And another helmet story

Quote:

Read the article, clearly the author is putting more the weight on the helmet not being worn.

Right, so *nobody at all* then said that the state of the road doesn't matter?

Thanks for that.

I believe they have a part to play in rider safety. This would be for low speed falls or high speed skid injuries. When hit by a vehicle or solid object they are next to useless. Saying a helmet saved my life is anecdotal and is next to impossible to prove one way or the other.

Its a polarising debate and so far we have done well to avoid name calling and macho posturing, lets keep it up.

As i noted it is pretty much a given that in a high speed incident or an accident with an object that won't move/ is heavier than me, wearing a helmet is not going to make much difference. If i hit a tree after coming off the road on a high speed descent my injuries are going to be pretty severe. If however i managed to all but miss the tree but suffered a semi glancing blow to the head i'm pretty sure that my helmet would prevent some injuries to what is essentially the processing unit for my entire body.

It is true that personal protection/ safety equipment debate is diverting focus away from the quality of roads & driving out there. However i am only in control of my own actions and safety. So i make a choice to mitigate the risks and wear a helmet appreciating the fact that this does not make me safer but simply offers some assistance should the worst happen.

To my logic it would be like a police officer not wearing a stab vest. It is against the law to carry & use a knife so they should not have to. But there is a chance, however small, that one day that stab vest may be needed. Also, said stab vest covers a large area the torso of which not all would mean a fatality if injured there. But there is a small concentrated area of the torso that if penetrated would almost certainly mean instant death.

mrmo - Roads shouldn't but will have potholes. Even if we lived in a perfect utopia, we will still have potholes as they need to first form, before being identified so they can therefore be fixed.

I don't think the helmet argument really comes down to effectiveness, or lack thereof. It's an issue of personal choice, and whether or not there should be compulsion to wear them. I choose to wear a lid, if nothing else, the wearing of a lid, can sway a positive outcome from an insurance claim in your favour, should you find yourself in the unfortunate position to have suffered a loss or injury, in a bicycle accident. I also believe in giving myself as much chance as I can, should the worst happen. I respect others choices, if they don't though.

the bit I am confused by is how he hit the BACK of his head, side and front, even the top, but the back?

Your point about kerbs, this is a very iffy area, kerbs concentrate the impact and risk is far greater with or without a helmet. Not unheard of to receive a fatal blow when wearing a helmet.

A helmet may of helped, but I would rather the focus is on the environment and not on PPE, which being blunt should never be seen as the first line, which is what really pisses me off about that report. line two the cyclist was not wearing a helmet, no mention of the land owners duty of care to ensure the road is safe.

http://www.ecf.com/wp-content/uploads/Standards-helmets-etc.pdf

Quote:

In this same case, the QC under
whose instruction I was privileged
to work tried repeatedly to
persuade the neurosurgeons
acting for either side, and the
technical expert opposing me,
to state that one must be more
safe wearing a helmet than would
be the case if one were not. All
three refused to do so, claiming
that they had seen severe brain
damage and fatal injury both with
and without cycle helmets being
worn. Cycle helmets, in their view,
were too complex a subject for
such a sweeping claim.

Cue pro helmet and anti helmet debate which degenerates in to petty name calling.

The condition of the road is a valid point. So to is the quality of some drivers ability to control a car and thus endangering you.

However, these are variables that i have no control over. What i do have control over is my own safety. So wearing a helmet for me is a must. It has become as much a part of the kit as wearing the correct shorts.

Don't get me wrong, if you are taken out by a speeding car then chances are that you are not going to survive, wearing a helmet or not. But i feel a helmet helps to mitigate your chances of severe injuries on low impact situations. Going over the bars at low speed, slipping on wet tarmac and hitting a kerb edge etc.

It is a long life of pondering the virtues of helmet wearing if you suffer a brain injury in a low impact accident when it could have been avoided.

so the fact that the road was dangerously maintained doesn't matter? This is why councils need to make sure roads are actually maintained and safe!

http://road.cc/content/news/15998-army-officer-killed-bike-he-swerved-av...

Do have to ask why he hit the pothole in broad daylight? no room from passing car, not paying attention etc.

I fractured my skull in a climbing accident, had I been wearing my helmet my would have been sore, but ok. When a car pulled out on me and I somersaulted through the air and my head smashed into to the road surface, my helmet cracked but my head was fine and that helmet was 7 years old.

Take from that what you will.

Well said !

Yes, very sad. I can understand peoples views on not wearing them, and everyone is free to make that choice, but having seen a friend spend a week in a coma when he came off while crossing a car park at no more than 10mph, I'll always wear one.