Occasional or regular non-bike helmet cyclist?

[roadie gal]

As an ER doctor who lives and works in an area where we have a lot of road and mountain bikers my opinion (and only mine) is that riding without a helmet is just stupid and you should be REQUIRED to have health insurance and a WILL if you want to ride without one.

[ivorygorgon]

The laws requiring helmets are not just to provide individual safety. When someone without health insurance rides without a helmet and is hospitalized, the costs to society as a whole are large.

[Pax]

As an ER doctor who lives and works in an area where we have a lot of road and mountain bikers my opinion (and only mine) is that riding without a helmet is just stupid and you should be REQUIRED to have health insurance and a WILL if you want to ride without one.

The laws requiring helmets are not just to provide individual safety. When someone without health insurance rides without a helmet and is hospitalized, the costs to society as a whole are large.

Slippery slope, get too heavily in to safety legislation and you could risk having the activity outlawed altogether. Typically the ones making the laws are not the ones engaging in the activity, to them if safety is the biggest concern a broad brush fixes the problem most easily.

[Norse]

It's like the seat belt in the car; I would feel naked leaving the driveway without it. Here's a good story of a guy whose HEAD was RUN OVER by a delivery truck, crushing the helmet but saving his noggin: http://www.active.com/page21571.aspx

Couple of other helmet stories: (1) Little boy I used to babysit was 5 years old riding his little bike on the sidewalk, front tire hit a rock, bike stopped, he did an endo, landed on his head and died. This was back in the 80's before people really started using bike helmets (I was not the one watching him when it happened but what guilt the parents must still live with). (2) Was out on a training ride with friends on a cold, wet, rainy day; one of the gals had her back tire slip out going over train tracks and she went down hard on the pavement with her helmet smacking hard - the helmet was cracked but her head was not and she walked away with an injured shoulder. She keeps that helmet to remind her kids why she will never let them ride without. Personally, I never, ever ride without my helmet.

[chryss]

I like it that this thread is more thoughtful than dogmatic.

My experience and Susan's (in Austria) resonate - unsurprisingly.

I've had a concussion, too -- by fainting and falling over. Indoors. On carpet. I also once hit my head falling off my bike -- no concussion, but a wound that needed a stitch. My friend had one slipping on the stairs down to the underground train. Normal daily activities bring with them the danger of injury and death. My brother hit his head badly playing on his tricycle as a child in the garden at age 3, yet I think putting helmets on playing toddlers, which some do, will do more harm than good.

(And I rode horses, too, and interestingly while I would bike to the stable without a helmet, I'd in nearly all cases wear one on the horse...)

The kind of cycling I used to do -- slow, utility or pleasure transport mostly on separate bike lanes, quiet side roads and multi-use path shared with pedestrians -- counts or at least counted as one of those activities. Of course I fell. But cycling as fast as a slow car, with feet attached to pedals on roads also used by either a high number of cars or very fast cars, in an environment where drivers tend to be hostile? Or going down bumpy dirt trails? This is a different situation, so a helmet it is.

I'm sensitive to the "cost to the collectivity argument" too of course, but would like to see statistics -- what's the percentage of injuries on non-helmeted cyclists vs. helmeted cyclists vs. people just walking on the street.

And thanks again for the warm welcome.

[badgercat]

I am a Speech-Language Pathologist and I have provided cognitive therapy for people who heave brain injuries due to hitting their heads in various ways. Not a nice sight. Some are never normal again. It's not worth it to me. I always wear a helmet. Not wearing a helmet isn't an option for me.

*waves* I'm training to become an audiologist--I always feel a bit of kinship when I find out there's an SLP around, given our common roots in communication.

Anyway, back to topic. Helmets were certainly around in my childhood (I'm 25), but NONE of my friends wore them. It was absolutely devastating to me at the time that my parents would not allow me to ride my bike or rollerblade without one. It wasn't so bad when we were out on an MUP as a family, but around the neighborhood? The horror!

Junior high came around, and still I was the only kid in the neighborhood wearing a helmet. "But, you're the smartest kid in the neighborhood," my parents would say. 13-year-olds do not respond to this kind of logic, so my parents acquiesced and said I was old enough to decide to not wear a helmet if I didn't want to.

I didn't really ride during high school (it was too far away to ride to school, and it wasn't "cool" to ride around anymore). But the bike came to college with me for transport. I rode for that first year without a helmet until a woman I volunteered with (who went for THIRTY-MILE rides on the weekends, which seemed just unfathomable to me then) told me about two cyclists colliding on a slow-moving local MUP and one died. That was enough to push me back into the helmet camp, and when I was home that summer I went to a LBS and bought a helmet. I got a very stylish red and black one.

Long story short, I went through a "rebellious" phase (I use that very loosely, as I certainly accept that it's your choice to wear one or not), but now I never, ever, ride without one. Ever.

[smilingcat]

As an ER doctor who lives and works in an area where we have a lot of road and mountain bikers my opinion (and only mine) is that riding without a helmet is just stupid and you should be REQUIRED to have health insurance and a WILL if you want to ride without one.

I'm not going to call anyone riding without a helmet stupid just as I would not call a chain smoker stupid for the same reason.

However; I am completely with you in regard to having a hefty health insurance for those riding without a helmet. Doesn't health companies and car insurance companies ask whether you smoke or not. And if you answer yes, by golly, your rate is much higher than non-smoker. Same should apply to those without helmet. Simply, the actuarial says that riding without a helmet significantly increases the cost of medical bill.

This, for reasons beyond me, is the same reasoning behind smoker and non-smoker when it comes to auto insurance. Hey, you smoke, pay up!! Again I have nothing against those who want to smoke, just stand 100 feet or more away from me.

Now about the will part. Sadly, those without helmet stand to lose their life more easily. So why put your loved ones through grief of going through probate, not to mention, the courts are busy handling probate. It's not something you would want to put your family through. BTW, everyone regardless of their live-on-the-edge life quotient, should have a will. Your family will thank you if you should come to an untimely end.

Slippery slope... hmm there was an incident about 20-30 years ago in Colorado with group of highly experienced nordic skiers with experience in winter camping. They set off on an "outing". They told their loved ones to expect them to be back before a severe winter storm blew in their way. Well they didn't. Colorado state sent out several teams of search and rescue teams. National Guard I think were called out with their helicopters and using IR camera to spot them... The group of experienced nordic skiers came out unscathed and wondered about what all the hoopla was about. The whole thing was national news so every one knew about it. Most of Colorado residents and rest of the country were going "Hey, the 'idiots' should pay back the state for the expense of search and rescue. If they were that experienced why have the state waste its resources and $$ when it could have been avoided"

The allure of "freedom" with the wind blowing in your face sounds "romantic" but its not for me.

[Crankin]

I still don't get why one would think that wearing a helmet means the activity should be banned. To me, it just doesn't make sense. I have no problem with someone telling me what to do if safety is involved. I guess this is unusual?
I am not a downhill skier, but everyone I know who is wears a helmet. Adults. Same for horseback riders.
I grew up in the 50's, 60's, went to college in the 70's; of course I didn't wear a helmet then. There weren't any. My 2 kids even learned to ride without helmets in the late 80's. They were 7 and 9 when we bought helmets for all 4 of us, even though DH and I hardly rode. Once I caught my older son riding ddown a huge hill with his helmet hanging from the handlebars when he was 12. I was in one of those rental car pick up vans, so he didn't know it was me driving by... I scared the cr*ap out of him when he got home and I said, "Helmet on the handlebars does not protect your head."

[Kerry1976]

I didn't grow up wearing helmets, but I do now. The below story is not the reason why, but if I ever had doubts it serves as a very real reminder.

About 11 years ago, an 11-year-old child of a friend died in a bicycling accident. She was thrown head first over the handlebars on a family bike ride. Her death was tragic not only in the loss in general, but the way the media chose to handle it. A large area newspaper did a full-page story on her death and blamed it squarely on her parents not making her wear a helmet. This was horrific for them. These were not negligent parents. They adored their child. I think everyone understood the newspaper was trying to take a loss and make it into a learning experience, but at the time it felt almost cruel. However, if the story made one person stop and think about the wearing of helmets, I suppose it was worth it.

[hebe]

I find the Health Insurance discussions interesting as we have health care that's free to all at the point of delivery here (though we all pay for it through our taxes). The understanding that I have is that the risk of a serious bike accident (and associated medical costs) is significantly mitigated across the population by the benefits (and savings) that accrue because regular cycling hugely reduces deaths by heart disease, for example.

Interesting discussion, thank you.

[Kerry1976]

I find the Health Insurance discussions interesting as we have health care that's free to all at the point of delivery here (though we all pay for it through our taxes). The understanding that I have is that the risk of a serious bike accident (and associated medical costs) is significantly mitigated across the population by the benefits (and savings) that accrue because regular cycling hugely reduces deaths by heart disease, for example.

Interesting discussion, thank you.

That makes a lot of sense. I had kind of thought of the same thing. I think in terms of running as that is my primary sport. I had two stress fractures last year so it was a bad year in terms of seeing the doctor. However, I am healthier overall so the overall impact should be less.

[lph]

hmmm.... I'm a regular helmet-wearer, and used to be pretty dang dogmatic about it, but discussions like this one have made me think things over a bit.

Risk: yes, I've landed on my head a couple of times and split my helmet, and it probably saved my life or at least saved me from injury and a lot of pain. The way I ride (commuting in traffic, mtbiking on trails), a helmet is obviously a good idea. That doesn't mean that every cyclist in the country rides the way I do. And I'm not going to go bug-eyed if granny pedalling along slowly on the sidewalk and dismounting at every crosswalk doesn't want to mess up her hair and isn't wearing a helmet. For certain riding styles, cycling is no more dangerous than ordinary, everyday life. But then again - risk is notoriously hard to gauge correctly.* The only time I have ever seen my dh ride without a helmet we toodled down to a local school, he felt the urge to ride over a tiny skateboard jump, fell on his head, cracked it open, needed 8 stitches, a night at the ER and was home for a week with a bad concussion.

Habit: I want to wear a helmet for most riding. I know I could skip it for certain rides, i.e. my risk assessment tells me I would be safe "enough" doing so, but I'm a creature of habit, and when it comes to safety I like to keep it simple. So I wear a helmet all the time. Only time I don't is when I'm wrenching, and just ride down the block and back to check the bike.

Principle/image/whatever: I think of myself as a serious cyclist. I have a son, and live with a lot of kids around me. I try to live a bike-heavy and car-light lifestyle, and show it. I spend a lot of energy at work convincing others to ride to work. For all these reasons I'll wear a helmet even when I don't necessarily absolutely have to. If it makes the neighbours and the other kids' parents think "ooh, she's pretty cool, and looks like she's got a handle on things" rather than "oh gawd, another one of those insane suicidal idjits" - well, it's a good thing.

And no, I don't think about all this every time I go out I just put the darn thing on and forget about it. But I do go fix every crooked child's helmet I see. I want them to be comfortable, and feel cool, and then go ride.

*PS. I have the feeling that the most avid helmetwearers probably overestimate the risk, and the most avid non-wearers underestimate it. So how many people have I annoyed now?

[alice]

*PS. I have the feeling that the most avid helmetwearers probably overestimate the risk, and the most avid non-wearers underestimate it. So how many people have I annoyed now?

I agree!

I would describe myself as a closet-helmet-choice-nonjudgmentalist. (Ha! How's that for using too many words?) I wear a helmet about 80% of the time; the other 20% I don't feel like it and I assume the risk for the type of riding I'm doing that day/time. Not wearing one when I don't want to keeps me from being bitter about "having" to wear it the rest of the time, because I know that every time I put one on (or don't) it's because I'm choosing to. I try not to judge other people for never (or always) wearing a helmet, and I hope other people don't waste their time judging me.

As a related side note, hair really is a big issue for some people (like me). My helmet wearing percentage of trips increased dramatically when I cut off all my hair and putting on/taking off a helmet now no longer requires five minutes of undoing/redoing my hair.

[hebe]

I am ashamed to say that helmet hair is generally a huge improvement on what nature gives me every morning. Certainly nothing covers the grey hairs like a helmet.

[MomOnBike]

I wear my helmet for the shallowest possible reason. I like to wear hats. After I ride up to wherever I'm going, I take my helmet off and put my hat on. I don't classify the riding I do as particularly dangerous - mostly poking around on bike trails around town. I'm not convinced a helmet is necessary in that situation the way it would be if I did any gnarly single track at high speed biking.

That being said, one more bad diagnosis and I'm off on a tour around the US, and I'll wear the helmet on the days I feel like it, and leave it off if I don't. I just won't feel like I'll be in danger of losing much quantity of life, while quality (wind in hair, and possibly Boobs) will become so much more important.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for another really bad diagnosis, but if it happens, all bets are off.