Are Helmets Completely Worthless as a Safety Device for a Bike Commuter?

On Feb 20, 9:17*pm, "Bill Sornson" wrote:
ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz*zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz z*zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz................... ............................*..................... ....................................

"Quick, Henry, the Flit!"

On Feb 20, 4:37 pm, "Jay" wrote:
Dear RBT Bike Experts:

The only reason I would even consider wearing a helmet...is to attach steer
horns, such as these:

http://store.hornandleather.com/hl16br.html

Come on guys...I have been in plenty of wrecks. My head has NEVER been
injured. Wrists, hips, knees, hands, etc, YES. But not my head - not even
close. I suggest, helmets for low speed bike commuters ( 15 mph), are
simply a fashion statement. And for bragging rights to ladies at the coffee
shop (...I can afford to blow $100 on this useless accoutrement - and I
don't even care!)

J.

I was riding home from work one day, on a combination sidewalk / bike
lane (adjacent to a school). There was this car was coming out of the
school parking lot, stopped at the sidewalk / bike lane. He wanted to
turn right onto the road, looked up the road to his left, and saw no
traffic coming that way. I heard him drop the clutch just as I was
passing in front from the other direction. Fortunately my pedal was
at top of stroke when the car's bumper hit the crank on that side. As
the bike folded under the car, I went over the bars into the road
(must have scared the living daylights out of that poor guy in the
car).

My hard shell helmet picked up some tasty scuffs and gouges that day.

Of course, I was just a stupid, lucky punk at the time. I should have
made eye contact before riding out in front of him like that, so maybe
helmets are only good for saving people from themselves, but there it
is.

On Feb 20, 11:08 pm, Dan O wrote:

I was riding home from work one day, on a combination sidewalk / bike
lane (adjacent to a school).

I think I'd count that as a serious mistake. No, come to think of it,
at least two mistakes. The first was the mistake made by whoever
built or designated the "combination sidewalk / bike lane," an
atrocious design. The second was your riding it.

In general, sidewalks are several times more dangerous than the road.
Sidewalks that are designated as bike lanes may be worse, because
they'd give cyclists the impression that all is fine. Just because
someone designed it, doesn't mean you have to ride it.

There was this car was coming out of the
school parking lot, stopped at the sidewalk / bike lane. He wanted to
turn right onto the road, looked up the road to his left, and saw no
traffic coming that way. I heard him drop the clutch just as I was
passing in front from the other direction. Fortunately my pedal was
at top of stroke when the car's bumper hit the crank on that side. As
the bike folded under the car, I went over the bars into the road
(must have scared the living daylights out of that poor guy in the
car).

My hard shell helmet picked up some tasty scuffs and gouges that day.

Yep. There are lots of "my helmet was damaged" stories. But never
enough drop in head injuries per rider to budge the hospital data.

Seems more people hit their helmets than ever hit their heads.

- Frank Krygowski

Jay Bollyn wrote:
Dear RBT Bike Experts:

The only reason I would even consider wearing a helmet...is to attach steer
horns, such as these:

http://store.hornandleather.com/hl16br.html

Come on guys...I have been in plenty of wrecks. My head has NEVER been
injured. Wrists, hips, knees, hands, etc, YES. But not my head - not even
close. I suggest, helmets for low speed bike commuters ( 15 mph), are
simply a fashion statement. And for bragging rights to ladies at the coffee
shop (...I can afford to blow $100 on this useless accoutrement - and I
don't even care!)

Helmets appear to be fairly effective as "bump and scratch" protectors,
but population studies show no benefit in reducing serious brain
injuries and/or deaths.

I know my bicycle foam hat saved me from a minor scalp wound when I was
hit on the head by a minivan hatch (failing lift struts were to blame).

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

On Feb 20, 9:19 pm, wrote:
On Feb 20, 11:08 pm, Dan O wrote:



I was riding home from work one day, on a combination sidewalk / bike
lane (adjacent to a school).

I think I'd count that as a serious mistake. No, come to think of it,
at least two mistakes. The first was the mistake made by whoever
built or designated the "combination sidewalk / bike lane," an
atrocious design. The second was your riding it.


That combo bike lane / sidewalk in question is no longer arranged as
such, but it served us kids well in the '70's. Thanks for your advice
re; I should'a' been out in the road, but I was just a kid, and had
grown up understanding that I should better use the bike path when one
was provided. I would have been fine had I only made eye contact
before riding out in front of the car.

In general, sidewalks are several times more dangerous than the road.
Sidewalks that are designated as bike lanes may be worse, because
they'd give cyclists the impression that all is fine. Just because
someone designed it, doesn't mean you have to ride it.


I already acknowledged that my poor youthful judgment was faulty - but
only in that I *knew* on some level the driver didn't see me coming,
yet barreled ahead anyway. *You* don't know the logistics of that
particular scene, but thanks for your expert analysis, anyway.

There was this car was coming out of the
school parking lot, stopped at the sidewalk / bike lane. He wanted to
turn right onto the road, looked up the road to his left, and saw no
traffic coming that way. I heard him drop the clutch just as I was
passing in front from the other direction. Fortunately my pedal was
at top of stroke when the car's bumper hit the crank on that side. As
the bike folded under the car, I went over the bars into the road
(must have scared the living daylights out of that poor guy in the
car).

My hard shell helmet picked up some tasty scuffs and gouges that day.

Yep. There are lots of "my helmet was damaged" stories. But never
enough drop in head injuries per rider to budge the hospital data.

Seems more people hit their helmets than ever hit their heads.


I also hit my head on a gravel lot one day coming home from school
(this in the days before kids got helmets with their bikes). It was
my first concussion. It was the day after the Evel Kneivel movie
aired on TV, and the incident involved a four-foot concrete retaining
wall and a long board that happened to be laying around...

In article
,
Dan O wrote:

I also hit my head on a gravel lot one day coming home from school
(this in the days before kids got helmets with their bikes). It was
my first concussion. It was the day after the Evel Kneivel movie
aired on TV, and the incident involved a four-foot concrete retaining
wall and a long board that happened to be laying around...

What is the point of this anecdote?

Wear a helmet because you never know when you might
do something mortally stupid?

--
Michael Press

On Feb 20, 5:37 pm, "Jay" wrote:
Dear RBT Bike Experts:

The only reason I would even consider wearing a helmet...is to attach steer
horns, such as these:

http://store.hornandleather.com/hl16br.html

Come on guys...I have been in plenty of wrecks. My head has NEVER been
injured. Wrists, hips, knees, hands, etc, YES. But not my head - not even
close. I suggest, helmets for low speed bike commuters ( 15 mph), are
simply a fashion statement. And for bragging rights to ladies at the coffee
shop (...I can afford to blow $100 on this useless accoutrement - and I
don't even care!)

J.

Actually, I am a truly ugly dude and I need an excuse to cover my
ugliness. Fortunately, in cycling where a helmet is mandatory most of
the time, I can cover part of my ugliness. As soon as I get off the
bike, I go scuba diving. Then I go play football and then I go
motorbiking, after that, car racing and finally ice hokey. By the time
I go home its already dark, so I quickly turn off the light and go to
sleep.

On Feb 20, 10:48 pm, Tom Sherman
wrote:
Jay Bollyn wrote:
Dear RBT Bike Experts:

The only reason I would even consider wearing a helmet...is to attach steer
horns, such as these:

http://store.hornandleather.com/hl16br.html

Come on guys...I have been in plenty of wrecks. My head has NEVER been
injured. Wrists, hips, knees, hands, etc, YES. But not my head - not even
close. I suggest, helmets for low speed bike commuters ( 15 mph), are
simply a fashion statement. And for bragging rights to ladies at the coffee
shop (...I can afford to blow $100 on this useless accoutrement - and I
don't even care!)

Helmets appear to be fairly effective as "bump and scratch" protectors,
but population studies show no benefit in reducing serious brain
injuries and/or deaths.

I know my bicycle foam hat saved me from a minor scalp wound when I was
hit on the head by a minivan hatch (failing lift struts were to blame).

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

dude, you pretty much ride a car with pedals, sort of like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSwig1tgUtY

So you don't need a helmet. BTW, I've been meaning to ask you, what is
with your milk cow sig?

On Feb 20, 10:18*pm, Patrick Lamb wrote:
On Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:37:09 -0600, "Jay" wrote:
The only reason I would even consider wearing a helmet...is to attach steer
horns, such as these:

http://store.hornandleather.com/hl16br.html

Come on guys...I have been in plenty of wrecks. My head has NEVER been
injured. Wrists, hips, knees, hands, etc, YES. But not my head - not even
close. I suggest, helmets for low speed bike commuters ( 15 mph), are
simply a fashion statement. And for bragging rights to ladies at the coffee
shop (...I can afford to blow $100 on this useless accoutrement - and I
don't even care!)

Well, since a helmet is required to reduce the acceleration in an
impact of 15 mph to below the injury threshold, one might reasonably
conclude low speed riders are the only one who might benefit from
wearing a helmet.

I wear one for SWMBO, and because I'm required to wear one to ride a
bike near work.

Pat

Email address works as is.


When people talk about only being useful if you tip over, and 15mph
impact thresholds, what helmet are they talking about? This:
http://tinyurl.com/2vh3mg? Maybe this: http://tinyurl.com/2oggr6?
Surely not his: http://tinyurl.com/2vk9wt?

I also hit my head on a gravel lot one day coming home from school
(this in the days before kids got helmets with their bikes). It was
my first concussion. It was the day after the Evel Kneivel movie
aired on TV, and the incident involved a four-foot concrete retaining
wall and a long board that happened to be laying around...

What is the point of this anecdote?

Wear a helmet because you never know when you might
do something mortally stupid?

--
Michael Press

His "anecdotes" are real world experiences. The point? Accidents happen.
That's why they're called accidents and people need to be prepared....