Convincing my mum to wear a helmet

darkhairedlord

if you insist, there are more lady like options:

Biomech

If your mum is doing 2mph on the bike - then does she really need one ? Runners are a lot faster than that and I've never seen a runner with a hard hat.

Speed isn't really as much as a factor, people have died from standing still and falling, hitting their head. And, as I'm sure you will agree, it's a lot easier to control your body tripping during a run than it is falling off a bike.

I think her driving factor is probably the hair to be honest heh.

I understand what you're saying about us road bikers travelling a lot faster, but it's actually the traffic that is more of an issue, being run off the road, tapped, knocked, forced into curbs etc - all relatively low impact/speed things. I cant imagine her hitting 30mph into town :P

Perhaps I'm just biased, I bought a road bike in August and have been nearly hit several times - and I have bright lights, reflective strips (not over the top mind you), to the point where I have a gopro strapped to the front to record evidence. Add to my friends brother being killed due to head injuries and my old man being a paramedic for many years, I just don't see why you wouldn't. I mean, there isn't actually any benefit in not wearing one. It's not like a helmet reduces visibility, hearing etc right?

Biomech

A lot of you argue that a helmet isn't required because of the speed.

Mopeds go at 15mph-28mph, but you are legally required to wear a helmet. What are you thoughts on this? My avg is around 14mph, I imagine most of you cruise at around 18, and on down hills far exceed the speed of a moped (my top is only 38mph ...so far)

So using your arguments presented above, do you advocate NOT wearing a helmet on a moped?

DeVlaeminck

You have to accept that adults can make their own choices though. I mean how would you feel if a friend kept asking you to stop drinking every time you went to the pub or at every cafe stop someone lectured you about the dangers of eating cake and quoted heart disease and cancer figures at you. Carping on about helmet use to anyone other than your own kids is not a lot different.

markhewitt1978

In Holland for those using their bikes just to get around, practically nobody wears a helmet.

bendertherobot

Biomech wrote:

Perhaps I'm just biased, I bought a road bike in August and have been nearly hit several times - and I have bright lights, reflective strips (not over the top mind you), to the point where I have a gopro strapped to the front to record evidence. Add to my friends brother being killed due to head injuries and my old man being a paramedic for many years, I just don't see why you wouldn't. I mean, there isn't actually any benefit in not wearing one. It's not like a helmet reduces visibility, hearing etc right?

Possibly. We know that there's no real evidence of their effectiveness in a range of disparate situations. But, equally, we don't know whether wearing one could cause a risk in certain situations. So, for example, would hitting the back of it cause more leverage and increase the risk of a neck injury? Additionally, it could be that wearing a go pro could cause more leverage, no-one really knows. Then there's the getting your neck caught by the strap thing.

We don't have enough data on any part of it to know for sure. I'm happy to wear mine. It's not uncomfortable or inconvenient. My gut feeling, and that's pretty much all we have here, is that the risks from not wearing it outweigh the risks from wearing it. But not by any great degree.

Anonymous

Biomech wrote:

A lot of you argue that a helmet isn't required because of the speed.

Mopeds go at 15mph-28mph, but you are legally required to wear a helmet. What are you thoughts on this? My avg is around 14mph, I imagine most of you cruise at around 18, and on down hills far exceed the speed of a moped (my top is only 38mph ...so far)

So using your arguments presented above, do you advocate NOT wearing a helmet on a moped?

I am in favour of helmets on a road bike where you will be achieving those speeds and more, so I obviously feel moped riders should wear them.

Those not in favour of helmets on a road bike probably don't feel moped riders need them, especially as moped helmets are even more protective.

Its easy to legislate for motor vehicles anyway. Bikes are very different as your mum would get caught up in any compulsory wearing.
I think people should only wear them if they feel they are a benefit. Just don't moan about it if you don't and things go tits up.

bendertherobot

Biomech wrote:

So using your arguments presented above, do you advocate NOT wearing a helmet on a moped?

No, it's illegal.

Anonymous

Those 'invisible' Dutch ones sound just the thing for the OP's mum.
Guessing you could wear that on the bus, or in a supermarket on Black Friday etc. etc. too.

cougie

Biomech wrote:

If your mum is doing 2mph on the bike - then does she really need one ? Runners are a lot faster than that and I've never seen a runner with a hard hat.

Speed isn't really as much as a factor, people have died from standing still and falling, hitting their head. And, as I'm sure you will agree, it's a lot easier to control your body tripping during a run than it is falling off a bike.

I think her driving factor is probably the hair to be honest heh.

I understand what you're saying about us road bikers travelling a lot faster, but it's actually the traffic that is more of an issue, being run off the road, tapped, knocked, forced into curbs etc - all relatively low impact/speed things. I cant imagine her hitting 30mph into town :P

Perhaps I'm just biased, I bought a road bike in August and have been nearly hit several times - and I have bright lights, reflective strips (not over the top mind you), to the point where I have a gopro strapped to the front to record evidence. Add to my friends brother being killed due to head injuries and my old man being a paramedic for many years, I just don't see why you wouldn't. I mean, there isn't actually any benefit in not wearing one. It's not like a helmet reduces visibility, hearing etc right?

Thought as much - new cyclist. I've 30 years plus of cycling - we didnt have helmets - I crashed a few times - no damage. So thats 1000s of miles and 1000s of hours cycled that I can judge from. Cycling isn't a dangerous past time as such. I know as many people have died playing football as I do cycling. Helmets are by large a fantastic marketing tool - £200 for a piece of polystyrene - count me in ! Drivers think - aah its ok they have a helmet on - they'll be fine. Governments think they dont need to separate cars at 70mph from bikes at 15mph - they have helmets after all.

Check out Holland and Denmark - lots of cyclists. Very few helmets. Do they dutch and danish have thicker hair or thicker skulls ?

Ride sensibly. Assume drivers are f*ckwits until they prove otherwise and don't ride in the ice.

chris_bass

BenderRodriguez wrote:

:roll:

Per km travelled, your mum is almost twice as likely to receive a head injury after being hit by a motor vehicle when she is walking as she is when cycling, so don't forget to tell her that she shouldn't just wear it when she is on her bike...

so if you cycle 4 times faster than you walk (conservative estimate) you are twice as likely per time traveled on a bike than walking!

Its up to the rider, if they want to great, if they don't, also great.

cattytown

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

She's an adult, let her decide.

+another one.

markhewitt1978

Be grateful your Mum cycles at all. Nobody in my family has the slightest interest.

imposter2.0

Who knew this would turn into a helmet debate..?!?

cattytown

Biomech wrote:

A lot of you argue that a helmet isn't required because of the speed.

Mopeds go at 15mph-28mph, but you are legally required to wear a helmet. What are you thoughts on this? My avg is around 14mph, I imagine most of you cruise at around 18, and on down hills far exceed the speed of a moped (my top is only 38mph ...so far)

So using your arguments presented above, do you advocate NOT wearing a helmet on a moped?

My position is that even motorbikes, it should be individual choice, seat belts in cars should be choice.

I also think it would be a waste of time campaigning for either though.

Anonymous

cattytown wrote:

Biomech wrote:

A lot of you argue that a helmet isn't required because of the speed.

Mopeds go at 15mph-28mph, but you are legally required to wear a helmet. What are you thoughts on this? My avg is around 14mph, I imagine most of you cruise at around 18, and on down hills far exceed the speed of a moped (my top is only 38mph ...so far)

So using your arguments presented above, do you advocate NOT wearing a helmet on a moped?

My position is that even motorbikes, it should be individual choice, seat belts in cars should be choice.

I also think it would be a waste of time campaigning for either though.

That would be fine as long as the individual paid for his/her own injuries after choosing not to wear a seat belt or crash helmet.
Well, I say fine, but not exactly nice for the poor sod who has to scrape them off the road :roll:

kajjal

Strangely if you put this debate in the mountain biking section most would think you are irresponsible and taking unnecessary risks not wearing a helmet. In the road section you get a much more varied view. Having done mountain biking and seen various crashes there is no way I would not wear a helmet when on my road bike. Helmets are pretty much weightless and hardly get in the way.

Bozman

Are there any other folk that notice the wind noise when you wear a helmet, I don't wear a helmet much during the summer months but since the weather has changed I've had one on and the noise is unreal, that peace and quiet of a country ride is shattered by a force ten gale blowing around your noggin.
This is just an observation and not an excuse not to wear a helmet.

Biomech

Cycling isn't a dangerous past time

I absolutely agree with you Unfortunately, idiot drivers can make it so.

Many interesting points here and certainly not what I expected. Personally, I'm absolutely in favour, even if it only offers a little protection, a little is better than none!

navrig2

You seem to have missed the fact that most of the responses to your original question are really geared to your question of How do I get my mum to wear a helmet?

Rather than a full on debate about whether a helmet is necessary/recommended.

coulddobetter

marcusjb wrote:

coulddobetter wrote:

Try nursing a cyclist with injuries so severe her parents had to decide to turn off life support.

Try nursing ever more obese people as they were put off cycling as a form of excercise as it is too dangerous and needs specialist safety equipment according to some.

Personal choice, wear a helmet, don't wear a helmet, wear a helmet for certain types of cycling but not for others - it is all personal choice; but far more important than wearing a piece of plastic and foam on your head is getting more bums on saddles; telling people how dangerous it is (it is not) is not going to help any individual or our wider society.

Where did I say they should be compulsory ? I didn't . However I would always advise wearing one.

veronese68

Kajjal wrote:

Strangely if you put this debate in the mountain biking section most would think you are irresponsible and taking unnecessary risks not wearing a helmet. In the road section you get a much more varied view. Having done mountain biking and seen various crashes there is no way I would not wear a helmet when on my road bike. Helmets are pretty much weightless and hardly get in the way.

I'm far more likely to fall off riding my mountain bike than riding my road bike though. A lot of mountain bikers also wear body armour. It's all a compromise between risk and benefit. On a mountain bike the risk of falling off is high and the benefit of a helmet is also high as you are not likely to have a lorry drive over your head in an accident. In a race there is a similar risk and benefit, likelihood of crashing is high. Just out for a fastish road ride you are less likely to fall off and the helmet may not be a help if you are hit by a car so it is less cut and dried. For an old lady bumbling to the shops at low speed the risks are even less. Being forced to wear a helmet may be enough to make her think she might as well take the bus. At this point the helmet becomes detrimental.
But most of all, as Sloppy said some time ago. She's a grown up, let her decide.

cattytown

Off roaders more likely to clunk a branch too.

BLW

Well I’m not surprised she’s not easy to convince given the sort of cycling she does but having said that I can also see where you are coming from too.

Let’s weigh up the risks:-

Mountain biking, yes definitely, hitting trees, rocks etc, going ar*se over t*t often results in face planting some kind of object that doesn’t move, it’s all part and parcel of riding a mountain bike over testing terrain.
Road Cycling, again yes, more chance of getting taken out by a car, hitting a pot hole, skidding, blow outs, another riders clipping your wheel, your going faster etc etc so chances are your going to get a good clout on the head at some point!
Nipping up to the local Costcutter on your shopper on the footpath or cycle lane, or in a built up area where traffic is a bit slower, yes I’d pretty much say the risk of coming off is less, but accidents still happen I agree, everyone can get caught out but how far do you take it?

If she doesn’t want to wear one it’s probably because she feels daft and that it’s not needed, maybe she has a point in a way.

People tend to follow suit, lets face it, how many older ladies on their shopper type bikes do you see wearing a helmet, maybe just suggest at first to wear one during winter when it’s slippy and she might even like the fact that it keeps her head warm, sometimes it’s just getting used to wearing one, then you don’t feel as daft or too safety conscious, I feel naked without mine now but then I’m used to wearing head protection when I’m out on the horse, MTB’ing and on my road bike, I’ve lost count how many times I’ve hit the back of my head when coming off horses, the head is a heavy part of the human body.

I came off my RB not so long ago, I don’t even know exactly what happened, why? because I was knocked unconscious, my Bell helmet was cracked along the side and thankfully did it’s job, I still had a red line/bruise in my hair from the impact and a very sore head for a week or two with slight memory loss, if I’d not had a helmet on I may not have been here or could have cracked my skull. I’ve also been sat at the bedside of my friend that came off one of my horses with a cracked skull and she was wearing jockey scull cap, again it did it’s job and saved her life, so I’m all for wearing head protection.

iron-clover

I rode to the train station and back without a helmet yesterday- first time riding without a helmet for months. I was even riding at night in a dark suit with no hi vis in sight (decent lights obviously) and I wasn't struck down and killed as the media would have you believe.

I've ridden somewhere around 15k miles in the last 5 years or so I've been riding properly, only had one proper crash in that time (caused by speed and road surface- no one else involved) and have never hit my head on anything.

Because of the amount and kind of riding I do I choose to wear a helmet, as I know that at some point I am almost certainly going to crash and hit my head in the future. Because of superstition, I usually wear a helmet when riding through town as well on general trips to the shops etc, where although I know the risk of an accident is very small, it would be pretty galling if I did have "the accident" whilst not wearing one...

tangled_metal

I got my first helmet the day after watching a mate fly off his bike down a steep hill and land head first without a helmet with his head on the grass verge and his body on th tarmac. That was a month after someone else on the same downhill section did a faceplant after hitting another rock. Neither wore a helmet and the worst that happened was a messy looking scrape on the faceplanter and a dodgy knee on the other guy. Messed up their day a bit and stopped their ride in their tracks. Neither died but I still got a helmet. That was at 16 or 17.

I then tried to convince my Dad who had been riding since he was a young kid like me but for longer. No way would he wear one and he worked at the time in anindustrial sector that was really starting to up their safety game to a high degree.

I carried on wearing the helmet for a long time apart from for 5-10 minute runs to the corner shop. Then a frw years ago I started commuting to work for a couple of months in summer. Still helmet wearing but I cycled 2 miles to my parents house without one and that was it. No more helmet since. just so much more comfortable and safer for me. REason? Well I am a naturally cautious and spatially aware person. I also have a perverse sense of risk taking when i think I am protected. Basically without the helmet I am cautious, with it I try to beat my 58mph speed record whenever I am on a downhill good enough. You get what I mean? Cycling is safe enough for me to not wear a helmet and I am more likely to have a serious accident wearing one than not. Of that I am certain.7

I do wear a helmet when I am paddling my kayak off waterfalls and would if I got back into climbing again (although back when I did a bit of trad climbing and sport climbing on the indoor wall i never owned a helmet). I would wear a helmet if cycling off road (I do not consider a well packed hardcore and smooth towpath or track as off road). Climbing, kayaking and off road cycling all need helmets due to the increased risk of a head tap. The mechanisms of head trauma are all different to road I think. Climbing it is not uncommon to get dislodged rock from climbers above. kayakers at higher whitewater levels proibably get head tapped pretty much every trip and if learning you trade getting your head scraped along the rocky river bed when you get capsized is pretty much a cert if youre a beginner. Off roaders get tree branches I reckon or just the greasy rock sending you tyre skidding and you take a tumble sort of increased accidents.

tangled_metal

All the above basically to emphasise that every individual needs to make their own judgement on risk. That includes the OP's Mum.

PS As a kid I fell down the stairs and knocked myself out. Left a rather impressive dent in the solid loadbearing wall I hit on the way down. I spent the next two days being checked out in hopsital and a week off school for my troubles. I have also hit my head diving into a swimming pool where it was a bit too shallow (I'm short sighted so could not judge it as being too shallow). I didn;'t get knocked out just concussed and later that day got driven to the hospital for a good check over. Only got sent home with a piece of paper with the signs to look out for after concussion.

In both cases should I have worn a helmet? I would expect that a lot of our day to day activities are more dangerous than cycling statistically. Whilst not negating the desire to do what we can when we can (such as wearing a helmet or other safety precautions when we can so easily do so) we should bear in mind that nothing is as clear cut as you think. Sh1T happens and it will happen with or without a helmet. A truck dragging you a couple of miles down the road isn;t going to end well just because you have a helmet. Taking a slow speed tumble on your favourite trail route and you will appreciate the helmet. Drag your head along a river bed in a kayak (for fun obviously) and the solid kayak helmet will really be a benefit. Pootle along a pavement that is wide enough for you in a sit up and beg shopper outside peak travel times for a mile or two to the shop at a slow speed (probably less than 8mph) then really is it such a big deal to CHOOSE not to wear one. She's a big girl (sorry I meant she is a grown up woman) who has probably had more than enough scares in her life ( probably mainly due to dangerous things you have done as a kid) to know what is right for her.

jgsi

coulddobetter wrote:

Try nursing a cyclist with injuries so severe her parents had to decide to turn off life support.

missed this winner of the most crass comment for a Monday award.

Biomech

I bet he wouldn't be so bad if he had a helmet on

veronese68

Wow. :shock:
Years ago we had an MGB dropped off at work for a repair. Recovery left it under my office window. Looking down I soon worked out what happened. The top of the windscreen was badly damaged, a third of the way down the bonnet was a sharp crease where the bonnet had flown open and folded over the top of the screen. Another third of the way down the bonnet on the right hand side was a neat round dent where the bonnet had then smacked the driver on the top of the head. I bet he wished he'd been wearing a helmet. Ouch.