but they want to keep him in a little longer to make sure fractures are stable, other than that no lasting harm.

I tend to rationalise a lot, so positive points are two kids who will wear helmets (until old enough to be educated here) and some time to make special with a Dad who is still around.

Cheers for the kind words.

Glad your dad is on the mend!

For the record, I’m pro choice.

The ‘Walking down the street’ argument doesn’t really stack up. Mountain biking is an inherently dangerous business, walking down the street, not so much.

Excellent news about your dad.

Now, Usain Bolt runs at 25mph, isn’t it about time…

I dont care what or where folk debate i thought for once we might act like grown ups and just sympathise with a guy who saw his elderly dad injured in front of his kids and is awaiting results of an overnight observation.

I would agree with you except the OP is telling us to wear helmets.

No doubt people could’ve been saved from serious injury if only they’d been wearing arm/ knee/ back protectors, but we never hear much about those – I’ve no idea why helmets stir up so much vitriol.

Probably something to with the brain…………………………

Maxtorque,
1) […deleted…]

and breathe.

2)Presumably you advocate all children wearing high vis jackets whilst walking to school do you?

Probably something to with the brain…………………………

Ah yes, I was forgetting the trivial nature of spinal injuries.

Anyway, this article by Ben Goldacre is well worth a read.

http://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.f3817.full?ijkey=I5vHBog6FhaaLzX&keytype=ref

Maxtorque

Next question:

It is clear that you think an individual can make themselves safer by wearing a cycle helmet.
Do you think the same applies to the population taken as a whole?

I would agree with you except the OP is telling us to wear helmets.

I think it was meant as friendly advice, rather than as a directive. No need to get het up about it.

Get well soon, OP’s dad.

Firstly and most importantly, it’s good to hear the OPs dad is on the mend! That’s great news!

Now:

I don’t care if you choose not to wear a helmet it’s your head, it’s your choice!

Often in these discussions, people apply specific cases to their arguments. But it ain’t about specifics, it’s about the law of averages and “chaos” theory. ON AVERAGE you stand a lower chance of injury if you wear a helmet when you ride your bike. Now i’m sure there are isolated cases of people getting more injured more by their helmet, but those are exactly that, isolated cases.

Applying the “you should wear one all the time even when not cycling” argument is also defeatist. By the same token you should not get out of bed in the morning just in case you hurt yourself. Life is about Risks, and taking sensible precautions to mitigate those specific risks where you can do so for a small penalty (being a bit hot, maybe looking a bit silly, or having to fork out some cash for a skid lid etc) is a good idea.

Same goes for the “kids in high vis” “getting pissed down the pub is dangerous” and numerous other unconnected / irrelevant / representative / abnormal situations that people love to trot out at such times.

If you look hard enough, i’m sure you can find a story online that says “My cat safely landed my airplane” but only a fool would suggest we replace trained airline pilots with cats on the off chance they make flying safer.
At all times, because of the Chaotic nature of events, as in individual you HAVE to go with what is on AVERAGE the best choice. Falling off you bike is a chaotic event, one over which the outcome can range from nothing at all, to very serious indeed, and before it has happened it’s very difficult to forecast the result.

Cycling is more dangerous and carries a higher risk than a lot of other things we do on a daily basis but with little thought (driving you car is probably the riskiest, but we have hundreds of people mitigating those risks with airbags, crumple zones, smart tech etc). So, to wear a small amount of protective equipment seems sensible to me, given the minor financial and social penalty.

Perusal of just this one forum will find you literally hundreds of stories of people falling off their bike and smashing themselves up, which suggests to me, that it is a risky enough activity to warrant some extra protection when you do it. If it cost you £1000, and mean’t you could only cycle on a dry day, at a maximum of 1mph, then we’d have to rethink about if wearing a helmet was worth it. But ALL you have to do is spend about £20, and remember to put it on your head. Hardly difficult or time consuming.

And here’s the final vital bit. If your(or someone elses) kids see you wearing a helmet, chances are, they will too. And there are plenty of people too young to make their own valid “life choices”, for whom, they look to us adults for inspiration and as examples.
For that reason alone, i’d like to see EVERYONE on a bike wearing a helmet, even if they personally don’t want too. If you’re an adult, and you throw yourself at the scenery without a helmet, then you are simply just an idiot, but if you’re a young kid, riding without a helmet because your dad is, and you do the same thing, that’s a whole different situation, and a tragedy imo!

But, back to my 1st point. It’s your head, you chose.