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news
Ben Hobbs helmetPhoto of mangled helmet shared more than 30 million times after cyclist walks away from crash
A cyclist who was run down by a recycling truck and narrowly avoided being killed has said a shared a graphic photo online of his mangled helmet online could warn others of the dangers of riding without one.
Ben Hobbs, 46, was riding to work near his home in Devon in March when he was hit by the truck. He was knocked off and suffered a broken spine, broken ribs, broken sternum and a head injury.
The photo of the Specialized Echelon helmet has since been shared more than 30 million times and sparked intense debate online.
He told the Western Daily News: "It's quite surprising that the image has had such an impact. It has been shared around the county and I'm really grateful for that.
"I've heard cyclists say that helmets are not the be all and end all because they only cover certain places but the helmet certainly worked for me."
He said: "I don't know what speed I was going at when the driver cut across in front of me but I didn't have time to stop.
"I was on my way to work and it was about 9am when the accident happened. There were a few people who stopped to help and a fantastic first aider who had to stop me from trying to get up.
"People kept telling me that I was in a mess but I didn't know what was going on. I kept trying to get up and I didn't know I had a serious spinal injury.
"I don't remember much but the first thing I can clearly remember is being in the ambulance. In the hospital I still didn't accept that it had happened to me and kept trying to get out of bed in the night.
"By day three a nurse sat down with me and said you've broken your back and you need to stay in bed."
The father of two is still recovering rom his injuries at home.
He said: "My head injury was right on the top of my head. The helmet has done the job for me.
"I'm a good rider and I'm confident. Nothing like this has happened to me before and I've been riding since I was four or five.
"I ride about 6,000 miles a year in Devon and commute to work everyday which is about 13 miles. I had just finished doing a complete overhaul of my bike and it was in 100 per cent condition.
"You've got no control of what will happen when you are on the roads. As a cyclist I make a balanced decision and go by the theory that you need to expect the unexpected. You don't know what people are going to do."
Mark Walker, a first responder for South Western Ambulance Service, shared the photo on his Facebook page after he was sent it by a colleague.
He said: "He is a lucky man. If it had been his head that had hit the van he wouldn't be here today. He was wearing the helmet in the correct position and it took the pressure of the impact.
"This is a powerful image and that shows the importance of wearing a helmet when cycling on the road."
Latest Comments
- Paul J 9 min 47 sec ago
This is one of the stupidest cycling controversies ever. ...
- redimp 23 min 57 sec ago
And there was me. Ready to splash out £700 on a polo shirt, but they have made it with cashmere
- chrisonabike 29 min 50 sec ago
But it would stop them blowing resources in a less sustainable way on their children - a major source of increased consumption [e.g. here] -...
- AidanR 30 min 18 sec ago
"Smooth ride"? Looks like it has the vertical compliance of an RSJ.
- Paul J 55 min ago
Madiot as "expert car door panel beater" - can the road.cc bigwigs please give Ryan an extra big christmas bonus for that. Brilliant. I'm going to...
- Pedal those squares 58 min 52 sec ago
Helmets have a 5 year live span (and shorter if you are unlucky and have a crash / get hit / etc), you should then get a new replacement one....
- Christopher TR1 1 hour 7 sec ago
Good stuff. Mark embodies the golden era of British pro cycling - let's take every chance to remind the general public and the world!
- Simon's Two Wheels 2 hours 7 min ago
Sonder Colibri. https://alpkit.com/collections/sonder-colibri Don't fixate on weight, just enjoy the ride, which on Ti is sublime. Here's mine.
- Jamie Williams 2 hours 12 min ago
It is indeed, I will be using it until its demise - I kind of feel that I was fortunate to find a saddle that worked for me fairly quickly ...
- Zjtm231 3 hours 58 min ago
The standard is 40% in these types of cases
Add new comment
133 comments
Ridiculous! If his head had been in the helmet, it would also have been mangled. The helmet obviously came off and got mangled afterwards. Intriguing is who tried to sell this hoax.
I always wear a helmet, I can't understand how you pretend you're in the pro-peleton without one...
As I always say on the helmet debate.
Cycling without a helmet is absolutely fine, it is hitting your head on the pavement where the problems start.
1. Do some finger-wagging moralising.
2. Feel you're winning the argument by imagining the people who disagree with you with brain damage.
Not cool.
1. .....
2. Not arguing. Only when you are dead or hmm near dead then it is one of those I told you so thing.
Again its your life not mine. Do what you like to do. Yes what I say is not cool but most things that is not pleasant are not cool.
Like someone point out and I noticed too that most cyclists in the city of London wear a helmet so most people do care about their lives and believe it does do something.
Only yesterday in Melbourne, the first place to have a helmet law and strictly enforced, I was tootling along a bike trail through paddocks by the river and stopping to look at where famous artists had painted.
I was effectively doing an art tour but people on fast bikes kept staring and giving dirty looks over my lack of a helmet.
The only other cyclists were going really fast.
Thats what helmets do to your thinking.
The mindset is changed so that all you see out riding are those that ride with the assumption cycling is a high-risk sport that therefore needs protective equipment.
Many of the accidents where its claimed the helmet saved their lives were influenced by that change of mindset and it is a good bet that they were riding accordingly.
Helmet row aside - thirty million shares ? That doesn't sound credible to me. Where did they get that from ?
Helmet row aside - thirty million shares ? That doesn't sound credible to me. Where did they get that from ?
For those who doesn't wear helmets. Only you will regret it and suffer when you do get into some kind of accidents. No one else.
But hey you might regret it then but who cares you probably brain damaged enough to be a veg or dead.
Just want to say, I like the attitude of the rider involved.
Don't ware a helmet if you want - but I'll never understand the veracity of the 'anit-helmet' brigade.
WRONG. The smashing of the helmet will have absorbed some of the impact. Yes the impact exceeded the capabilities of the helmet, but the helmet still did its job as it was being smashed.
If I am going to take that impact to the head - I'll prefer to have a helmet, even if the helmet cannot absorb the complete impact. I wonder how many of the 'anit-helmet' brigade would seriously prefer to take that blow to the naked head?
No. NOT Related at all.
If I was riding a sit-up-and-beg bike, like those in the picture, on flat terrain at the relaxed pace they will be riding at ... then I would not ware a helmet either. In that environment, it probably is unnecessary.
But - this guy was riding a road bike round Devon country roads.... totally different environment, and totally different speeds.
Wow, so not only does polystyrene have the capability of protecting your head from the full weight of a truck (despite falling apart instantly) but Dutch bikes also have magic properties that means that means that they ward off the possibilities of even having an accident.
That's truer than you'll ever know.
When a helmet breaks instead of crushes it absorbs a miniscule amount of energy. Helmets are only useful for very simple, specific low-speed falls not involving other vehicles. In that situation they are good at preventing cuts and tears to the scalp. They are not useful in the prevention of brain damage.
While you obviously know it all, there might be a tiny bit of information out there which contradicts your certainty.
There, fixed that for you. Probably to no avail. Carry on in your ignorance please.
Yawn.
I wear a helmet, mostly, not always. I went over on the ice this winter and my helmet saved me from a bang on the head that would have hurt, and that's all its designed to do, but grateful as I am I still don't expect a bit of polystyrene to save from some fuckwit driver running me over. Education and proper legislation is what's needed, cycle awareness in the driving test, that might actually help.
It looks like the oncoming Dutch cyclists are about to take out that woman in white going left to right; she needs a helmet!
I'll keep it simple, 'Bollocks'.
People still debating the helmet didn't help, dig the sand away before your eyes! They do help! And no they wont stop every cycling death, but why wouldn't u wear one, do u think your not sexy wearing one? Well u aren't sexy in a hospital bed or a coffin!
I had two accidents this winter on the ice, and both times I hit my helmeted head hard; first time no damage to anything, second time broke my wrist. Have always worn a helmet, and I know all the arguments for and against. Why are these threads so annoying? Don't make wearing them compulsory, but is there really any benefit in not wearing them?
Interesting the way that nobody ever mentions risk compensation: one of the reasons that whole population studies show zero , minimal or even negative benefits is that wearers (and possibly other road users) change their behaviour.
That shouldn't mean that people should be prevented from wearing them, in my view. But it does mean that we might get away from the red herring that is helmet advocacy. That would be a "benefit".
Take a look at www.ccyclehelmets.org for evidence, and a brief summary of the evidence from New Zealand here http://rdrf.org.uk/2013/12/27/the-effects-of-new-zealands-cycle-helmet-l...
Anecdote is not evidence.
If tomorrow he claims to be Jesus do you believe him then as well?
Well, there is nothing more I can add. I am a wearer, this is why. Each to their own.
"the driver cut across in front of me but I didn't have time to stop"
helmet mitigates the consequence of bad driving
live in the land of mandatory helmets
bad driving is the problem
my message don't patch it - fix it
Maybe the driver took the chance to cut across him because he saw the cyclist was wearing a helmet and would therefore be safe. Risk Compensation and all that...
related:
Jeez someone needs to tell these mad dutch folk to get helmeted up pronto
Notice that they're not only not wearing helmets (no need) but they're also not wearing lycra.
Mangled helmet debate continues with people saying the same thing more than 30 million times after road.cc posts more helmet clickbait.
Might be quicker, but wouldn't appear to be any more effective because helmets don't stop cyclists dying, and the research and the evidence for this is available to you, sat there, on your computer.
...it's a helmet thread, it will be full of all the usual clichés and I've worn them and not worn them for a very long time and I know that a picture of a crushed piece of polystyrene is easier to post than any sensible nuanced comment on the facts.
Could we debate the lack of body armour rather than the helmet, just for novelty? I mean, broken spine, anyone?
Did the helmet really save or prevent anything?
I'd say once it had been burst open due the weight of a truck bearing down on it, it wasn't protecting from any impact at all.
You could argue that there is a slim chance that it could still protect from abrasions once it had failed but we know that in this instance it really, really didn't:
https://twitter.com/AsEasyAsRiding/status/593329369344512000
I hope the guys recovers fully, and he did have a lucky escape, but it had cock all to do with his helmet.
From the photo, it looks as though the impact far exceeded the capabilities of the helmet, and instead of squashing to absorb energy it broke apart. The unreasoned, emotive nature of such helmet posts makes me wish that basic scientific and statistical training was compulsory in secondary schools.
Of course Mike, that's the answer. Be thankful that you live in a country where you're still free to make your own idiotic choices. Meanwhile the many of the rest of us will take simple, basic precautions to ensure we do our bit for our own personal safety rather than holding out our hands and expecting the government to do it for us.
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