Bike helmets: C/D?

My father is a biker, in a state where I think helmet laws are mandatory. He has pointed out that some people think that helmets reduce the amount of auditory information you get, which can actually make it more dangerous. Which I'm not sure I buy, but I'm not a biker.

So yeah, helmets save lives, etc.

In an alternate story, I was walking drunk up my street in the dark as a teenager and a guy on a motorbike who I'd never seen before in my life stopped and asked if I wanted a ride and since I could barely see because I was too drunk I thought it was a good idea so I got on the back and we rode around for a while then he dropped me off at my boyfriend's house. It was tremendous fun - leaning over sideways towards the road which looked like a white blur.

In Florida the mandatory motorcycle helmet law has ben repealed. All you have to do is have $10,000 worth of health insurance and you're free to go without protection. And yet the average price of medical treatment for a head injury incurred while riding a motorcycle is somewhere around $350,000, from what I recall.

Yeah, this state should just be cut-off and allowed to sink.

Me girlfriend is against bike helmets, so I am too. I reckon that cycling slowly and carefully is probably all the defence you need. OK so you might fall and hit your head, but you could do that while walking.

having said that, since I got my bike, my beloved has started thinking that maybe bike helmets are not such a bad idea after all.

Haha, okay, wait, I never ever wear my bike helmet unless required for an organized ride or something, but I'm not even going to TRY to argue that they are IN ANY WAY less safe than NOT wearing a helmet!! That is madness! Really they are v important because on average you are going to get hit eventually (city riders especially), and the more you ride, the more your chances go up.

being 'against' bike helmets is retarded

Me girlfriend is against bike helmets, so I am too. I reckon that cycling slowly and carefully is probably all the defence you need. OK so you might fall and hit your head, but you could do that while walking

LOL you complete idiot

i have, since moving back to the city, seen helmets save two dudes brains already.

saved my brain 2 weeks ago.

car pulled out of an entrance straight in front of me, my helmet has a crack on the front right side.

Because Jarlrmai's brain is classic and it was saved by a bike helmet, I vote that said helmets are now proved classic by incontrovertable logic.

has? you didn't get a new helmet? cracks = new helmet times, dude.

i have seen a couple of bike accidents, one with the most injured party wearing a helmet, one not wearing one. so i wear a helmet.

I always wear a helmet. It's cheap insurance and the easiest way to mitigate some of the dangers of biking. Helmets nowadays are so light and well ventilated that it's just really not a big deal to wear one.

Most motorcyclists around here don't wear helmets, which I find baffling. Just last month I saw (shouldn't have looked) the immediate aftermath of a motorcycle accident. The rider didn't make a turn in the road and hit a concrete retaining wall. He died. Maybe a helmet would have saved him.

I'll take "threads you don't remember starting" for $200, Alex.

I CANNOT get the lovely emma b to wear her helmet. I think she doesn't wear it because she likes the feeling of free-spiriting around, hair blowing in the breeze, etc and a helmet would make it all seem planned, serious, un-fun. That 90% of her bike rides are to and from work doesn't appear to have any bearing on this. It drives me INSANE. I even got her a BMX style helmet that looks cooler (but which is potentially less safe) but she won't wear that one either!

i now have a 40 min bike commute each way every day, so my stats have jumped way up; yeah, time to always wear a helmet, sigh. easier to get used to now that it's colder out though.

which helmet looks least stupid please

Personally I think the solid-surface skateboarding or BMX helmets look less douchey, but they are HOT HOT inside. Cold weather will prob take care of that problem, though.

yeah, skate helmets can even look cool if you like crash a lot and put stickers on.

or not.

hell of hot, though.

see also ski helmets if you ride in the winter

I just don't get what is so horrible about wearing a helmet!? It's like, you put it on and.. uh. What is the problem? oh it's the HEAT? well i don't have that problem in london lawls

sleep i got her one that looks like this:

http://www.bellbmx.com/media/content/faction_black_lg.jpg

http://static.backcountry.com/images/items/medium/PRO0018/ASFMGB.jpg

http://app.infopia.com/img/image/fp/VPID/2621858/size/175

http://www.maxlifestyle.net/shopimages/snowboarding/helmets/gir0019l.gif

^^^ the "bad lieutenant" lol

nb those are all ski helmets

This is a nice looking helmet, especially if you remove the visor. But don't be so vain!

http://www.ostrad.de/cms/fileadmin/inhalt_bilder/zubehor/helme/bell_metropolis_schwarz_mittel.jpg

only good in the cold if you ask me, but perfectly safe for yr noggin

i have mashed my head skiing waaaaaaaaay more times than i have biking (which is 0 basically)

xp I have that one, and it looks absolutelyfuckingridiculous on my giant head. "One size fits all" my ass.

i still have my old mid-90s black helmet that i wore for years and i should probably replace even though it's never been in an accident. does the foam etc lose durability over time? i'm guessing it does

bmx style ones look alright and are usually cheaper but they are heavier and yeah pretty warm. i'd rather wear a lighter helmet. i don't know, if i'm on a bike i don't care too much how i look, i guess, because i mean, in my head i'm going so fast people can only see me for a second and then vooom i'm gonnnnne

xpost
that bell one looks okay

i put new tires on my bike yesterday. okay a friend put new tires on my bike and i drank coffee and watched through hangover haze. but yeah they are thin and now i go faster. which is prob also a sign that i need to wear helmet. i'm just trying to convince myself here. p.s. continue with your horror stories.

my only beef with helmets is having to take/remember them in the bar, when i'm riding without a bag of any kind. but that's a relatively minor beef, and, frankly, to and from the bar is precisely when you need a helmet most.

i never wore in montana, don't leave home without here. as i said, have seen two people make trips to the hospital, and have heard countless stories in the last MONTH alone.

Some advice on when to replace you helmet

OK so I went over this see-saw thing once on a freeridey trail and the next thing I knew I was doing a headstand without using my arms. Then I was verrrry dazed and confused and lying on my back. My helmet split in half but aside from bruises and a tacoed wheel I was okay.

thanks for link super cub - i think mine is fine for the rest of the year and i'll get a new one next spring when it gets warm again

river wolf, i carry a smaller lock just for my helmet and use it to lock my helmet to my bike. hey presto! hands free for gesturing and stabbing the air angrily.

rrrobyn:

i was at an alleycat (admittedly not the usual person's ride, but) and it was styled like a crit. dude was making a sharp turn after coming down chicago's only hill, faltered (no idea how) and blew onto the sidewalk, bounced off his head basically, and crumpled to the floor. had a concussion as it was (he was dozey), and probably would have had a closed-head injury had it not been for the helmet (which cracked, but didn't crumple).

other dude was a little drunk, and couldn't get out of his clipless pedals at a stoplight and tipped over right onto his noggin.

third dude was on the lakeshore, and a jogger (HEADPHONES) darted right in front of him, he sweved, and wrapped hisself around a lamppost. hospital, punctured lung, cracked helmet, eetc.

xp good idea!

i'm usually able to fit the lock through a hole in my helmet, actually, even though i've only got a mini u-lock

...or HAD a mini u-lock, until i forgot it in the cab i had to take home (i was the "other dude" above)

http://www.foneblog.ie/photos/24/3f/f736f6dc0031.jpg

that is a picture of half of andrew farrell's helmet after his bike crash last year

horror stories and pics = working

I kinda think the people who look dumbest are the ones hauling ass in city traffic without a helmet.

i understand the casual cyclist not wearing a helmet for fashion or convenience or helmet hair or whatever, but working messengers w/o helmets are just o_O

like, assuming that EVERY cyclist will get clipped after, what, a couple thousand miles on city streets, it just seems retardo to put down 50-60 miles A DAY, in the LOOP/Manhattan/LDN/wherever and not wear a lid. dumb dumb dumb. like, dumber than no brakes, by a long shot.

Classic Ted Talk though - challenge conventional wisdom with some dodgy stats and come up with something counterintuitive that people who don't have much direct experience can post on their Facebook page. Didn't watch enough to see if there was some kind of techno-evangelism shoehorned in but that would be typical.

^

I often feel like I should be wearing while just walking around. I would certainly wear one while biking.

lots of ny's bike lanes can be eventually converted into protected bike lanes. even copenhagen was car-centric in the 60s...these things take time.

if i lived in copenhagen or amsterdam and had it like that i would prob be somewhat torn on the helmet question. where i am? no fuckin way.

Copenhagen bike lanes are amazing, nothing in the US even comes close. Really think good bike infrastructure is the absolute number one step to increasing bike ridership and decreasing bike injury. I'm in NYC and there are some really great places to cycle but getting between those places is a total nightmare - a few reliable, clear, safe ,non-bullshit connective cross-town bike lanes would do more to make people give cycling a chance then ten million Citi brand bicycles or a year of free helmet days. Rant rant rant.

i agree.

exactly. half the problem where I live is getting to the safe places.

Many bike lanes are poorly designed, like the ones where people parallel park on that side of the road and when they open the door it is a beautiful clothesline situation that will launch you OTB.

There is a low level anxiety to riding on the road.

so true casino. and the ted talk dude has a good point that responsibility is placed too often on the bicyclist for lacking proper safety equipment than on drivers that cause many of the accidents. there is a very strong argument for wearing a hemet, but a helmet alone can only do so much without driver awareness and cycling infrastructure.

fwiw, i do a great deal of cycling without a helmet. it's a personal choice, albeit a stupid one.

Did any of you read about the Gary McCourt case? Basically a driver, who had previously been jailed for killing one cyclist due to reckless driving, was given a minor community service sentence for hitting and killing a second cyclist. The reason he wasn't jailed or given a lifetime driving ban? Because the cyclist wasn't wearing a helmet, which apparently was considered a critical factor in her death:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-22397918

I have biked more than 4,000 miles in the last two and a half years, have never so much as fallen off my bike let alone had a crash, and STILL wear my helmet everywhere.

yeah. i've heard it from others, too. i haven't read these studies myself, but like how the hell do the quantify that?

Dr Ian Walker, a traffic psychologist from the University of Bath, used a bicycle fitted with a computer and an ultrasonic distance sensor to record data from over 2,500 overtaking motorists in Salisbury and Bristol.

Dr Walker, who was struck by a bus and a truck in the course of the experiment, spent half the time wearing a cycle helmet and half the time bare-headed. He was wearing the helmet both times he was struck.

He found that drivers were as much as twice as likely to get particularly close to the bicycle when he was wearing the helmet.

Across the board, drivers passed an average of 8.5 cm (3 1/3 inches) closer with the helmet than without

The research has been accepted for publication in the journal Accident Analysis & Prevention.

Whoops, that's from http://www.bath.ac.uk/news/articles/archive/overtaking110906.html

that is a v good point of "you need to be doing a lot more than just wearing a helmet (which is not a catch-all to save you from all perils), though when it comes to "wear helmet" vs "don't wear helmet" the obv answer is of course "wear helmet"

My brother went over his bars without a helmet in october and is lucky to be alive with only a broken arm, three broken fingers, two teeth out, three days of concussion and ongoing physio, and two rounds of plastic surgery on his face, wear a fuckin helmet

thx Phil D

Knock on wood, I've still never gotten into a collision accident while biking, mostly luck and extremely defensive biking while livin in mpls, which has a bike greenway, a couple really nice paths, and a haphazard collection of weirdly designed lanes that have a tendency to suddenly end for no reason. Always wear a helmet.

Sigh. I promised everyone in my life that I would wear one from now on but lately have been relapsing if I'm only going a few blocks for a thing, or just to the train station to go into the city where carrying my helmet with me would be awkward. I know, I know.

I did read someone on a mpls message board explaining that he regularly biked without lights at night to avoid getting mugged on the Greenway (which is a danger, it only has exits every half-mile or so).

My subconscious hatred of helmets sometimes sabotages me where I'll be like, "Your helmet is right there, pick it up on your way out the door" and then get all the way outside without it at the last minute. Basically I have to PUT IT ON MY HEAD while I'm still thinking about it, even if I'm not leaving yet. It's ridiculous.

I think it just got drilled into me at a young enough age that on the rare occasions I bike without one it feels unnatural and I'm constantly aware that I'm NOT WEARING A HELMET OH GOD

My roommate, who regularly commutes by bike and always wears a helmet (and is a man) says cars frequently pass him at terrifyingly close proximity. This doesn't happen to me, hardly ever. Anecdotally, there might be something to the stats about drivers giving women and cyclists w/o helmets more space.

i started commuting by bike in my city last year and got run down by a driver trying to beat me past a corner on practically my first day. not down to inexperience or bad safety practices or inattention on my part - dude just tried to speed around me and forced me to crash.

there are scratches on my helmet from where my head landed. but my knee and my arm were fucked up for weeks, didn't have helmets on those.

aside from the careening deathtraps all around me, feet away, my commute has a couple fairly righteous hills. it would be ridiculous not to wear a helmet going down those.

That dick move is the worst kind of dick move, the "speed up and cut u off." Condolences.

he felt guilty, probably looking to avoid police/insurance involvement - paid out a fair chunk of cash right from his pocket!

a garbage truck side view mirror went by around 6 inches from my shoulder today. the one day in three months that I had forgotten my bike helmet. next time I'm going to just ride back home, get the helmet, and be late.

I went over my handlebars after going through Holborn junction a few years ago, shortly in front of a garbage truck. Didn't even get the few seconds of "ohshitohshit" you usually get, literally just a single image of my bike silhouetted against the sky then waking up in the road thinking "Truck!". Got up quick and ran to the side, starting hurting, and looked back, to see something bouncing around in the middle of the road. It turns out it was half of the back of my helmet (I was still wearing the main of it), having absorbed and dispersed, as was its job. Always wear a helmet.

On the other hand the time or two when I need to go now now now or I'll be late for something I can't be late for, and I realise 5 mins in that I've forgotten my helmet, have been a near-hallucinatory experience as regards how much attention I am paying to EVERYTHING.

^^ The few times I've forgotten my helmet, and realized I didn't have a rear view mirror, I've been all, "I'M BLIND! BLIIIIIND!"

My roommate, who regularly commutes by bike and always wears a helmet (and is a man) says cars frequently pass him at terrifyingly close proximity. This doesn't happen to me, hardly ever. Anecdotally, there might be something to the stats about drivers giving women and cyclists w/o helmets more space.

― lets just remember to blame the patriarchy for (in orbit), Friday, June 7, 2013 3:13 AM (56 minutes ago)

*Total* anecdotal shit here but my bike-obsessed friend (#1 racing champion in the state!) encouraged me to start cycling to work by saying drivers and others are always nicer to female cyclists. Which...? She advised me to ride wearing a skirt, "then people will always stop for you at crosswalks."

i want to see a study that compares passing distance for those in lycra/kit vs street clothes. i swear people give me more time and room when i'm commuting in trousers with a pannier than when i'm on a fitness ride. i'm sure i've written it here before, but i feel like i really have very few hostile or dangerous encounters commuting in the city.

need to try wearing skirt perhaps.

I usu lock my helmet up w/ my bike and it's never been fucked with, and I'll carry it w/ me if it's raining or some shit but I've never minded too much

What kind of helmets do we all like? I wanted a Nutcase for a long while but didn't get one because I was too indecisive about which style to get, which paid off because I wound up changing my mind and wanting something lightweight and venty and so I eventually bought a Spiritualized Echelon II which I looo o o o ove so much, even if it looks like a dorky bike helmet

A Giro helmet at the moment - a big hole at the top for locking the helmet to the bike via a D-Lock is a bonus.

it's true that whether i'm in a car or on a bike, i think that i have to keep a closer eye on bicyclists in full lycra gear, i assume that they'll be going faster and trying to maintain that speed.

i googled "spiritualized echelon" and an ilx post by you on another thread was the first result, stevie. xp

lol

I keep meaning to get a helmet but hate the idea of a strap under my chin/close to my neck. In the meantime I mostly cycle so slowly that a topple would not (I hope) send me flying.

An ugly, basic Bell one. I only bought it for an organized ride that required helmets.

SPECIALIZED, fuck, I always do that

when i go out on main roads i borrow my dad's helmet, a giro i think. i should probably wear them more often as i have been hit by cars multiple times in my life as a pedestrian because of absent mindedness, but have never been injured.

The chin straps are really hard to adjust, which is annoying in the winter when sometimes I wear a hat or hoodie underneath and sometimes I don't. If I'm not wearing a hat, the thing is so loose it can almost fall off.

haha "spiritualized echelon" is going to be my new display name.

That Giro in matte black looks aaaahhhhsome

my helmet is super comfy and lightweight and the chinstrap is p easy to adjust IMO, and it is cool and breezy on hot summer days. It is everything a helmet should be. Behold:

http://mikesbikes.com/images/library/zoom/spec_esc_blk_13_z.jpg

OH and it has a clicky wheel in the back that adjusts the size so you can wear it with a hat or without

I have a similar helmet with the adjustable thingy. Then I use this mirror, which attaches to your vents with zip ties.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81lWgebN8nL._SL1500_.jpg

The clicky wheel is key, mine has that and it's great. But I also have to add height in the strap, which like I said is a several-minute enterprise that I usually end up trying to achieve at a stoplight with gloves on (my own fault, clearly).

i had like 6 old team helmets leftover from previous years' racing, and used them for commuting purpose. it's been 11 years since i stopped, and after crashes and general abuse, i'm down to the last one (and it's in pretty bad shape). i guess my next one i can get a commuter style helmet.

I would love to ride to work everyday - it's a flat 6mi each way, I've tested it and it's faster than my current PT commute - but riding on the road gives me serious anxiety. so many drivers in my area are such dick bags to cyclists, and I'm too afraid to call people out since the time I shook my head disgustedly at a guy on a scooter who had just pulled out right in front me, then proceeded to follow me home (he kept pulling over and waiting for me to get a little ahead and then following right behind me). It was really scary and luckily part of my ride was a bike path so I managed to lose him.

Brother crashed a few years ago, and broke the bone at the base of his skull/top of spin - 2/3rds of which injury are seen in post-mortems. Fortunately made a full recovery - wears helmet now. It's very sensible to wear a helmet - you are vulnerable not only to your own mistakes, but the mistakes of others around you, as well as tacitly aggressive driving, which is common, and deliberately aggressive driving, which is a lot less common but still frequent + your head is fragile and important! Still the most important thing you can do is make sure you do not undertake large vehicles - it's pure insanity, and helmets make no difference to that sort of accident, where you get crushed or dragged under.

Of course, there's also absolutely no excuse for this sort of judgment, which is completely disgraceful:

"The sheriff said Mrs Fyffe "wasn't to blame in any way for the accident", but added: "She was not wearing a safety helmet and that in my view contributed to her death."

The driver is responsible for the death, not the cyclist and not the cyclist not wearing a helmet. It's a line pushed quite a lot in this sort of accident and it sickens me.

With proper and well maintained cycling infrastructure there should be no need to wear a helmet. If you live in a quiet city, or are cycling with a low likelihood of traffic (and not descending or in a racing group) there shouldn't be any need either. With what we've got in the UK at the moment, and London specifically, which is better than many places in the UK but not by much, I think you're probably well advised to. Poor road surfaces are as dangerous as anything else for a cyclist, and there's plenty of that about. Traffic moves fast and close, and often stupidly and dangerously.

That said, I now feel generally safer cycling in the city than where I grew up cycling, in the countryside - gti boyracer cars, plus huge SUVs and a general increase in the amount of power and a reduction in other types of users on the road, means cycling down an awful lot of narrow, winding country lanes feels like taking your life in your hands, but maybe that's because I don't do it as regularly as I used to.

I am a bit leery of the reports that say drivers tend to pass closer to cyclists wearing helmets. I sometimes wear a helmet, sometimes a cap, sometimes nothing - I know, I know - and notice absolutely no difference cycling in London or in the countryside. Whatever you're wearing, there are considerate drivers, inconsiderate drivers and malicious drivers, and that must play a greater part than any to me dubious sounding psychological factor.