'Wearing a bike helmet is useless'

Father in law just told me about this –

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2644459/Wearing-bike-helmet-useless-Leading-neurosurgeon-claims-theyve-little-help-crash-patients-hes-treated.html

Not so sure about the hat and boots

My helmet is useless.

It was just on Radio 4 – bloke from the CTC and a different neurosurgeon. Usual arguments ensued…

I sometimes wonder why I wear one on the road bike. Habit more than anything…

How would you challenge the “evidence” if you were on the other side of the debate?

I get the argument that they are useless in many situations, but having had two crashes* over the years that cracked my helmet in two, I’ll carry on wearing one just in case.
Of course YMMV and it’s all down to personal choice.

*One crash was on an MTB and involved a head-on with a tree, the other on the road and involved a car, my head and the road’s surface.

I nipped my helmet in my zip this morning. **** smarted, I can tell you.

My helmet’s useless, can’t even make a cup of tea.
I’ll keep wearing it though cos It makes me look as though I’ve got some common sense.

thing is he states that he’s only been knocked off once. If he’d hit his head on tarmac without a lid and then with one, I feel he may take a different view. But yes, I understand the basis that injuries will still be likely in some circumstances.

The seatbelt and airbags on my car are also useless. In all the car trips I have had where I haven’t crashed they have done F all. Complete waste of money.

Just because some knob on the radio has a theory, it won’t change my views on bike helmets. Tarmac or concrete is effin hard, and my head would hurt if it hit it. Putting an inch of polystyrene between my head and the road can only help my head to hurt a little less…..

I’ve hit Tarmac at 30mph without a helmet. I didn’t die.

It did hurt though.

I’ve hit Tarmac at 30mph without a helmet. I didn’t die.

That certainly explains a thing or two. 😉

i should imagine without one, your brains going to get shaken / knocked to a much greater degree which cannot be good.

hit Tarmac at 30mph without a helmet. I didn’t die.
You didn’t actually land on your head though did you?

Knocked myself out cold for about 5 mins. Lost two days.

Skateboards are dangerous…

If it keeps some of the skin on my head when the wife comes to identify me then that’s worth it to me.

Helmet Saved My Life Club.

Member forever. Study or no study, if the rock that split my TSG entered my head first, goodness knows.

Hmm. I’ll keep wear g them thanks on and off road.

I’ve had two big falls where I’m sure the helmet did its job. One was an OTB on Stanadge where I landed on my head on a rock and my Xen split bit I was fine. Two weeks ago I mashed my head on the floor and knocked myself out. Looking at the scuffs and gouges on the helmet I’m glad that was wearing it.

as above some big crashes on road and off without a helmet I dread to think of the consequences……………

wear a helmet ………….. if in doubt ask James Cracknell

I Went over the bars in the 80’s and hit the road on my head. Split my skull and lost 6months. Have also had a snapped fork on a newly gravelled road that resulted in my ear having to be sewn back on. The wearing off a helmet may or may not have reduced injuries in both cases.

I bike pretty often and now always wear a helmet getting through 1 to 2 a year and have a standard crash replacement letter to Madison ready printed for the next one.

All of which is circumstantial evidence, however head scaring is factually much reduced since wearing helmets.

The young Tour de France rider who died without a helmet…

Tarmac is nasty stuff. I’d prefer the helmet to take the hard shockwave’ thanks….

I had someone in the shop tell me about this bloke on the radio earlier. He immediately decided to stop wearing his helmet and said he will never bother again…

Idiot

The young Tour de France rider who died without a helmet…

Wouter Weylandt died with a helmet on. Bike racing is dangerous. If you hit the armco coming down an Alp at 50mph a polystyrene hat ain’t going to help much.

This debate is very boring. Wear a helmet if you want to, don’t get your knickers in a twist if someone else doesn’t, and vice-versa, end of discussion. We should concentrate on what really kills people on the roads: dangerous **** in cars and vans and lorries.

Wear a helmet if you want to, don’t get your knickers in a twist if someone else doesn’t

This. Should be stickied

No Fabio Casartelli

This daily fail piece is yet another example of public misunderstanding of science. The man’s comments are given more credence because of his position but his opinions are not based on a systematic study and are as subject to bias as anyone elses, perhaps more so as he only sees a particular group of injured cyclists.

And that’s assuming that he hasn’t been completely misquoted and taken out of context.

Well i split a helmet in two in a crash a while back. I felt a teeny bit woozy, and had a friction burn on my head from the pad against my forehead.

Pretty sure i wouldn’t have fared so well if it had been only my skull that took the impact.

I’ll keep wearing mine.

I should imagine it depends very much on the overall impact. If you get hit by a lorry at 50mph nothing is going to make a difference, but a car at 20mph could make the difference between life and death.

Having broken a few helmets mountain-biking I wouldn’t be without one off-road. Last time I dislocated my shoulder after landing on my head. Think it would have been a gonna…

Spin what he actually said was in the context of road riding and in conjuction with what he wears on the bike.

When I dont wear a helmet, took socks in everyone gives me a wide berth. In cycling gear I look SOFT TARGET CENTRAL

I should imagine it depends very much on the overall impact. If you get hit by a lorry at 50mph nothing is going to make a difference, but a car at 20mph could make the difference between life and death.

Having broken a few helmets mountain-biking I wouldn’t be without one off-road. Last time I dislocated my shoulder after landing on my head. Think it would have been a gonna…

I think, to be fair, the actual impact reduction capability of a just-passes-the-CEN helmet is actually pretty damn small. It’s an old standard, there’s no CE2 for it, really not great that. So yeah, they’re definitely limited. But useless? Not convinced at all.

(I do think it’s weird that kneepads don’t have the same acceptance as helmets- the protection is actually higher, knees are pretty bloomin delicate, and IME they take a lot more solid hits than heads)

Mass helmet wearing doesn’t seem to do much for injury or death rates, in countries where laws have been tried. I gave up wearing one on road many years ago. I do wear one mtbing, as I reckon the chances of hitting my head on a rock or branch at moderate speed (where a helmet is most likely to be effective) are much much higher.

No Fabio Casartelli

Yeah, I know who you were talking about. WW was an example of another pro rider who died whilst racing, but he died despite wearing a helmet. They’re not some sort of magic armour. There’s no knowing whether or not a helmet would have saved Casartelli, it’s just pointless speculation.

Where the injury occured at the top of the head. A helmet would have lessened the impact.

Anything that LESSENS is better than finger in the wind/winging it. Agree?

If you travel at speed a helmet will definitely help in the unfortunate but inevitable off. Also helps your fellow riders, I’m sure they don’t want to scrape your scalp and worse off of the object that moved into your way..

No Fabio Casartelli
Yeah, I know who you were talking about. WW was an example of another pro rider who died whilst racing, but he died despite wearing a helmet. They’re not some sort of magic armour. There’s no knowing whether or not a helmet would have saved Casartelli, it’s just pointless speculation.

Wouter Weyland suffered massive facial injuries, his helmet was still in place and looked undamaged. The Docs were cutting the straps in a desperate battle to revive him.

I don’t remember Castarelli as well but didn’t he slide into a concrete block which are quiet common in France ? Think the top of his head bore the brunt so a helmet may have helped.

Let’s face it in them kind of incidents at that speed nothings going to work 100 %, young Taylor Vernon who races for GT Factory Racing smashed his back in last year despite having a back protector on.

Normal riding I think they will make a difference between injury or no injury or at least make things less worse.

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