Occasional or regular non-bike helmet cyclist?

[JennK13]

I ride with a helmet 90% of the time. If I'm clipped in and/or riding with vehicle traffic or on uneven terrain, I wear it, which is most of the time.

After cleaning/tuning my bike and riding it up and down the complex to check it out, I don't wear one (I'm usually in flipflops or sandals of some sort), or if I'm running across the street to the market to quickly grab a few things I typically don't. If I'm on my cruiser tooling around on the bike path, I may not wear it, either.

I'm like Pax, and it's a risk tolerance decision. To each their own. I rode horses for years and fell off, was bucked off, rolled over top of, trampled, etc, and I never wore a helmet during all of that (I used to race barrels), and I doubt even now I would ever wear a helmet while riding a horse. I do, however, wear one whenever I snowboard - I suck at it, and fall every time I go, and have rung my bell a number of times out on the mountain where I'm certain a helmet has saved me, at the very least, from a bad headache.

MY risk is a lot higher on the slopes than on the trail on my cruiser. I've been hit more times in the head/face while playing softball than on my bike and I still play shortstop (without a helmet). There's inherent risk in everything we do, and it's up to individuals to decide what's right for them. I truly believe in helmet education and advocacy, but I am against a law that requires people to wear them. I also don't believe in seatbelt laws even though I buckle up every time I get behind the wheel (no maybes or sometimes about that). If someone chooses not to, that's their decision. My risk factor decision doesn't give me the right to impose that belief on other people, and that's what I think seatbelt and helmet laws do (insurance rate factors aside). I see it like this - if seatbelts and helmets save lives, and there are laws that say people have to wear them, then they ought to outlaw things that are bad for you like cigarettes and alcohol which kill a lot more people than a lack of the other two (while I don't smoke, I do drink, so I'm not advocating for that! But I see it as the same thing )

Note, I am not a closet-non helmet wearer. Most times I wouldn't ride without one. I don't wear it because I feel pressured to do so, like our European transplant explained. My activity and the risk I assess to the situation helps me make that determination.

[Kitsune06]

Oh gawd not another one of these threads. I thought these only came up on motorcycle forums.

There really only seem to be two camps in this argument- the ones who recognize the protection helmets provide and won't ride without them, and the ones who recognize the protection helmets provide but hate being told what to do.

There will always be folks who either feel like they can handle the consequences or feel like the consequences just won't happen to them, and they're the folks who are riding everywhere without a helmet, driving without a seatbelt, riding a motorcycle in flipflops and shorts, or having unprotected sex.

No amount of fines or legislation will change this fact. This fact also provides me with job security at the hospital so I'm hesitant to discourage the above behavior.

My personal opinion? I won't ride without a helmet not because I don't trust my own abilities, but because I don't trust other drivers not to try to kill me. In a perfect world, I'd consider riding naked.... just let me know when that happens. There will be snowball fights in Hell while people dodge flying pig droppings.

[JennK13]

There really only seem to be two camps in this argument- the ones who recognize the protection helmets provide and won't ride without them, and the ones who recognize the protection helmets provide but hate being told what to do.

There will always be folks who either feel like they can handle the consequences or feel like the consequences just won't happen to them

I think there is also a third group who don't recognize the protection helmets offer. It's not a matter of telling people what to do, they just don't see the point and there are many statistics out there that show or can be twisted to show that helmets don't really offer protection.

I also think there's a difference between consequence and risk. A consequence of over exposure to the sun is skin cancer, but people have different risks of that actually happening and thus weigh that risk on whether or not they use sunscreen, and those at a higher risk won't go out without a hat and long sleeves on. Hence, the risk of injury determines my safety attire which has nothing to do with whether or not someone says I should or shouldn't do something. In slowpitch softball, I don't wear a helmet to bat or shin pads in the field; in fast pitch I do. There's a lady in our slow pitch league that wears a full catcher's helmet - "unheard" of in the league! But she's been hit too many times for her own peace of mind, so she wears it. We all have different levels of tolerance an risk but that doesn't make one right and the other wrong.

[Trek420]

I wear a helmet always. All my crashes have been the classic "FU" falls or slow motion keeling over for no apparent reason ... always in public always on pavement. I'm aware how bad that could be if my brain hits the curb and have not signed up for long tern care insurance.