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Don't wear a helmet? I'd like to know why.

Hello All,

I'm admittedly new to the community, but Julie H. told me this group is amazingly diverse and very (hopefully) willing to offer their honest opinions on issues in the Cycling community.

Here's a little background. I'm a reporter from RedEye, and I'm looking into what seems to be a more controversial issue than most people thing: Actually wearing a helmet. I've heard from some great people on both sides, but in the interest of a balanced perspective, I would love to hear from some folks who choose NOT to wear a helmet. I've seen some people say it's a vanity/comfort issue, and others who question the effectiveness of the practice.

Whatever the case, I would be very interested to hear your opinions on the issue. I can be reached most quickly at mswasko@tribune.com. Also, if you have comments you'd like to post in the thread, I will be watching.

Thank you all very much for your help.

mick

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Permalink Reply by Liz on May 17, 2012 at 4:56pm

While I am one who wears a helmet 95% of the time, I have a couple of opinions on the debate.

While helmets reduce head injuries, they are not able to protect cyclists for being injured in other ways, and one can still receive a concussion with a helmet on, so a person in an accident should still be evaluated after a hard head hit for concussion even if they were wearing a helmet.

Helmets do not prevent accidents, they simply mitigate the effects of an accident.  Preventative measures include things like: riding defensively, using lights, driver awareness, protected lanes, etc.  We should be more focused on preventing accidents from happening.  

It annoys me to no end when news reports about collisions involving cyclists state whether or not the rider was wearing a helmet.  It has little bearing on the actual accident.  

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on May 17, 2012 at 5:42pm

$10/gallon

Permalink Reply by Juan 2-3 or more mi. on May 17, 2012 at 6:10pm

Then those helmet laws that protect drivers might have to be changed.

James BlackHeron said:

$10/gallon

Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on May 17, 2012 at 6:36pm

Danish-Canadian Mikael Colville-Andersen's classic TED conference lecture on why, in his estimation, bike helmets are both unnecessary and dangerous:

http://video.tedxcopenhagen.dk/video/911034/mikael-colville-andersen

This is a fairly compelling argument against helmets, though I think there are some basic flaws in his reasoning.  He believes in a conspiracy theory that bike helmets are the auto industry's attempt to keep people off bikes and "safely" in cars--as well as the craven profit motives of the bike helmet industry trying to sell everyone one of their products.  One problem with this notion is that Colville-Andersen believes people always would avoid dangerous activities--a helmet makes cycling seem dangerous, therefore fewer people cycle, making the streets actually more dangerous for all cyclists. (If only one person in a town cycles while everyone else drives, s/he is in more danger than in a town where the majority of the townspeople cycle: as in Copenhagen or Amsterdam.)  But many folks are attracted to activities precisely because they are dangerous: skydiving, bungee jumping, NASCAR racing, swimming with sharks, you name it.  If you can do something dangerous and live to tell about it, you've accomplished something.  If running with the bulls in Pamplona was somehow made absolutely safe--maybe using giant hologram-bulls that can't possibly harm you--no one would ever bother.  So, if helmets make cycling seem more dangerous than motoring, a certain number of risk takers should be drawn to cycling, balancing out the numbers of the timid who flee perceived danger.

For myself, I try to wear a helmet as much as possible.  When I don't wear one, I'm conscious of taking an unnecessary risk, a possibly stupid and fatal risk at that.  Luckily, I haven't yet been hit by a motorist or doored while cycling.  But I have been rear-ended (twice!) while riding my Harley, in crashes I never even saw coming, so I'm very well aware that sometimes you just don't have any choice in the matter.  You get hit, you've got nothing to say about it and you go down to meet the pavement.  I totally understand that a helmet won't protect you in all cases.  But even if wearing a helmet turns out to do mostly nothing, that it gives you just the slimmest most infinitesimal advantage against brain injury in a certain kind of crash in certain weather during a particular phase of the moon, I'm happy to take that sliver of hope.  I reject the idea that helmets make riding more dangerous somehow.   

Bike sharing poses a particular problem: a spur of the moment desire to grab a bike out of a kiosk and take a ride, almost assures that you won't have a helmet handy to wear.  Unless bike share systems can devise helmets that can be rented with the bike and sterilized after use, or good folding/collapsible/inflatable helmets are designed so you can always have one in your pocket, I see an epidemic ahead, of inexperienced road cyclists crashing bike shares while helmetless.  I hope I'm wrong.

Some arguments for wearing a bike helmet here:

http://www.bhsi.org/negativs.htm

http://www.bhsi.org/shouldi.htm

Ultimately, it seems to me, if you don't have an ounce of brains worth protecting, don't bother wearing a helmet.  You'll be just fine.

 

 

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on May 17, 2012 at 7:02pm

As far as I know there are NO LAWS saying you can't wear a helmet.  Wear one if you want.  Nobody is stopping you.

Permalink Reply by Dave Grossman on May 17, 2012 at 8:50pm

+1 for Helmets

You can't compare riding in Chicago to Holland or elsewhere with a significant cycling infrastructure.  It is apples to oranges.  

When I hit a pothole on my way home from work going 18 mph a few weeks ago and my head bobbed off the pavement three times, I was sure glad I had on a helmet.  I might not be typing this right now otherwise.

Permalink Reply by Nick Butterfield on May 17, 2012 at 10:39pm

i used to cite that same tedtalk when arguing against helmet use. right up until i got doored the first time. now i wear a helmet. luckily, my hair always looks fantastic, no matter what.

Thunder Snow said:

Danish-Canadian Mikael Colville-Andersen's classic TED conference lecture on why, in his estimation, bike helmets are both unnecessary and dangerous:

http://video.tedxcopenhagen.dk/video/911034/mikael-colville-andersen

...
Permalink Reply by Eric R on May 17, 2012 at 10:41pm
I wear a helmet mainly in the winter when fewer cyclists are on the road. In the summer I do not since all of the fair weather riders keep me safe by creating more visibility of cyclists and slowing me down to 10-12 mph on my commute :) I DO wear a helmet when it is raining or if I'll be riding out of my comfort zone at night. So I probably wear it 50% of time, which is my chance of...

I side with Mikael on this debate. As long as cycling is seen as unsafe then it will never be a mainstream activity and we will never have a legit cycling infrastructure, only us "you must be crazy" people will ride the city. But if someone asks, I will always tell them to wear one :) I don't want to be responsible for a friend's TBI.
Permalink Reply by Zach Straw on May 17, 2012 at 11:41pm

I wear a helmet. If you're riding, like actually riding, you'd have to be stupid not to. This just happened to my buddy two days ago, hitting a pothole on Chicago Ave, said his head bounced off the pavement as he fell-

Permalink Reply by Louis K on May 18, 2012 at 7:31am

After 30+ years of helmeted riding without any head impacts, I gave it up about 10 years ago.  A Dutch friend of mine said that the Dutch almost never wear helmets, and that got me thinking about why I do.  I ride slow (12mph), and generally I can avoid crashes.  If you look at the leading causes of head injury, falls and automobile accidents top the list.  Should I wear a helmet whenever I'm in a car or whenever I'm walking around?  Surely that would be safer, but I'm not about to do that.

Obviously if I'm in an accident on my bike I would be better off with a helmet, but I'm willing to risk it.  I don't wear shin guards, elbow guards, or knee guards either, although all would come in handy in an accident.

Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on May 18, 2012 at 7:33am

+1. People are notoriously bad at assessing risk.

Louis K said:

After 30+ years of helmeted riding without any head impacts, I gave it up about 10 years ago.  A Dutch friend of mine said that the Dutch almost never wear helmets, and that got me thinking about why I do.  I ride slow (12mph), and generally I can avoid crashes.  If you look at the leading causes of head injury, falls and automobile accidents top the list.  Should I wear a helmet whenever I'm in a car or whenever I'm walking around?  Surely that would be safer, but I'm not about to do that.

Obviously if I'm in an accident on my bike I would be better off with a helmet, but I'm willing to risk it.  I don't wear shin guards, elbow guards, or knee guards either, although all would come in handy in an accident.

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on May 18, 2012 at 7:43am

I've talked to many people who say that when they forget their helmet they are "super careful" when riding without it.

I say that the helmet is doing them a disservice if they are not "super careful" all the time when riding.  The marginal improvement in protection that a helmet gives a rider, for only limited types of impacts to only a very small portion of the head that is actually protected, is NOT a reason to let down one's guard in any way whatsoever when riding.

This is why when studies are done helmets fail to give any measurable protective benifit to cyclists over the long run because of the fact that when they are wearing a helmet it allows them to rationalize taking on more risk than they otherwise would without one.   Often this added risk they are taking on is greater than that which the helmet is actually capable of mitigating.

False security. 

Kevin C said:

+1. People are notoriously bad at assessing risk.

Louis K said:

After 30+ years of helmeted riding without any head impacts, I gave it up about 10 years ago.  A Dutch friend of mine said that the Dutch almost never wear helmets, and that got me thinking about why I do.  I ride slow (12mph), and generally I can avoid crashes.  If you look at the leading causes of head injury, falls and automobile accidents top the list.  Should I wear a helmet whenever I'm in a car or whenever I'm walking around?  Surely that would be safer, but I'm not about to do that.

Obviously if I'm in an accident on my bike I would be better off with a helmet, but I'm willing to risk it.  I don't wear shin guards, elbow guards, or knee guards either, although all would come in handy in an accident.

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