Occasional or regular non-bike helmet cyclist?

[Azurah]

I feel naked if I don't wear a helmet when biking. It just feels wrong. I always wear it.

[redrhodie]

So I smashed my helmet up and got 2 small scratches on my ankle (I still don't get how I fell like that)...
.

After my last crash, I had a bruise on my ankle in a weird place. I finally figured out it was from the impact with my pedal. Could it be that?

Glad you weren't hurt! Railroad tracks are evil.

[OakLeaf]

I disagree that as a dedicated helmet-wearer, I overestimate the risk.

I balance the risk against the burden, is all. That's the reason that even after my concussion on a bici, I was (for a while) willing to ride a moto without a helmet.

Because of the weight distribution between rider and vehicle (and possibly other factors like wheel/tire size), even "minor" bicycle crashes tend to throw you violently onto your head. That's not the case for falls when motorcycling, driving a car, or walking. Also, the burden of a bici helmet is minuscule in terms of weight, comfort, cost, and sensory restriction. The burden is so small that it's worth it to prevent even a remote risk of a great harm.

Someone made a snark about wearing helmets in cars... most states have already done that balancing test and decided that the burden of sensory restriction far outweighs the potential gains, and made it illegal to wear a helmet while driving a car on public roads. Remember that on a two-wheeler, you don't have the issue of pillars that already restrict your vision enormously ... and your hearing is already restricted by wind noise (or by earplugs that you wear to protect against wind noise, even if they're illegal too ) ... so the balance comes out differently. Anyway, I'm not sure where that statistic came from - AFAIK, head injuries are pretty rare among people wearing seatbelts in cars.

[Pax]

I wish people could simply choose what is best for themselves and their families, and allow others to do the same.

[jessmarimba]

I'm a little stunned at the risk perception here.
Anecdotes are powerful and that is why advertisers use them, but we should also seek facts in arriving at a realistic perception of risk. Then go for a ride.

My realistic perception of risk is based on a $140K medical bill from my last helmeted crash. Thank god I had health insurance. Though I guess if I hadn't been wearing a helmet, a funeral would've been cheaper than the medical bill, right?

I think helmets are a lot like insurance - they don't seem necessary until something catastrophic happens, and then you wish you had it. I wouldn't build a house in New Orleans without flood insurance, and I won't ride on roads or trails without a helmet. And while people think taking risks without insurance only affects them, in reality it can have an impact on the entire community.

[shootingstar]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/...rticle1984075/

Today's national newspaper in Canada interviewed a physician Charles Tator at a large acute care hospital in Toronto. Tator headed up for many years I think the critical care emergency unit. His speciality for last few decades is traumatic injuries, specifically spinal cord and head injuries.

Those who posed questions to him, were cyclists and non-cyclists across a broad spectrum of opinions on helmet use.

I worked at a hospital for spinal cord injured adults that was down the street from this acute care hospital. Our hospital received the permanently paralyzed patients after they underwent the critical/emergency care for rehabilitation at our hospital. At the time, I was there, we did have some patients that got press coverage because of their life-altering disability. We had some patients who became paraplegics or quadriplegics due to gun shot wound (spinal cord), football, hockey, falling from a ladder, roof, etc. One of the patients was Canada's Commonwealth Games silver medallist cyclist, Jocelyn Lovell. He was hit by a dump truck while on bike. Obviously his injuries were not on the head...but elsewhere which left him wheelchair bound for life.

Perhaps this is why even though I am not even a health care professional (I worked in the medical library there), I was left with a powerful impression where I valued my personal mobility (and life) even more. That plus being hit by a car as pedestrian when I was a teen.

Like some here, I consider a helmet a form of insurance and weighing personal risk to me is easy. There also have been sufficient personal anecdotes from TE members here who have been injured or who have direct health care/patient care work with patients with head injuries.

I'm not sure why people insist on only wearing a helmet, ---if there is a huge glut of head injury statitstics for cyclists that never wore helmets.

But then, it is your life and your risk assessment.

[Eden]

I wish people could simply choose what is best for themselves and their families, and allow others to do the same.

I don't....... I think we need certain rules and laws to protect the whole of society and I don't always think that people choose what is "best" by a rational or logical process of weighing facts.....

[Pax]

I don't....... I think we need certain rules and laws to protect the whole of society and I don't always think that people choose what is "best" by a rational or logical process of weighing facts.....

Who do you think should decide what is best for other people?

[Biciclista]

probably because we have to pay for those other people when they crash and become 100% disabled

[Biciclista]

I personally don't feel like my helmet is doing me much good... but it does me more good than no helmet. If we didn't pass seatbelt laws, a huge percentage of people would not be wearing their seatbelts today, etc, ad infinitum...

[Cataboo]

After my last crash, I had a bruise on my ankle in a weird place. I finally figured out it was from the impact with my pedal. Could it be that?

Glad you weren't hurt! Railroad tracks are evil.

No, it was my outer ankle. But not on the poky out bit, on the slope coming up from it. Maybe it hit one of the potholes or bumps in the road. It's just weird that I didn't bruise or scrap anything else up on my legs.

[KnottedYet]

As a medical professional, I am begging you not to wear helmets.

It costs millions of dollars to rehab survivors of bike/car (or bike/gravity) accidents.

Death is cheaper.

Please don't wear helmets. Brain death has legal status. Once you are brain dead, but your body continues to pump along in vain, your organs are ripe for the plucking. We are in dire need of juicy ripe organs for transplants.

You are more valuable to me dead than alive.

So don't wear those helmets, and be sure to buy your health insurance from private companies that have strong "death panels."

Your nice healthy cyclist liver can save the life of an unrepentant drug abuser! Your powerful heart can save the life of an obese welfare beneficiary! Your clear lenses can return sight to a smoker!

C'mon, kids, do your part to keep the medical system running! Die at the most opportune moment for the most people!

(for those of you who do not live in the U.S. - this is bitter sarcasm based on an insider's view of the morally bankrupt but profitable U.S. medical system)

[emily_in_nc]

Ok, here's my dilemma. I am an avid helmet wearer, never go without one. However, in Belize, NO ONE wears helmets. I mean NO ONE. Many of the locals don't have a lot of money, and a bike is their only means of transportation. People ride one-speed beach cruisers with bare feet, sandals, or maybe sneakers, no clipless pedals or bike shoes. Everyone rides in normal clothing, not bike shorts/jerseys. Most roads are unpaved (packed sand), and a lot of rides are on the beach, but there are a few paved roads which are driven mostly by golf carts, but there are taxis and a few small trucks on the roads as well as many bikes, pedestrians, etc..

When we are in Belize, do I wear a helmet and thus immediately put a label on myself of "different", "outsider", "ex-pat", "gringo", and, quite possibly "rich"; or do I do ride sans helmet in order to fit in and live as the locals and not appear ostentatious? For safety purposes, a helmet is obviously the way to go; but there are cultural issues at play that are very different from those where I live now.

This is something I've really been struggling with. So far, on our trips to Belize, we have rented bikes and have not worn helmets. We only took carry-on luggage and didn't even have space for them, and bike rental places don't offer them. But what about when we live there?

I honestly have not made up my mind about this. What would you do?

[JennK13]

So far, on our trips to Belize, we have rented bikes and have not worn helmets. We only took carry-on luggage and didn't even have space for them, and bike rental places don't offer them. But what about when we live there?

I honestly have not made up my mind about this. What would you do?

If you would wear a helmet under the same riding conditions back home, why wouldn't you wear it there? I don't think the country you're in dictates whether or not you wear a helmet.

Gary Busey! Advocated no helmet motorcycle laws...had a wreck, hit his head.

Was strange before...is even stranger now

I rest my case!

So if Charlie Sheen got in an accident.....wait....I really don't think it matters - not really a strong case either way!

I balance the risk against the burden, is all. That's the reason that even after my concussion on a bici, I was (for a while) willing to ride a moto without a helmet.

Because of the weight distribution between rider and vehicle (and possibly other factors like wheel/tire size), even "minor" bicycle crashes tend to throw you violently onto your head.

I really think the second part has a lot to do with another piece of equipment that most of use but don't talk about when it comes to injury. Clipless pedals. The mechanics of being clipped in forces you to "catapult" over the handlebars in a 180 and brings you right down on top of your head. Without being clipped in, you would go over the bars, but not in an arch that forces you onto your head - you'd go face first, and land on your outstretched arms/hands (probably resulting in more broken arms/wrists as you try to stop yourself) but not as often on your head.
We also have many posts about the number of falls from our clipless pedals, and many people here cite slow moving accidents where they fall (and because you're clipped in and can't move your leg out to help break the fall, your pedals force you down on the side of your head).
I've been riding seriously for about 2 1/2 years. I've gone down about a dozen times, twice were "accidents". The first I was on platform pedals when I hit a mud slick and slid about 30 feet. The second time was Saturday when a rider went down in front of me and I hit his leg at 16 mph and went over my handlebars while clipped in (I have no idea how, but I happened to land on my elbow). Every other time I've fallen it has been because I couldn't unclip, failed to unclip, or fell the opposite direction of my unclipped foot.
Think about how many times you've fallen and what the cause was. The more you fall, the more chance there is to hit your head. Clipless pedals are dangerous things.

I wish people could simply choose what is best for themselves and their families, and allow others to do the same.

Pax, I'm with you.....

[KnottedYet]

Are Newton's Laws different in Belize?

Is Belize a land with a different constant for gravity?

I'd be making my decisions based on science. I only have one brain. It already got smashed up once. I'd rather not do that again. No matter how funny I look.

If the poverty of other riders really bothered me, I'd connect with a helmet manufacturer and a local hospital and start a helmet program like the one Cascade bike club has in Seattle.