[Closed] Bicycle helmets reduce risk of serious head injury by nearly 70%, study finds

You do realise TJ is back?? 😯

I've missed TJ on helmet threads. He's right you know.

You do realise TJ is back

It's a test designed to provoke an emotional response

No they don't
Yes they do
roptational injuries
make cars aim for you
No they don't
Yes they do
roptational injuries
make cars aim for you
No they don't
Yes they do
roptational injuries
make cars aim for you
No they don't
Yes they do
roptational injuries
make cars aim for you
No they don't
Yes they do
roptational injuries
make cars aim for you

Save yourselves!

*Runs*

Save yourselves!

Put a helmet on? Or take it off? I need a multi page thread to inform me

What the stats do not say is what proportion of injuries were head injuries.

Protecting the head reduces the chance of the head being injured, that's a no brainer. But this statistic doesn't provide perspective on how wearing a helmet holistically reduces the chance of being seriously injured.

Me personally, I almost always wear a helmet, although of all the times I have fallen off I have never hit my head. I learnt to tuck my head in when I fall through Judo training which has come in surprisingly useful throughout life. I think it would be really useful to teach people how to fall properly as part of school P.E lessons.

Having stated this I have no doubt jinxed myself into smashing my head the next time I ride my bike!

No they don't
Yes they do
roptational injuries
make cars aim for you
No they don't
Yes they do
roptational injuries
make cars aim for you
No they don't
Yes they do
roptational injuries
make cars aim for you
No they don't
Yes they do
roptational injuries
make cars aim for you
No they don't
Yes they do
roptational injuries
make cars aim for you

4 pages, and fade....

Think of the wife's, husbands and children, close the tread now to prevent angry people taking out their internet rage on their loved ones.

No they don't
Yes Yes Yes
personal choice
they do
roptational injuries
should be compulsary
should be compulsary
should be compulsary
personal choice
make cars aim for you

Remix

MIPS with everything

Seriously though. I... I... nah.

*Switches off computer*
*Goes for a ride*
*Hopes not to add to the statistics*

Okay, let's get this started properly. From the meat of the article

Helmet use [b]is associated with[/b] odds reductions of 51% for head injury, 69%...

From the headline though (and repeated in the opening sentence)

Bicycle helmets [b]reduce risk[/b]....

As a non-expert, who hasn't read the study, that reads to me like a study finding a correlation and a journalist interpreting that as causation.

Random hypothesis: Helmet use is more prevalent among experienced cyclists, and they are more expert at dealing with crashes - inexperienced, helmetless cyclists more likely to impact hard and head first with the road / other vehicles, expert, helmeted cyclists roll, ninja-like and only catch the road with a glancing blow to the head.

No idea if the above is true, but it might be. The point is, that helmetless cyclists come off worse than helmeted ones does not, of itself, prove that it is the wearing of the helmet that causes the better outcome.

[retires to safe distance]

I'm deeply sceptical.

It's a 'round up' study of over 40 other surveys, none of which found these results.

It's been produced by a team in one of the few states with a Mandatory Helmet Law and whose funding comes from the state.

I'll leave it there I think.

I learnt to tuck my head in when I fall through Judo training

Good point. I also did Judo as a child and of all the times (in the 40 years since) I have fallen over/off bike/got knocked off bike etc,. I have never hit my head.

Haven't used a Hane Goshi or a Tamoe Nage ever since though however but good to get something from it other than s set of coloured belts.

I learnt to tuck my head in when I fall through Judo training

The last helmet I wrote off, I broke my arm protecting my head.

The one before that was a crash that happened so quickly I was on the floor before I knew what was going on. The back wheel caught a small stump in the middle of a berm just as I pumped, stopping the bike dead, so I went headfirst into the berm just ahead of the front wheel at full speed.

The one before that I went over the front in a chute of rocky steps, I actually had time to aim my head at the rock whilst falling because it seemed preferable to my face because I could see the exact pointy rock I was about to land on.

I'm skeptical..

Try an experiment...

Hit yourself on the head with a hammer, really hard.

[url=

are so old hat - airbags are where it's at.[/url]

I don't care what any one thinks or any stats say.

I wear a helmet to protect my head in a fall. On a mountain bike because i've landed on or hit my head in falls previously, on a road bike because there is a chance of hitting my head in on hard objects like kerbs if I come off the bike and when snowboarding because i've fallen badly and hit my head previously.

I know for a fact that hitting my head in a fall when wearing a helmet hurts less than not wearing a helmet.

I do not think that wearing a helmet will save my life if a bus hits me at 50 MPH.

There, thats my bit done.

Edit: I also don't care if people choose not to wear a helmet. That's up to them.

Hit yourself on the head with a hammer, really hard.

No need, stick with this thread long enough and you'll achieve the same effect.

Same helmet discussion, only thing is a new study. What's different about this study?

I'm deeply sceptical.
It's a 'round up' study of over 40 other surveys, none of which found these results.
It's been produced by a team in one of the few states with a Mandatory Helmet Law and whose funding comes from the state.
I'll leave it there I think.

Me too!

We need bike helmets with a car airbag type protection for front-on impacts (like say... into the rear of a dustbin lorry 😉 ), which still allow to see where we are going when we are travelling safely. 😆

[i]I also don't care if people choose not to wear a helmet. That's up to them.[/i]

What? Like [i]personal choice[/i]?

I was riding home the other day. There were 2 girls going the opposite direction on those Pendleton style bikes. One was on the path, the other was on the road. The road side one had no helmet, normal (not riding) clothes, one hand holding a drink the other on the bars.. A car went past really bloody close! I thought "Ooh".

Try an experiment...

Hit yourself on the head with a hammer, really hard.

Are you being serious?

Are you being serious?

no, sorry, have you actually done it?

[img] [/img]

In all the times I've fell off I've only hit my head once. I don't think it would of done any lasting damage but it would of bloody hurt.

A helmet has stopped quite a few head to branch interface moments.

And it gives me somewhere to mount bike light too.

I've never seen a turtle.

[i] I don't think it would of done any lasting damage but it would of bloody hurt.[/i]

Maybe it damaged your ability to write proper English? 😀

Can we maybe discuss this new meta study, rather than anecdotes and the same stuff over and over?

Anyone able to access the actual study?

Are you being serious?
no, sorry, have you actually done it?

I was wondering if that was a serious argument in favour of helmets. But I expect you knew that.

In a similar vein, Mafeking has been releived.

I'm still not going to wear a helmet though.

Have you to pay money to read it. I can't access. The co-author has a blog here with lots of stuff tho
https://injurystats.wordpress.com/

Joking aside, log term effects from multiple minor knocks/concussion are scary

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/25/sports/dave-mirra-cte-bmx.html?_r=0

A helmet has stopped quite a few head to branch interface moments.

But as to the study, usual rules apply:
correlation and causation are not the same.
Advising people that helmets may help if you crash - knock yourself out.
Making a case for compulsion - literally knock yourself out.
Try some victim blaming shit about the cyclist being at fault for not having a lid on when you drove your car into them - GTFO.

[quote=HoratioHufnagel ]Try an experiment...
Hit yourself on the head with a hammer, really hard.

There is no hammer

For me the question is why would you not wear a helmet?

These days they are pretty darn light an unobtrusive. I've been through a cars windscreen....it hurt.

I've gone down an Alpine black run, over the bars and landed square on the top of my head, it hurt..... a lot.

[quote=D0NK ]Making a case for compulsion - literally knock yourself out.

But it does make the case more difficult for those who oppose mandatory helmet wearing, they said.
“The legislation of mandatory helmets for cyclists is a controversial topic and past research on its effectiveness has been somewhat mixed,” the study said. “Irrespective of past research, the results of this review do not support arguments against helmet legislation from an injury prevention perspective.

it's a good job that isn't the argument being used against mandatory helmet laws then

[quote=scud ]For me the question is why would you not wear a helmet?

Well if we're doing the full bore helmet thread, then the usual reply is: why would you not wear a helmet when doing various other activities?

Sometimes, I don't.

Because I'll never ride through Paris, in a sports car, with the warm wind in my hair.

Do people put hammers on trails?

They will start on skiing next ..... 🙁

Well if we're doing the full bore helmet thread, then the usual reply is: why would you not wear a helmet when doing various other activities?

Which is a great question and why it is always asked and highlights the fact that a lot of people think (incorrectly) that cycling has a higher risk than other activities where they would never where a helmet.

Why are there no studies to show that x% of people driving would have been less injured if wearing a helmet, x% of people falling on slippery surfaces would have been less injured if wearing a helmet etc,.

Helmets clearly save your head in certain situations but why the focus on just wearing them when cycling?