Helmets

art_for_arts_sake

cinderfella wrote: »

I remember back in the sixties when they introduced helmets for motor cyclists, one of the reasons was to save surgeons time repairing smashed skulls. My neighbour who was a few years older than me (a young man) came off his scooter/motorbike just prior to the introduction of the compulsory wearing of helmets. He suffered serious brain injuries & it took him about 10 years to return to 'normality'.
The Dutch have a good infrastructure in their cities for cyclists. In London I have watched with horror at the way many people on two wheels seem to play russian roulette with the traffic. Having said that it is also a very dangerous place for pedestrians. With buses being allowed to go through red lights at certain junctions I think the golden rule is to obey the pedestrian green light at all times when crossing roads.
I think the young folk on two wheels need to be protected from their own over confidence & inexperience on the roads & that is why we have helmet rules in this country. Not forgetting of course that we also need to protect the plain stupid who would rather not wear a helmet for their own obscure reasons.

No idea what country you're posting from but this site is UK based. The UK Highway Code only advises helmet use for cyclists, it is not compulsory. Most youngsters, particularly BMX and mountain bikers, appear to choose to wear helmets. If they are over confident or inexperienced then helmet use won't make them any less so, it doesn't bestow any magic powers or intelligence. I'm a little concerned that you think that choosing not to wear a helmet is in any way an unintelligent decision, people who have posted on here that they don't wear a helmet have probably chosen not to do so after examining all of the evidence available from both pro-helmet and anti-helmet lobbyists.

Dave_C_2

cinderfella wrote: »

I remember back in the sixties when they introduced helmets for motor cyclists ...

You do realise that a motor cycle helmet is very different to a bicycle helmet. Indeed it is illegal to use a bicycle helmet on a motor bike.

This is because a motor cycle helmet would be too hot and heavy for bicycle use. Obviously a compromise has been made to provide lightness and ventilation, so the bicycle helmet offers nowhere near the protection of a motorcycle helmet.

Dave

Buellguy

Dave_C wrote: »

You do realise that a motor cycle helmet is very different to a bicycle helmet. Indeed it is illegal to use a bicycle helmet on a motor bike.

This is because a motor cycle helmet would be too hot and heavy for bicycle use. Obviously a compromise has been made to provide lightness and ventilation, so the bicycle helmet offers nowhere near the protection of a motorcycle helmet.

Dave

Won't argue with that one, my motorbike helmet weighs 1.5kg (not hot though, loads of vents (alright they only really work over about 30mph LOL).
On the cycle though, personally I wear one, makes me look like a tit!! who cares having bounced my head off a car bonnet at 40mph on the motorbike I wouldn't not wear one (didn't even get a headache, although that could have been the morphine due to fractured elbow and broken thumb )
But then it's the same with gloves, hitting the floor at 20-30mph the first thing you do is put hands down (oh and 40mph) tarmac road = sandpaper

art_for_arts_sake

Dave_C wrote: »

You do realise that a motor cycle helmet is very different to a bicycle helmet. Indeed it is illegal to use a bicycle helmet on a motor bike.

This is because a motor cycle helmet would be too hot and heavy for bicycle use. Obviously a compromise has been made to provide lightness and ventilation, so the bicycle helmet offers nowhere near the protection of a motorcycle helmet.

Dave

Even present-day bicycle helmets are considerably lighter than their predecessors, and the increased ventilation and thin or even absent outer shell have increased the possibility of rotational forces causing injuries to the brain and spine, from the friction of the helmet on the road surface. http://www.bhsi.org/chinstrp.pdf There have been calls to test for this effect, which has been studied in motorcycle helmets, where a harder shell has been found to reduce friction, but current cycle helmet tests don't consider this.

Some neurosurgeons believe that cycle helmets can actually increase the severity of brain injuries.

One of the reasons I started wearing a helmet was after much research I managed to find one that wasn't riddled with holes and had a reasonably tough exterior. It does a great job of keeping my head dry when winter cycling .

SailorSam

Is anyone watching Stephen Fry C4, the gadgets show.
He's just been testing the latest cycle helmet, it's like a collar but with a built in helmet that goes off automatically if you're in a crash just like the air bag in your car.
It can only be used once and costs over £400

Idiophreak

Buellguy wrote: »

But then it's the same with gloves, hitting the floor at 20-30mph the first thing you do is put hands down (oh and 40mph) tarmac road = sandpaper

Why would you bring gloves into this! We're having enough difficulty with helmets!

"I know a bunch of people who've wrecked their gloves in slides"
"Well my hand's not just going to fall apart like a glove...so why would I bother wearing one"

And off we go again

thelawnet

Thankfully no-one is compelling cyclists to wear gloves

unsure

I wouldn't cycle without a helmet now, I used to, but after getting knocked off my bike on a busy roundabout in London some 20 years ago and ending up with a head injury and concussion, I wouldn't ride without one now. On that occasion i considered myself lucky, when you come off a bike in busy traffic where and how you land, and how close the next vehicle is, are all in the lap of the gods! Whatever protection you've got is worth having at that point.

In the intervening years I've come off my bike a few times usually, but not always as a result of driver-induced collisions. The best one was a white van man who decided to turn across the carriageway to turn left just as I was passing a junction. He hit me full on (mercifully at fairly slow speed) and bike and I went airborne. Fortunately bike landed between me and him and I was wearing a helmet...don't know if it saved me serious injury but I was certainly happy to be wearing it!

The real issue of cycling safety is road/cycle track infrastructure. More real cycle tracks (not foot wide paint strips on the road!) segregated from cars would make cycling safer and would encourage more people to take to their bikes. Since that's unlikely to happen I'm very happy to do whatever I reasonably can to ensure my safety on my bike.

However, my wife who is generally far more safety conscious/ cautious than I, insists our children wear helmets but won't wear one herself because it "spoils my hair". The argument that spoiled hair is better than a spoiled head does not go down well!

Marco_Panettone

cinderfella wrote: »

I remember back in the sixties when they introduced helmets for motor cyclists, one of the reasons was to save surgeons time repairing smashed skulls. My neighbour who was a few years older than me (a young man) came off his scooter/motorbike just prior to the introduction of the compulsory wearing of helmets. He suffered serious brain injuries & it took him about 10 years to return to 'normality'.
The Dutch have a good infrastructure in their cities for cyclists. In London I have watched with horror at the way many people on two wheels seem to play russian roulette with the traffic. Having said that it is also a very dangerous place for pedestrians. With buses being allowed to go through red lights at certain junctions I think the golden rule is to obey the pedestrian green light at all times when crossing roads.
I think the young folk on two wheels need to be protected from their own over confidence & inexperience on the roads & that is why we have helmet rules in this country. Not forgetting of course that we also need to protect the plain stupid who would rather not wear a helmet for their own obscure reasons.

That isn't true either. There may be separate lights for buses, but they are certainly not allowed to go through red lights.

Dave_C_2

SailorSam wrote: »

Is anyone watching Stephen Fry C4, the gadgets show.
He's just been testing the latest cycle helmet, it's like a collar but with a built in helmet that goes off automatically if you're in a crash just like the air bag in your car.
It can only be used once and costs over £400

The latest cycle helmet that was in the guardian six months ago http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/bike-blog/2012/may/22/airbag-bike-helmet-way-forward
I agree that the £400 price tag is a bit off-putting.
Dave