Please wear a helmet guys and gals
Comments
-
The though of riding on hard roads dodging 2 ton metal boxes without a helmet makes me feel physically soft. There's not a hope in hell that I would go out on the road without a helmet. It is only of use if you have a spill though and to date I haven't even had a close call. Best to have and not need than need and not have...0
-
To a point. You don't wear protective elbow, shoulder or knee pads. What about a life jacket if you ride near water?Germcevoy wrote:The though of riding on hard roads dodging 2 ton metal boxes without a helmet makes me feel physically soft. There's not a hope in hell that I would go out on the road without a helmet. It is only of use if you have a spill though and to date I haven't even had a close call. Best to have and not need than need and not have...
No I'm not makin fun of you wearing a lid - I wear one when I'm riding to work or that sort of circuit.
A ride down to the harbour for chips on the beach? It's a couple of miles along quiet roads - at a quiet time of the evening - I may not bother. Balance of probability n all that0 -
Slowbike wrote:
To a point. You don't wear protective elbow, shoulder or knee pads. What about a life jacket if you ride near water?Germcevoy wrote:The though of riding on hard roads dodging 2 ton metal boxes without a helmet makes me feel physically soft. There's not a hope in hell that I would go out on the road without a helmet. It is only of use if you have a spill though and to date I haven't even had a close call. Best to have and not need than need and not have...
No I'm not makin fun of you wearing a lid - I wear one when I'm riding to work or that sort of circuit.
A ride down to the harbour for chips on the beach? It's a couple of miles along quiet roads - at a quiet time of the evening - I may not bother. Balance of probability n all that
An elbow injury is a lot less likely to kill me than a head injury. I acknowledge the point about balancing probabilities but if there are variables that I can't control then I'm wearing a lid. It's a topic that clearly divides opinion almost cyclists to a larger extent than I expected but each to their own and what not.0 -
God! I can't cope with this any more. What is the point of pages and and pages of this - round in circles for ever. Stop it!0
-
Very good post.Daz555 wrote:
The stats on their own say nothing at all.ct8282 wrote:So, in 2009 there were a total of 630 deaths recorded, of which 574 (91%) were not wearing a helmet and 53 (8%) were. (For the keen eyed among you the remaining 1% was unknown as to whether or not they had a helmet on or not)
I think that speaks for itself really.
It fails to address how many people are actually wearing helmets. It fails to address the types of cyclist who wear helmets, competency, and cycing activity in relation to non helmet wearers.
Get the same stats for Holland and you'll see the same skewed figures - because hardly anyone wears helmets. They have better safety record than the UK of course despite their reluctance to wear a helmet.
The Dutch have it right. Helmets are not the answer to cycling safety (yes I do wear one). Infrastructure is the answer to cycling safety. The focus by some on helmets diverts from the real solutions we need in my opinion.
To quote Mr Boardman - "bullet proof vests are not the solution to gun crime."
Have we all seen Ben Goldacre's recent article in the British Medical Journal on the subject?
http://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.f381 ... eytype=ref0 -
There is already a law for helmet wearing. It's called Darwin's law........0
-
Just as valid an opinion as everyone else's I would have thought ...0
-
I can definitely say that for some people, safety isn't related to whether they wear a helmet or not - and that works both ways. Cycling safety is more than just wearing a helmet.
I would guess that a sport such as Paragliding (or Base jumping) is far more dangerous than cycling without a helmet, but the only time you'll hear comments such as 'Darwin's law' when talking about those sports is from the uneducated.
Life is risky. There are tons of people who get killed every year driving a car. And I'm sure the people who shout the 'Darwin's law' comments will happily drive down the motorway in their car at 90mph thinking that the metal cage, a seat belt and a few airbags is going to save them if they come to a rapid halt.
Yes I wear a helmet but that is my personal choice. The only people I have opinions whether they wear a helmet or not are my children. Anyone else, it's their business. I wear a helmet as I got used to it from the MTB days, as I was the type of person who would take risks and would regularly crash because of it.
I'm older so don't take those risks like I did when I was a teenager, but it feels normal to wear one. I also have to encourage my children to wear one, so need to lead by example (although we are not exactly consistent with helmets and the methods of transport the kids choose).
So while parts of the above comes may come over all "self righteous" with regards to our children, the kids wear helmets when on their bikes, but have never worn them while on the scooters or skateboards (mainly because they travelled a lot slower).
Now that they are trying to do tricks on their scooters (and are attempting to stand up on the skateboard), should they wear a helmet? If I'm honest, I'm more worried about them getting run over by a car then having a major injury from riding, scooting or skating (and kids are generally by nature reckless - as they haven't learnt that crashing hurts at that age)Simon0
