safety

rkdj

Hi all- not a question but a bit of advice for all cyclists - old and new.
I was out yesterday biking in a quiet country road - all very nice, sun, dry etc.
We are often told how important it is to wear a bike helmet - for obvious reasons, However a car passed me in the opposite direction and it 'kicked up' a bit of stray wood from its rear tyres. The wood flew towards me and hit me on the head and face. Without the helmet i would have been pretty badly hurt. I was also wearing glasses which protected my eyes - thank god it was sunny because if it was dull I would not normally bother. I have now bought a pair of clear glasses to protect my eyes in all weather. Take my advice helmets are not just for crashing / glasses are not just for sun!! :shock:

chuckcork

If you'd ever ridden a motorbike you'd know the bit about glasses already, a good sized insect/grasshopper at 40mph+ would blow an eyeball.

I think most riders where glasses as a precautionary thing in any case, though mostly to avoid the cr@p that gets thrown up off the roads.

fnegroni

cadseen wrote:

ive been lucky, never wore crash hat (except races) or glasses in 40 years, do over 10k miles a year and I am still living :shock:

IMO, lucky indeed.

I don't confuse luck with skill.

softlad

rkdj wrote:

The wood flew towards me and hit me on the head and face. Without the helmet i would have been pretty badly hurt.

if the wood had shattered your kneecap instead, would this be an argument for wearing kneepads..?

webbhost

if the wood had shattered your kneecap instead, would this be an argument for wearing kneepads..?

q

I get the feeling you're being just a little bit sarcastic mate. You can recover from a shattered kneecap and live. You cant live after a shattered skull and popped out eyes now can ya lol.

I ALWAYS wear a helmet just for the "what if" scenario. I also wear glasses, dark during day or yellow smoked during night. simple reason being I've seen what stone chips can do to cars... and what special magical abilities do my eyes have to stop stones from touching them too? Absolutely none.


Glad to hear you're alright bud, hope you didn't have too much of a headache, and with any luck your helmet was not expensive!

softlad

webbhost wrote:

if the wood had shattered your kneecap instead, would this be an argument for wearing kneepads..?

q

I get the feeling you're being just a little bit sarcastic mate. You can recover from a shattered kneecap and live. You cant live after a shattered skull and popped out eyes now can ya lol.

beneath the sarcasm there lies a perfectly valid question.....

Flasheart

I have to say ...I don't always wear a helmet. If it's cold n wet I always wear one with a skullcap underneath, but since the sun has come out of late, I have been leaving it on the hook where my bike hangs. But I ALWAYS wear glasses when I ride. Black tinted in the sun and yellow tint on cloudy days and dark just as Webbhost mentioned.
Come to think of it I had a small branch clock me on my head on a windy day a few weeks back and I thought.."glad I was wearing a helmet or that would have hurt" .
:idea: I think I'll wear it in future

DomPro

I've had a little stone hit my specs once. Always wear your glasses kids. Plus its easier to keep your eyes open when its raining.

Shezzer

softlad wrote:

webbhost wrote:

if the wood had shattered your kneecap instead, would this be an argument for wearing kneepads..?

q

I get the feeling you're being just a little bit sarcastic mate. You can recover from a shattered kneecap and live. You cant live after a shattered skull and popped out eyes now can ya lol.

beneath the sarcasm there lies a perfectly valid question.....

Yep, it is a perfectly valid question. IMO you should always wear glasses cos eyeballs are a lot more delicate than kneecaps. A fairly small piece of grit / insect hitting an eyeball can cause serious damage (and be dangerous as you writhe around in pain whilst trying to balance on a road bike doing 40mph). Said grit / insect wouldn't even register if it hit your kneecap ... unless you're REALLY delicate.

softlad

completely agree on eye protection - I have always worn it.

I'm less convinced about the case for knee pads to protect against flying road debris though..

kingrollo

i always wear a helmet - its just a little extra protection - if a 10 ton artic hits me - it does squat - I know that - but if I miss a clip in - and start head butting the pavement - well it may make things a little more comfortable !

I also think helmets look cool [there said it!]

Dog Breath

Yes, helmet & glasses all the time for all the obvious reasons. I know there have been some very heated debates regarding helmets, but in my first mass participation event last weekend (Cheshire Cat Sportive), I was pleased to see that by far the majority of riders were sensible by wearing helmets. It does prove that the non-helmet wearers are indeed a minority. I only saw a couple of riders without them.

Further proof that most riders are sensible is that they were not compulsory for the event.

DB

fossyant

Helmet yes - saved my bonce in December - 1st time ever had my head/helmet hit the ground in a crash - getting hit side on by a car travelling at speed sort of messes up the landing control.

Glasses - yes - can't see without them these days. Many moons ago, I worked in the Stix and had done 1 mile of a 20 mile ride home - country lane, car passes in opposite direction, rock flies up and smacks me on the side of the nose - felt a bit like being belted in the face - missed my eye by less than 1cm, bit completely split my skin - queue lots of blood due to high hr and blood pressure - spewing out. Stopped at a house and they got an ambulance....

GavH

I must be a complete freak! I've been wearing clear/dark/amber lenses as the light conditions dictate since more or less the very moment I took up cycling. Not though, for safety reasons as indicated here, but because for some reason (my contact lenses perhaps?) my eyes tear up like a big baby when I'm either descending or riding into a strong headwind if I don't wear some!

Smokin Joe

Prior to the mid-nineties hardly any cyclists wore glasses, including the pros who descended mountain passes at 60mph +.

Never heard of anyone going blind up to then.

fossyant

GavH wrote:

I must be a complete freak! I've been wearing clear/dark/amber lenses as the light conditions dictate since more or less the very moment I took up cycling. Not though, for safety reasons as indicated here, but because for some reason (my contact lenses perhaps?) my eyes tear up like a big baby when I'm either descending or riding into a strong headwind if I don't wear some!

Same here....

HonestAl

Yep, I reckon sunglasses are a must with contact lenses are a must. One nice little speck of grit under your lens when you're hurtling along (well, it's all relative isn't it?) and your mind will be on anything but the road.

nasahapley

I'd never thought of glasses as safety equipment on a bike; I wore them for a bit last summer but found them to be a bit of a faff as they tended to steam up and get sweat on the inside on longer climbs (and I do a lot of longer climbs), so now I don't bother. Never had anything hit me in the eye on the bike, but I have when walking along a road. If it's daft to not wear then on the bike, it it equally daft not to wear them when walking along a road? (Just to be clear, **I AM NOT SAYING WEARING GLASSES IS POINTLESS - IT MAKES PERFECT SENSE FOR MOST PEOPLE**, it's just that this is what logic would suggest).

Smokin Joe

Glasses and helmets are seen by many as the essential answer to the problem of head and eye injuries to cyclists.

Funny thing though, before either were in use the problem never really existed.

rally200

Was thinking of getting some glases - Is there any standard to look out for in respect of impact resistance.

also - what's in a name - saw a pair of Shimano sunnies on sale at Chain Reaction -googled them and found loads of fishing tackle shops selling them as fishing glasses :?

fatandwheezing

I always wear glasses with my lenses to prevent my eyes streaming. Don't like wearing my prescription glasses as some of the offs I've had have bent my eyewear.

Just subscribed to Cycling plus, and have got the free Polaris Manahattans with them - not the prettiest things, but much better than my normal shades as they wrap around.