If you don't wear a helmet when cycling, why not?

[Wess]

They're compulsory here in Oz...and it shits me to tears....



<awaits to be chastised by Toby and having him tell me/us how stupid people must be if they don't wear full metal protective clothing with spotlights on their helmet....and that everyone should be in bed by 3 in the afternoon and not play loud music.>.

 

[jugularvein]

it's not a question of whether you should or you shouldn't. of course it can save your life. ten again it can do nothing. but you should wear one.
i don't

 

[Stoffer]

I got a cheap helmet from Argos, and it's not one of the coolest ones you can get, shall we say. The nicer ones are bloody expensive! Does anyone know where I can get a nice, reasonably priced one?

 

[WasGeri]

This thread has shamed me into wearing mine again.

 

[tobyjug]

They're compulsory here in Oz...and it shits me to tears....



<awaits to be chastised by Toby and having him tell me/us how stupid people must be if they don't wear full metal protective clothing with spotlights on their helmet....and that everyone should be in bed by 3 in the afternoon and not play loud music.>.

Personally I could not give a fuck about people who are too bloody stupid not to wear safety equipment. (It got rid of fucking Diana Spencer)The more of them that die the more space there is on the road for everyone else.
I am always amazed at some family groups out cycling, the children are wearing reflective jackets and helmets whilst mummy and daddy are not.
Thank mummy and daddy possibly more orphans for the state to look after.

 

[Spion]

Personally I could not give a fuck about people who are too bloody stupid not to wear safety equipment. (It got rid of fucking Diana Spencer)The more of them that die the more space there is on the road for everyone else.
I am always amazed at some family groups out cycling, the children are wearing reflective jackets and helmets whilst mummy and daddy are not.
Thank mummy and daddy possibly more orphans for the state to look after.

Toby, could you please suffix your posts with the appropriate 'smilies' in future so we know how to read your feelings on an issue?

 

[tobyjug]

Toby, could you please suffix your posts with the appropriate 'smilies' in future so we know how to read your feelings on an issue?

I would have thought my feelings very clear.

 

[techno_turtle]

I never used to wear one, and for many years I tear arsed around the Kent countryside and lately London. Until one day, three years ago, I woke up in hospital. Came off my bike (still not sure how- amnesssia about accident). Had smacked my head on s/thing hard around the temple area. A helmut would have stopped the injury being so severe. Luckily the swelling went up and out and not in, or I would have been in trouble. The grapefruit size swelling went down and I was left with bruising and cuts.

I always wear one now. And it definately saved my life when I was attacked by a psycho car passanger. But thats another story (which I did tell on here at the time, but basically i was dragged of my bike and along the road in a very deliberate attack after an arguement).

Funnily enough (and thanfully ) I have been accident free lately - and in 20 odd years of cycling thats pretty good. Still riding everywhere as public transport in London stresses me out, even before recent events.

So I say wear one

 

[gentlegreen]

did you know the CE test for helmets is conducted at 11mph?...plenty of people run at 11mph or faster, maybe they should be wearing helmets too?

I did used to be very clumsy, and being tall, at least once bounded through the front door and whacked the doorframe with my temple - luckily the wood "gave" ..In general though I'm very stable on my pins.

I cycle 8 miles a day and have fallen off a few times in 17 years and never actually hit my head. But I feel undressed without a helmet and though I have an "attitude" and "face off" oncoming cars I'd hate to be injured by a glancing blow from a pole or a wall ...

The only time I didn't wear one was a sort of "date" when we were dawdling along the cyclepath ...

When I were younger I did ride up and down the main road on my Norton Commando helmetless a couple of times and got caught on the last occaision I did it - £10 fine

.

 

[GarfieldLeChat]

I got a cheap helmet from Argos, and it's not one of the coolest ones you can get, shall we say. The nicer ones are bloody expensive! Does anyone know where I can get a nice, reasonably priced one?

mines got a carbon fiber toplayer thing (dunno if it's any stronger or not as a result) but i got mine from two wheels good...

(Awaits people to say that i should have gone to some other fooking cycle shop, cos of some random facist reason they think they can tell others what to do whilst posturing)

tbh i'd rather look like a mushroom than end up a vegitable. We used to cycle to school back in the day when the only helmets you could get were the big plasticy orange ice hockey/american football/bmx/idiot type helemts...
the school made us all wear em after, couple of lads went under a school bus, one was in a coma for 4 years before they decided to pull the plug... the other guy had been wearing a hemlet and a large rucksack which protected his back to a point nad his head to a point and just had cuts and brusies and a broken leg... at that point i thought i know which i'd rather have... since then worn a helemet... tho if i'm just nippin down the shops 5 mins away then i still don't... it's a generational thing isn't it like the seat bealt laws... sooner or later it's going to be compulsory and it bloody well should be too...

 

[J77]

I'm one who believes that you have better visuals without one on - tho' some people I see riding bikes should definitely wear one - the people with 'balance' problems...

 

[christonabike]

Been riding to work for three weeks now, 6 miles, and didn't wear a helmet

Yesterday I went and got one as I can see myself riding head first into something

I also got one so if I have a bash, there may be 1% more chance of being alive for my loved one

 

[maomao]

I only ever wear a helmet off road. On road it restricts my vision and makes me feel uncomfortable. I've come off my bike enough times and it's always my knees that get it. Kneepads for cyclists and helmets for people in cars would do more good all in.

 

[subversplat]

Don't want to mess up my hair.

 

[Orang Utan]

My mate Daren was knocked off his bike last month and hit his head - he was in a coma for two weeks and nearly didn't wake up - thankfully he did and he looks like he'll make a full recovery - if he gets to ride again, I'm sure he'll be wearing a helmet - the reasons given so far for not wearing one have shocked me - they're either reckless vanity or pompous self-justification. It's all very well saying it's up to the rider, but no-one wants to see someone's brains dashed out on the tarmac in front of them and no family member wants to have to make the decision not to resuscitate a loved one after they have stopped breathing for the fifth time.

 

[robotsimon]

I never really understand why people get het up about this issue. I always (well, 99.9% of the time) wear a helmet when riding on or off road but I couldn't really give a toss if other people choose not to. It's their choice - presumably they have weighed up the risks.

I know there are some studies which question the effectiveness of helmets, there are also lots which seem to suggest they are a good thing. My personal assessment of the risks leads me to wear a helmet - I know I've had a few knocks where my helmet has saved me, not necessarily from death, but from a nasty headache and stitches.

However, if people feel uncomfortable wearing a helmet because it makes them feel self-conscious, they find it unbearably hot and sweaty, they are worried about rotational forces on their neck if the come off, I'd much rather they rode a bike without a helmet rather than not ride a bike at all.

 

[oneflewover]

I only ever wear a helmet off road. On road it restricts my vision and makes me feel uncomfortable. I've come off my bike enough times and it's always my knees that get it. Kneepads for cyclists and helmets for people in cars would do more good all in.

Not quite the opposite but close. I used to very rarely ride on-road, luckily within 100yds of my house is open land, woodland and canal. All my riding is helmet less. All the falls have been grazes to knees and elbows due to falls being "low side" generally due to excessive speed an poor surfaces.

Since the train timetable change last June, the times do not coincide with work and i'm having to do the 4.5miles into the centre of Leeds to catch a different train. Now this is a whole different ball game, mainly due to drivers, but also to the fact that I rarely stop completely at a red light always nudging to be away first from the vehicles, I now always wear a helmet and a good pair of gloves.


Up The Tigers

 

[gentlegreen]

I now always wear a helmet and a good pair of gloves.

I forgot this key point - I might cycle up the road without a helmet but never without gloves. I reckon that I am better able to control the way I land in the (unlikely) event of a fall knowing I'm wearing gloves. I have similar feelings about people who drive cars wearing inappropriate footwear and might hesitate to brake quickly enough.

.

 

[tommers]

I always wear a helmet when i commute in london. my last accident i had, I can't remember. I had concussion enough to phone my mum and girlfriend multiple times to tell them about it, without remembering that I had rung them ten minutes before. I had road rash all down my face, and I was wearing a helmet. If I hadn't then god knows what would have happened, I would think hospital at the very least.

I don't see that there is an argument against wearing them. I don't find they restrict my vision. I think (altho I could be wrong) that I am just as careful with one as I was without, and I already look stupid (I mean who really is going to pull as they cycle to work?) As our yankee doodle friends would say "It's a no-brainer!"

or something.

 

[Major Tom]

I always wear a helmet when cycling to work, but if I'm going for a ride on my day off I usually don't. The way I justify this is that I figure cycling quickly through the rush hour is more dangerous and a more leisurely ride on my day off is more conducive to comfort, feeling the wind in my hair etc. Perhaps if I'm honest with myself though, vanity may play a part. So if you don't wear a helmet when cycling, is this because of vanity, or because you just don't think it's that dangerous, or you like a bit of danger(perhaps another of my subconcious reasons), or it just feels freer and more comfortable, or what?

I don;t need to justify anything - why not start a thread asking if motorists or pedestrians wear helmets and if not why not?

 

[George & Bill]

There are those that say that it's there personal right not to wear a helmet. This is analogous to the m/c helmet wearing law argument, which is only justifiable imo when you say, "OK, take the extra risk if you want, but if you expect my tax-funded NHS to scoop you up afterwards, then you'd better wear a helmet to at least reduce the costs". FWIW, I think if people could pay a premium to their vehicle insurance to cover the additional health insurance risk, they should be allowed to ride without a helmet (although that would be hard to enforce, I suppose).

presumably the fat should only be given treatment for heart problems if they've taken steps to reduce their weight, and NHS skin cancer treatment should be denied to irresponsible sunbathers? What happens if I ride my bike without a helmet but brush my teath three times a day? Maybe we can introduce a system of risk-credits?

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

I've thought about this a lot since this was posted up. I don't wear a helmet, mainly because I'm of the opinion that (1) with the amount of times I've fallen off and not been injured (One broken collar bone) I must be charmed, and (2) I'm not sure it will help me if i get squashed by a lorry anyway.

More seriously, I feel that my bright yellow fluro jacket is much more important in making other road users aware of my presence and thus reducing the chance of them running me over. I feel that I am a very safe cyclist generally, I don't take stupid risks (other than cycling thru the centre of London daily), don't cycle pissed anymore (usually), and the discomfort my partner says she experiences wearing hers are all reasons not to.

However, when my kids lived up here in London, this question was much more pertinent when my ex and I began taking them to school on their bikes - they were both encouraged to wear helmets and would both ask (not unreasonably) "why do we have to wear them if you don't?". Couldn't really answer with any credibility but now they live in Cornwall and I still don't wear a helmet. I have to say that I think cycling along with a walkman/Ipod on is much more dangerous than not wearing a helmet in any event...

 

[gentlegreen]

. I have to say that I think cycling along with a walkman/Ipod on is much more dangerous than not wearing a helmet in any event...

why ?

I'm sorry but if you're relying on hearing what the half asleep motorist is doing then it's way too late. Key thing is to wear semi-open cans ...

edited to say I did find it inadvisable to ride my Norton Commando with The Who's "Won't get Fooled Again" playing at high volume !

Why not wear a helmet ? - maybe it's because I have no hair and wear a hat a great deal of the time anyway....

.

 

[tobyjug]

now they live in Cornwall and I still don't wear a helmet....

Assuming you live in Cornwall as well, why not? It is just as dangerous on a bicycle here as it is anywhere else. (Especially in the I have left my brain East of the Tamar I am a tourist season).

 

[EatMoreChips]

why ?

I'm sorry but if you're relying on hearing what the half asleep motorist is doing then it's way too late. Key thing is to wear semi-open cans ...

edited to say I did find it inadvisable to ride my Norton Commando with The Who's "Won't get Fooled Again" playing at high volume !

Why not wear a helmet ? - maybe it's because I have no hair and wear a hat a great deal of the time anyway....

.

I think it's illegal to use a walkman/iPod thing while cycling here. You can hear a car coming up behind you before you see them, after all.

I wear one of those skateboard style helmets. They look better and feel stronger, although they're probably much less safe, knowing my luck.

 

[WasGeri]

Well, it's been hot again recently so the helmet has been thrown back into the cupboard.

Interesting letter to our local paper today which argued that helmets made you less able to concentrate. I do find this to be true in my case - it's much easier to turn my head and stay alert without my helmet on.

 

[gentlegreen]

I think it's illegal to use a walkman/iPod thing while cycling here. You can hear a car coming up behind you before you see them, after all.

you mean you actually move out of the way when a car approaches from behind ?
I endeavour to be in their faces at all times.
Actually as I said my headphones are fairly open in any case and I can cycle and chew gum at the same time

 

[Major Tom]

I think it's illegal to use a walkman/iPod thing while cycling here. You can hear a car coming up behind you before you see them, after all.

Even with my digital radio on I can hear the traffic around me perfectly well. Traffic noise is usually so high it drown out my radio anyway.

This is not so with many motorists who pass me on the roads - their stereo alone can be loud enough to drown out whatever i've got coming out of my headphones. I'd suggest that they may have a problem with hearing the traffic. In that case why do cyclists need to hear the traffic anyway? I have a right to my place on the road, and always indicate clearly, looking behind me if necesssary if I want to make a manouvre.

Where's 'here'. I've had the police once suggest that I shouldn't wear headphones while cycling, but they clearly had no powers to enforce that, or they would have done.

I once had a woman attack me on Kilburn High Street cos I had a walkman on - and that was as a pedestrian! She walked out of a shop straight into my path and I bumped into her. I apologised, but once she saw I had a walkman on she tried to get it off me, blaming my headphones for the collision, and then tried to hit me with a stick she was carrying.

 

[EatMoreChips]

you mean you actually move out of the way when a car approaches from behind ?

Sometimes, if it sounds like a particularly psychotic car. On a lot of roads the cyclists have the outside lane to themselves, but there's the odd nutter who tries to beat traffic by jumping in and charging along at a ridiculous speed. Best to get out of the way then.

Where's 'here'.

Chicago. Don't know if it's a city law or a national law though...

 

[JWH]

presumably the fat should only be given treatment for heart problems if they've taken steps to reduce their weight

Well, possibly - another way to look at it would be an extra tax on sugar or booze to cover the associated health costs - but then the UK has never been very keen on hypothecating (ring fencing) taxes (probably a good idea). In the case of helmet wearing, the only imo possible argument for making it compulsory for adults would be the extra cost to the NHS by additional treatment - and you could get around that by issuing insurance. But seeing as no-one is suggesting making it compulsory (which isn't a good idea imo), then it's nothing too heavy to worry about.

PS you missed the bit where I said "I realise this argument is ful of holes and inconsistencies, too. "...