[Closed] what about a good old fashioned helmet debate

D0NK - Member

Can I just check OP? You asked specifically about helmet use in a bike seat and lots of people gave you anecdotal evidence about general helmet use, have I read the thread correctly?

no I'd wait a few pages and then read again from the beginning

ps if you do want a specific child helmet / helmet anecdote to be going on with and a useful one to quote if you are caught sans helmet

- mrs antigee once got a bee in helmet and stopped suddenly and unsuccessfully on a greasy road and fell over but all was ok with the little 'gee on the back because she was wearing her helmet (and a high sided seat)

A bump to the head in the wrong place can be serious at any speed (especially standing up and catching it on the cupboard door!).

This is why my two kids wear a helmet at all times. They also sleep in a safety harness, because they have loft beds.

Jeez, next you'll be asking us how to flippin shave!

Risk assessment. Doing 50 down a black run I'd wear one, going to 7-11 for a pint of milk and some tabs, probably not. See not hard is it.

Apparently, it's too hard for you 🙂

What's your risk assessment based on? Any actual facts or just a hunch?

Personally, my route to my nearest shop includes roads, lots of junctions and a roundabout, with plenty of cars despite being half a mile away. It's these cars that present the risk - not my bike handling skills.

As for the high-sided seat - do the sides have padding? If not, they are still likely to cause damage when your kid's head smacks against it and the road.

Not sure why we need to debate "old fashioned" helmets, there are plenty of modern cool looking ones too now...... 😉

For me, riding bike = helmet. end of. simple that way. You never know when you might come off, for what ever reason, and hit your head. It's not like there are really any sensible negatives to wearing a helmet these days, no one looks at you and laughs anymore, and if putting on a helmet is "too much bother", you're probably doing the wrong sport anyway, and should probably just be driving your Evoque to the shops instead. (i do love a good bit of "Cross Threading" 😉

My four year old wears a helmet on her balance bike, unless she is just on grass in which case I don't mind if she wears it or not.

She doesn't wear one in the trailer because it's just not practical or comfortable to do so and it's safe enough without one.

Bike seats are a bit more tricky. I put a helmet on my one year old when she was in her rear-mounted seat, but to be honest it looked pretty uncomfortable, bobbling her head about and catching on the back of the seat. She wasn't happy so I took it off.

For a family pootle at balance bike speed along sealed bridleway I think the risk of her requiring a helmet in a crash is incredibly low. Obviously I'd be happier if she could wear it, but I'm not worried enough to stop taking her because she can't. When she gets a bit bigger she'll wear one like her sister.

It's these cars that present the risk - not my bike handling skills.

Commuting, I've only been hit by a car once and was uninjured, but I've also fallen off due to black ice and tactile paving and lost skin in both cases. So, zero injuries caused by cars but two by my bike handling 🙂

Although, I've never ever banged my head/helmet while riding a bike...

It's not like there are really any sensible negatives to wearing a helmet

Individual or societal?

A helmet did help when the irate idiot driver punched me in the head.... though a gun may have been more useful

correct, you don't have to look a dweeb these days
not that was ever an excuse. Making people wear PPE can be frustrating..the day I walked down the factory line to find a bunch of guys wearing welding glasses while operating a cnc machine was encouraging - why? they didn't know they were for "light" welding just that they looked cool compared to the usual offering. we didn't argue if it meant they actually wore them

If you ride like i do you're better off with a helmet (3 helmets written off).

If you ride like i do you're better off with a helmet (3 helmets written off).

If the OP had written off three helmets whilst riding with his kid in a child seat then I wouldn't recommend putting a helmet on the kid - I'd recommend the OP stopped taking the kids! 😆

We use it as a disciplinary motivator -

'Eat your broccoli or Daddy will take you on a bike ride'

I wear one and so do the Teens. Now when the kiddyback tandem fell off its two-legged Esge stand with Teen2 sat in the baby seat, I was glad of that little yellow Bell helmet!

Then there was the time Teen1 decided to show how much you can wiggle the handlebars after just learning to ride. He was glad of that helmet when he planted his forehead into the tarmac.

But when they were little, I mostly rode one to set an example. Now it's a habit/race requirement/for insurance cover/sunburn protection

Meanwhile, in the Netherlands...

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😀

Please, I beg you, stop posting pictures of the bloody Netherlands.

I'm sure I could find a load of pictures of people not wearing seatbelts in some country or other. Would that prove that seatbelts are unneccesary?

Please, I beg you, stop posting pictures of the bloody Netherlands.

But no helmet thread is complete without a "Meanwhile in the Netherlands.." picture set. 😀

I'm sure I could find a load of pictures of people not wearing seatbelts in some country or other. Would that prove that seatbelts are unneccesary?

If that country also had much lower injury rates for car passengers then yes it would certainly be relevant at least.

Well no, because the two things could be entirely unrelated, COULDN'T THEY?

Yes of course, which would be the point.
It would illustrate that other factors are actually more important and effective at preventing injury.

Helmets (and seatbelts) do not lessen risks, they only lessen consequences.

(which is good, obviously, but lessening the risks is far better)

Anyway I don't want to drag this thread into an [i]actual[/i] helmet debate. It was just an amusing aside.

I've done a test cycling to and from work over the last few months. With and without hi-vis, pannier, helmet, etc.

I found that the hi-vis does seem to help, with less cars pulling out on me (still happens though), but makes sod all difference to anything else.

Panniers on the back, cars give you more room for sure.

Helmet...I've found cars less likely to wait, and give me less room, and cut in sooner, when I'm wearing one.

My tip - fit panniers (even if you just fill them with balloons!).

8)

Oh, as for the kids thing, dunno, don't have kids and don't care what others do with theres. Actually, might be worth borrowing one for the rack though, and seeing if I get more room than I do with panniers...

You could always stick a lifelike doll in a child seat and see what happens.

But I believe a bar-mounted puppy works even better:

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http://bikeyface.com/2011/09/28/perfec-safety-gear/

It would illustrate that other factors are actually more important and effective at preventing injury.

I don't think anyone's stupid enough to think the opposite. Or at least, anyone who matters.