My helmet (probably) saved my life today

Goan, let's see your research then; you're doing a lot of criticising and not much backing up…

My mum's dead so I have had to make my own mind up!
How very grown up of me.

As an aside, all the races and events that I know of, be it a Merida, Sleepless, Mayhem, etc etc all insist that you wear a helmet.

thats good to know dan however its not been reviewd by the peers so it never happened.it would seem.

crikey thats your world and how it works for you.you cannot insist that we all live in it.

Goan

ou clearly do not understand the antomy and physiology or you would undertand that linera impacts do not cause the shearing of blood vessels in teh way that rotaional ones do

The new scientist article is about reducing the rotational forces not enhancing the deceleration properties whatever that is supposed to mean

The helmet is designed to limit the rotational forces affecting the head during an impact and is currently undergoing bench tests.

The wiki and cyclehelmets org sites I linked to as both have long lists of references for you to follow both for and against. if you wanted to learn.

Nonk – I linked to the BMA debate as it has good arguments from both sides of the debate and references to follow and to show that not all doctors think helmets save lives. My GP cycles and refuses to wear a helmet as he would rather have focal brain injury from which recovery is good than a diffuse axon injury from which recovery is rare and he believes that diffuse axon injuries are more common if you wear a helmet.

Righteoe. I realy don't think I can ad any more. I have explained my position and how I have come to that from my reading of the evidence. I have provided links to the evidence and pointed out some areas that I believe are pertinent.

I like evidence based practice not superstition and anecdote

well eplained on the doc front.
however this is a website for cyclists so in my view the anecdote has some value thats kind of why i am here.

A cycle helmet may protect against the most superficial of injuries likely when riding like a loon offroad ( scuffing trees, vegetation and such) and though I rarely bother myself, I'd not consider it a bad idea for that reason.
For general cycling, commuting and riding to the shops, and thats what I thought we were discussing, they send out the message that" OMG! CYCLING IS DANGEROUS, PROBABLY FATAL!" and to make matters worse, dont offer any protection against the dangerous ,probably fatal sorts of accidents that people wear them for.

TJ – go and punch your bed as hard as you can, then go and punch the outside wall, then come back and tell me that you dont understand what i'm saying.

Good grief. Ive just noticed this thread growing bigger by the day.

Within half a mile into a 10mile time trial at Culloden moor i approached some crossroads and a car pulled out on me without looking.Apart from leaning on a pair of tri bars at the time i would have thought i was reasonably safe.. just pedalling along on a quite scottish country road in a straight line with no obstacles in the distance.what could go wrong? a puncture? a broken chain? maybe.. but that wouldnt be too much of a problem.Then it happened.Something appeared that i wasnt expecting and i hit it.I wont go into it again but the helmet is in a cupboard and the compression in the polystyrene close to my temple is quite some diffrence compared to the undamaged side.After it happened i can only remember a blanket and an ambulance. I didnt know how to get home after hospital (i made it hard for the driver that took me home from the hospital as i couldnt really tell him how to get to the house) we detoured a bit but finally got there.

but you know what? i got home that night. for the sake of wearing a helmet that weighed next to nothing it was well worth having on. one of those little things that doesnt make too much odds.. but well worth it.

I tried to drive to work the next morning but felt so clumsy and spaced out that i turned back.Its only once its happened TJ that you wish you HAD put one on because for the small hassle,its worth so much. Not just to you,but for the folk around you as well.
Once it happens you ask yourself how sore it would have been without it.how cut open you might have been. How big the crack in the skull might have been.how long you would be in hospital (if yer lucky enough to still be there) how long you would have been off the bike.the list is endless.

My mothers friends son died cruising down the street many years ago without a helmet. he wasnt paying attention and wobbled a bit.. then fell and clipped the edge of the kerb and killed himself. this could have possibly been a quick trip to the shop around the corner.who knows.It can happen anywhere,anytime.

Jeremy,please spend 5 mins watching this video.Ive seen this very rider fall about 6 years ago at a skatepark during a u.k tour.during a fall,the bike hit the back of his head into the floor of a concrete pool.He was a bit dazed but lived another day.It didnt make him wear a helmet after that.. it took a lot more to drum the message into him but finally something happened that DID.Please watch the whole of the first video and ask yourself for the hassle of wearing a helmet – is it really worth it? They weight nothing,they are really comfortable and they dont look stupid.why leave home without one if you can agree on that? Can you agree,TJ? If you could agree,and said that you would wear one for every ride from now on.. i would send you a new helmet tomorrow.

http://www.mikeaitken.com/

TandemJeremy – Member

Absolutly Kimbers. crushed helmet and headache = maybe fracture certainly flesh wound without one possible serious head injury.

They simply do not turn life threatening injuries into non injuries tho.

edit :Aye Kit – but you would not have been dead. You probably would have had a proper hospitalised type injury

TJ – when it comes to helmets you are a first class bellend.

martinxyz, the lesson I would take from your anecdote, has nothing to do with helmets and everything to do with not riding on unstable-hands off the brakes-timetrial bars.

Worse than religion…
I'm out of it too; you can tell a mountain biker, but you can't him much…

Martin. Thank you for the offer but no need – have a read of my long post a page or two back.

Rob – thank you for your considered, erudite and mature response

But you guys all believe in Global Warming, right?
😈

Glad you're OK Kit, sounds like a nasty one… Not been a good couple of weeks for Edinburgh riders and helmets I think!

Shame that these threads can't help but become clashes of faith… Both sides know perfectly well there's both logic, medical and scientific evidence to support both arguments, yet selectively pick and choose what they want to bring to the table and dismiss everything else, or choose to exagerrate the effect of one type of injury and ignore others to support the anti-argument, or similiarly ignore those injuries as they don't fit the pro helmet argument. It's not discussion, it's dogma. No point in even getting into these conversations really…

Kit wrote: "Not that I needed convincing, but every medic I saw tonight (quite a few!) assured me I'd likely be dead if I hadn't worn my helmet."

That's exactly what they said to me when I had my big road crash. I didn't know a helmet could offer such protection from a shelf 2 miles away 🙂

But, I could crash the same crash tomorrow and be killed.

I'll not get into the discussion, I just cannot be bothered again but here's the one thing that I hate:

"NOBODY CAN PROVE THAT HELMETS SAVE LIVES"

Of course they can't. How could they? The nature of these injuries is that no such proof is possible. But this is totally different from proving that helmets don't save lives.

Global warming? Its a fact that all the heat from debates on intent fora the world over has increased the temperature by 2 zillion degrees.

Sorry for hijacking your thread BTW

I was once hit side on by a car in Edinburgh when I used to commute. I mounted the bonnet bounced of the windscreen and ended up twenty metres away, next to the kerb. I considered myself extremely lucky not to have hit my head as I had chosen not to wear my helmet that day. I would never chose not to wear a helmet again as i feel that I've had my lucky escape. There can't be many routes through Edinburgh where there isn't the chance, no matter how small, of some kind of incident. I'm just not going to take the chance again. I don't want see compulsory helmet wearing. But I think if you are on your bike there is always a chance and I don't want my kids asking why I didnt't wear helmet.

oh no,westkipper.. if you search back months ago you will find that i might have mentioned getting onto the hoods more than early enough,thought about braking for a moment as i watched the car creep out of the junction, THEN start to brake.. pity i ended up skidding and snaking for quite some distance before hitting it. Theres no tread or contact patch big enough on a road bike to help you stop when these things happen.

bit like covering the brakes in a car.. was told not to do it during my lessons.

Thanks TJ, i put a £20 bet on with someone that you wouldnt agree!

Glad you are ok Kit, nearly forgot to say.

I believe the Australian, NZ, Canadian and other Governments came to the completely opposite decision to TJ & his doctor.

For those old enough to recall, we had this same debate 20 years ago. Smoking? It's not been proved that it's at all harmful.

http://www.brake.org.uk/facts/why-cycle-helmets-save-lives

YOu could go like this for the next 20 years.

What I do know is that the top of my head would be a quite different, scarred, battered place than it is now, safely tucked away under my lid as it is.

The Australian, NZ and Canadian governments have subsequently seen head injuries reduce by less than the real( about 30% ) decrease in cycling.
Its a well remarked upon phenomenon, and consistant across all countries that introduce compulsion.
Whereas, those that have very low rates of helmet wearing are the safest.
Weird, eh?

Just incase west kipper is not clear #enough – in NZ after helmet compulsion the rate of head injury per mile cycled increased

Kit – sorry – a bit late to this thread – can't have been fun and glad you lived to tell the tale. 🙂

I have had an accident whilst riding my bike with no helmet.
I lost consciousness for over an hour after hitting side of my head off of kerb.
I also crashed whilst wearing helmet and put rather large dent in said helmet and broke two ribs as well.
I know what I will be wearing next time I ride a bike and I really dont care about statistics etc. tbh.

Just incase west kipper is not clear #enough – in NZ after helmet compulsion the rate of head injury per mile cycled increased

Another pathetic line. Things reduce or increase for reasons

For instance, DH and/or freeride really wasn't heard of 15 years ago ( especilly not to nowadays standard). When a sport potentially this dangerous becomes the norm for alot of bikers then of course accidents will increase compared to trails you used to ride (old skool days). During my early racing days, training and fun rides contained danger far less than what is available today.

The sad fact is that West kipper and TJ have arguments against something which has been proven ( not by guys in white coats in labs or non riding stats people who never ride bikes) by ACTUAL riders on this forum to have saved them from potentially far worse injuries than they did or would of received if they had not wore a helmet. This therefore should be your real scientific studies boys

Raddogair. 'go and read the EVIDENCE the NZ stuff is about road cycling. Of course there must be a reason but no one is sure what it is.

Anecdotes prove nothing as you simply do not know what would have happened without the person wearing the helmet. They might have been injured. They might not have hit their head at all it might have made no difference.

If you want to critique this stuff thats perfectly reasonable and there is plenty to critique – however you need to read it first

Blimey is this still going?

I don't dispute the obvious, if overstated benefits of wearing a lid. I too have had a helmet save me from a skull fracture, I always wear mine and insist the kids do.

..but I'm very much against compulsion and all those who have called TJ (or anyone else) a knob for not wearing one is.. a knob. If they passed a Law making wearing one compulsory I too would ride around with mine dangling from my bars.

My nasty bang on the head was caused in similar circumstanes by someone pulling out on me in a car. They could see me, they just weren't looking.

If the BMA is serious about preventing cyclists head injuries it should be trying to reduce the number of collisions – most obviously by calling for improved driver training, testing and licensing, stiffer penalaties etc.

Make helmets compulsory and all you do is re-inforce the myth that cyclists are a danger to themselves, drive cyclists off the road and remove all the health benefits of cycling.. which the BMA are too well aware of.

Oh and get well soon kit 🙂

Thanks for all the positive comments guys.

Now, can we put this one to bed?! Night night zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Currently my favourite quote on any STW thread is from DANO:
"Lots of motorcyclists suffer from broken necks"
PMSL!!!!

Can't be bothered reading all that, but I see lots of people mentioning racing, DHing, MTBing, skateparks, etc. I'd wear a helmet for those.

I don't wear a helmet for my commute, which is a sedate affair on quiet roads riding a big heavy stable bike in normal clothes.

As a sensible person above said, the risk in any activity is on a spectrum, from lying flat on the floor of a padded room to taking a dive off a tower block onto concrete.

I wouldn't wear a helmet when walking to work, so why would I when cycling relatively slowly on a very similar route?

I'm a bit late to all this but is the argument about a) is it a sensible idea to wear a helmet most of the time? or b) should wearing a helmet be made compulsory?

Personally I'd go for a) yes and b) no.

I don't wear a helmet for my commute, which is a sedate affair on quiet roads riding a big heavy stable bike in normal clothes.

Remember though miketually that this thread is all about Kit being knocked off his bike on his commute whilst on the road. Just because its a quiet well known piece of road for you, it doesn't mean the same about the drivers who potentially could knock you off

The sad fact is that West kipper and TJ have arguments against something which has been proven ( not by guys in white coats in labs or non riding stats people who never ride bikes) by ACTUAL riders on this forum to have saved them from potentially far worse injuries than they did or would of received if they had not wore a helmet. This therefore should be your real scientific studies boys

This is just wrong. Sorry.

Remember though miketually that this thread is all about Kit being knocked off his bike on his commute whilst on the road. Just because its a quiet well known piece of road for you, it doesn't mean the same about the drivers who potentially could knock you off

It started off as that, then became "OMG you'll die if you so much as swing a leg over a bike without wearing a helmet!!!".

As an aside, all the races and events that I know of, be it a Merida, Sleepless, Mayhem, etc etc all insist that you wear a helmet.

I suspect that's as much to do with the litigious times we live in as anything else.

The paramedics love all this safety kit as it just makes their job easier…scooping you off the floor!!

And a darn site less messy!!

Like motorcyclists – I advocate full leathers for all cyclists…. there couldn't be a better body bag than that!

I always wear a helmet when Mountain Biking but never do when on a local loop of tow paths & Canal paths!

Never really thought about it, but reading this is making me think again!

Quite embarrsed to admit how stupid I have been, no longer!

Is this STILL going?!
Can guarantee TJ turning up on every one of these threads… You can prove pretty much anything with statistics and to show the point there's endless info here (from America) on injuries and helmet stats:

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

Particular reference to the following:
Non-helmeted riders are 14 times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than helmeted riders.
A very high percentage of cyclists' brain injuries can be prevented by a helmet, estimated at anywhere from 45 to 88 per cent.
Ninety-five percent of bicyclists killed in 2006 reportedly weren't wearing helmets
Helmets may reduce the risk of death:-
almost three-quarters of fatal crashes (74%) involved a head injury.
nearly all bicyclists who died (97%) were not wearing a helmet.
helmet use among those bicyclists with serious injuries was low (13%), but it was even lower among bicyclists killed (3%).

Everyone has some sort of anecdote about how their helmet may have saved them, about how it may have made it more serious (TJ's favourite rotational injury), you can selectively choose research from anywhere you like to show what you want.
Proof of that can be found in this very funny clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yhN1IDLQjo

Good to hear you're OK Kit, get back on the bike soon.