Concussion denial: in mixed marital art (or UFC) fighting like bike helmet debate?

[Nandy]

Sure, anecdotes are fine, I'm not saying that you shouldn't use a helmet in non-competitive situations- just that enormous blanket statements insinuating that everyone in all riding situations everywhere must wear one is unhelpful, and in some ways actually harms cycling. In other anecdotes, I know more people who suffered TBIs from walking than from cycling, and probably 80% of people I know are cyclists.

I also realize the choice is massively dependent on conditions, and if most of us here live in North America, the roads are usually very hostile to us. It took me years of full-time riding in Boston to get comfortable without a helmet (and only after visiting Amsterdam where it clicked that it makes so much sense and that's how I want to live, and followed up on relevant research and started actively fighting for sensible urban planning), but Buffalo is different because the drivers here are so much more negligent and the infrastructure is so abysmal- but they're normally speeding so fast I'm unlikely to survive in the event of a crash anyway, foam hat or not. We need real solutions in this country, helmets can help individuals in some specific situations but it's a distraction from the actual issue.

From an individual perspective, it makes sense to reduce your personal risk in small way possible, especially because we're such an out group in this country- simply waiting for adequate laws and infrastructure isn't going to cut it. From a societal perspective, helmet fixation is generally used by anti-cycling groups (like automakers) to make cycling seem ultra-dangerous and to scare people away from it, and becomes a band-aid to shift responsibility to cyclists instead of working for solutions that will actually increase safety, further discouraging people to ride (as well as greatly increasing the risk for the riders out there- safety in numbers). This http://http://bicyclesafe.com/helmets.html is a great little overview of the misconceptions and ways from a societal standpoint in which excessive pressure to wear helmets can be harmful.

But anyway, to get back to the original post- comparing all forms of cycling to MMA fighting or headbutting each other in football and mocking "the bike helmet debate" just serves to exacerbate this dangerous trend. To the people accusing me of derailing this thread: its title is "Concussion denial: in mixed marital art (or UFC) fighting like bike helmet debate?". Are concussions bad? Yes. You should try to avoid them. Are repeated concussions a frequent, unavoidable, and inherent quality to all forms of cycling, comparable to intentionally punching each other in the head like boxing? No, of course not. This is ridiculous. Seriously, take a little vacation to pretty much any place in continental Europe, it'll change your life and put things in perspective.https://youtu.be/ZMv3OB6XHvQ