Helmets optional?!

[Li Mu Bai]

It amazes me how many I still see riding trails without a lid. Seriously, I bang my helmet at least once a week on tree branches.

you must be doing it all wrong...

[Cellar]

TBH, I would have flipped the bird too. If you want to instruct random strangers what to do, expect an obnoxious response.

 

Love it. This should go in the greeting random strangers thread as well.

[Cassie]

Here's the final say on whether to wear a helmut or not...

{Pic taken from this weekend, when I ran out of talent at Oak Valley 24hr...}

 

 

 

Now imagaine what my head would have looked like if i did not have a nut protector on???

 

'Nuff said....

[GLuvsMtb]

OK you see a guy without a helmut on. You

a) tell him that he's a f#&*ing idiot for not wearing one and you hope he dies a painful death

b) politely enquire on the reason why he prefers to cycle with a helmut and educate him on the benefits of wearing one

c) ask him how cool you look, as you are not wearing a helmut too.

[GaryvdM]

Here's the final say on whether to wear a helmut or not...

{Pic taken from this weekend, when I ran out of talent at Oak Valley 24hr...}

 

Now imagaine what my head would have looked like if i did not have a nut protector on???

 

'Nuff said....

 

I just want to make my position clear. If you are doing competitive sport, you probably should wearing. But just because the only time you touch your bike is for competitive sport, does not mean that is the same for everyone else. It really grates me when people see someone who is ploding along in a leisurely ride in the park or down the strip, or popping down to the shops without a helmet, and calls them stupid. All you that you are achieving, is discouraging them from cycling.

[GLuvsMtb]

I know that helmets are not optional (they are required by law when riding on a public road in South Africa.) However, I believe this law is bad, and helmets should be optional.

 

If you would like to know my reasons: please go and do some reading here: http://cyclehelmets.org/.

OK so wearing a safety harness and a hard hat on a construction site, wearing a seat belt or using a car seat for your child would also encourage reckless behavior?

[GaryvdM]

OK so wearing a safety harness and a hard hat on a construction site, wearing a seat belt or using a car seat for your child would also encourage reckless behavior?

 

You are putting words in my mouth. The risk compensation factor is not a reason why I believe helmet laws/promotion are a bad thing.

 

The reasons why I believe helmet laws/promotion is a bad thing are:

• they discourage and reduce cycling^ref,
  
• this has a knock on effect of making cycling on the roads more dangerous^ref.
  
• Giving a person that would choose not to cycle if required to use a helmet, but who would cycle without a helmet, the health benefits of cycling greatly out weigh the increase in risk of not wearing a helmet.
  

Also, please don't compare seat belts to cycle helmets. Seat belts provide far better protection to car occupants (72% fatality reduction in head-on crashes, for example Crandall, Olson and Sklar, 2001) than helmets provide for bicyclists (no proven reduction for fatal or disabling head injuries – BHRF, 1012; BHRF, 1013).

Edited February 5, 2014 by GaryvdM

[GaryvdM]

OK you see a guy without a helmut on. You

a) tell him that he's a f#&*ing idiot for not wearing one and you hope he dies a painful death

b) politely enquire on the reason why he prefers to cycle with a helmut and educate him on the benefits of wearing one

c) ask him how cool you look, as you are not wearing a helmut too.

d) Smile, wave, and continue on your way.

[GLuvsMtb]

Make sure your mom / wife is onboard when you decide to ditch your lid. They'll be quite busy doing this.

[Cellar]

d) Smile, wave, and continue on your way.

 

I'm part of the non greeters club (except for uni) so I'll just smile and continue on my way?

[Eldron]

Safety is a personal thing. Everybody has their own risk-reward ratio.

 

The only risk-reward ratio you can control is your own and perhaps your family. Worry about that and let everyone else live their life based on their own rules.

 

I'll never understand this need to get involved/judge other people's lives.

 

Anyone who gets offended by people not wearing helmets/not greeting them/not using their particular brand of whatever really needs to concentrate more on their own world and less on others.

[Jigghead]

Here's the final say on whether to wear a helmut or not...

{Pic taken from this weekend, when I ran out of talent at Oak Valley 24hr...}

 

 

 

Now imagaine what my head would have looked like if i did not have a nut protector on???

 

'Nuff said....

 

Some might say you wear a helmut to hide what your head looked like in the first place... :whistling:

[Karooryder]

It's a hard spend when you're living on the breadline, though. It would be nice if hubbers helped out by donating their old helmets.

 

Exactly. I don't care so much for the Assos brigade that doesn't wear helmets out of preference or ignorance...Every day I drive past a whole lot of commuters on their cash-converters bikes, lunch tied to their seat posts in Checkers bags. No helmet and probably no money for one either. In my books they are no less part of the cycling community...yet I don't see any photos of these guys posted here...and very little mention of them either. I'm sure this is where we can really make a difference beyond pages upon pages of helmet talk.

[V12man]

I just want to make my position clear. If you are doing competitive sport, you probably should wearing. But just because the only time you touch your bike is for competitive sport, does not mean that is the same for everyone else. It really grates me when people see someone who is ploding along in a leisurely ride in the park or down the strip, or popping down to the shops without a helmet, and calls them stupid. All you that you are achieving, is discouraging them from cycling.

 

Gary - the road/tree/pavement does NOT distinguish between whether you are racing, or just going for a leisurely ride when you clip your head on it - trust me on this - I see the damage done week in and week out from idiots who don't wear helmets.

 

The fact of the matter is that your head will be better off with a helmet on when you do hit something, and if you are not law abiding enough to follow the law of the land in wearing the helmet, then you are an ass on 2 counts - at a bare minimum, and anyone that berates you because you don't wear a helmet is doing you a favour - similarly when people shout at drivers that don't force kids to wear seatbelts - they are looking after the best interests of the kids, and they are heroes in my book.

 

I have managed to stay out of this thread for a long time - but idiocy has no boundaries - so let me be clear on this:

 

STAY THE **** OUT OF MY EMERGENCY ROOM IF YOU ARE NOT WEARING A HELMET, your family and friends will thank you.

 

edit - I put the F word in there - but someone decided to take it out... but I mean it - stay out - and don't encourage others to do dumb things either.

Edited February 5, 2014 by V12man

[Velouria]

I've been waiting to post this link for ages, and it makes for fascinating reading:

http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2010/08/brain-injuries-and-dutch-cyclist.html

 

The conclusion:

a typical Dutch cyclist can expect a "head/brain injury" once every 90 lifetimes

Also, note that the article points out that cycle helmets can only reduce the rate of deaths due to head injuries by 29%

 

As GaryvdM points out - the health benefits greatly outway the risk of a serious head injury - using the WHO/Europe Health Economic Assessment Tool (http://heatwalkingcycling.org/), have a look at the benefits of cycling:

 

The modal share of cycling in Austria is currently 5%, with an average trip length of 2 km. Calculations made with the HEAT for cycling tool estimated that this level of cycling saves 412 lives every year owing to regular physical activity. The corresponding average annual savings for Austria from this reduced mortality were estimated to amount to €405 million.

 

That's just for 5% of the population. Imagine if they increased that to 10%, or in the case of the Dutch - 28%.

 

Obviously, this is for gentle commuting to and from the shops, school, library etc, not bombing down some scary single track at a 24hr event.

[porqui]

If you don't use your brain why protect it?