Should I wear a helmet?

From the report:

"The proportion of admitted bicyclists with the (critical) head injury
severity remained unchanged in the post-legislation period"

This is all it said on that.

Tim



"Surveys of bicycle helmet use have shown that post-legislation wearing rates
were significantly greater than pre-legislation rates in all age groups (Finch,
Heiman, & Neiger, 1993), although Finch et al. (1993) reported that the
introduction of the legislation was accompanied by reduced bicycle use in the
first year for all age groups, especially teenagers. Bicycle use by teenagers
and younger children remained lower than pre-legislation levels in the second
year while bicycle use by adults increased..."

And yet...

"An evaluation of the first three years of helmet legislation, however,
reported conflicting data (Newstead, Cameron, Gantzer, & Finch, 1994)
indicating an increase in the number and proportion of hospitalised cyclists
sustaining head injuries in crashes involving a motor vehicle during the third
year."

OOOOPS!

Increased helmet use, decreasing number of cyclists, and yet an increase in
head injuries. I ask you how could this be? I am so confused.

Robert
I knew my giro was dangerous

Buy and wear a helmet. Of course you don't plan on crashing, but if you
do, it will happen too fast for you to protect yourself. I have two VERY
deep scrape marks on my recently retired helmet, from crashes on paved
bike paths. I also got some bruises and scrapes on my leg and hip, but
these healed nicely.

Think of it like this. You're sitting on a bar stool, and someone kicks
out the stool from underneath you. If you've got toe clips or clipless
pedals, consider your feet tied to the foot rail on the bar stool. Of
course, you're leaning forward, unaware that the stool is about to come
crashing down. Can you protect your head from the pavement in this
situation? Likely not. Add to this the fact that the bar stool is moving
at 15-20 mph.

Get a helmet and wear it.

Tom C.



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Posted via cyclingforums.com
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My advice: WEAR A HELMET! ALWAYS!

I don't even go to the corner store without putting on my helmet.
Protecting my skull is only one of the reasons. Another very good reason
is that if I am wearing a helmet, drivers pay more attention to me. To
them I am a serious cyclist, not just a local kid (or old man, in my
case) out for a spin.

If you can afford a bike, you can afford a helmet.

Al Schrock Bangkok, Thailand



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Frank Krygowski wrote:
I can't help but notice that the postings from cyclingforums contain
very, very little in the way of intelligence. Almost every one exhibits
sixth-grade thinking levels.

That is surely because most of them are sockpuppets for one particular
person. Several of them posted with the same .signature before I pointed
this out, for example.
--
David Damerell Kill the tomato!

John Forrest Tomlinson wrote:
Imagine you lose your helmet and couldn't get to a bike shop. Don't
ride till you get a new one, huh? If you drove to a ride and forgot
your helmet, turn around and go home, huh? Don't ever, ever ride
without it, huh?

Don't forget - when this guy does have a crash and the helmet saves his
life, as they allegedly always do, he'll have to walk home...
--
David Damerell Kill the tomato!

Rick Onanian wrote:
Personally, I think that's not a real person; the anti-helmetites
have suggested that people posting from cyclingforums.com
are not real, just sock puppets

That _some_ of them are. Clearly there's nothing to prevent a number of
real people from posting via their abominable interface, but equally
clearly there have suddenly been a number of people with very similar
views and anecdotes... and .signatures.
--
David Damerell Kill the tomato!

Frank Krygowski wrote:
Paul_MCMLIX wrote:
I don't think you should bother with a helmet. The mere fact that you
have asked this question shows that a good smack in the head won't do
you any real harm.

Posted via cyclingforums.com
http://www.cyclingforums.com/http://...lingforums.com
I can't help but notice that the postings from cyclingforums contain
very, very little in the way of intelligence. Almost every one
exhibits sixth-grade thinking levels. Nobody seems to have read any
of the existing thread, let alone any of the references that have
been supplied.
Is there a chance that cyclingforums has some sort of IQ limit in place?
That is, if you're too smart, do they keep you from posting?
--
Frank Krygowski



Dear Frank,

I'd love to get into a battle of wits with you, but I hate to fight an
unarmed person.

If you honestly missed my intended sarcasm, you truly are the cretin you
appear to be.



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Posted via cyclingforums.com
http://www.cyclingforums.com

In article ,
Frank Krygowski wrote:

snip

I do wonder why the woman bothered to steal a used helmet. It occurs to
me that the incident took place in Pennsylvania, a state with a MHL for
kids. Perhaps she decided her kid needed it, and money was tight? It's
anybody's guess.

It never ceases to amaze me that there is a MHL in Pennsylvania for young
bicyclists but the the MHL for motor cyclists has been repealed, except for the
first two years...IIRC.

HAND
Ride Safe
A helmet keeps the do-rag inplace!

--
"Freedom Is a Light for Which Many Have Died in Darkness"

- Tomb of the unknown - American Revolution

On Wed, 08 Oct 2003 23:24:05 GMT,
(John Forrest Tomlinson) wrote:
On Wed, 08 Oct 2003 17:01:55 -0400, Rick Onanian
wrote:
On a bicycle, I ride at the edge of my ability, have no other
equipment protecting me, and am very likely to get hurt (possibly in
the head) by someone or something I don't control.

What's very noteworthy about Rick's various posts in this thread is
how contrived his logic is. In ladder climbing he is very careful and
almost everything is under his control. But that's not the case in
cycling he says.

Ladder climbing is, IME, an activity to which a helmet offers
much less than it does to bicycling. My grip on ladder is
much more sure than my bicycle's tires' grip on the road;
and the surface on which I would land from a ladder is
almost always grass, rarely something pointy and/or hard.

I am very careful bicycling too; but everything is NOT under
my control, on the bicycle. That's why I must pay so much
attention to my surroundings; still, my attention can only
be divided so many ways -- road surface, automotive traffic
from many directions, bicycle traffic, pedestrian traffic,
navigation, and god forbid I look at the scenery.

Additionally, I climb a ladder for work, and without great
zeal. I do it with danger-abatement as my only concern.

In bicycling, the only reason I ride is for excitement. There
is nowhere I need to go where bicycling is a transportation
option that fits my life and needs. As such, I push my top
speed, and I carve curves with much zeal.

I refuse to ride as slowly as I climb a ladder.

It's very selective arguments about what activities are dangerous and
what are not.

I'm very selective about lots of things. I _am_ at more
risk while bicycling than while ladder climbing. That's
not to say that bicycling is an extreme risk and I'm
scared to do it; but I spend much more time on a
saddle than on a ladder, and I have never slipped or
had a car surprise me while on a ladder.

JT
--
Rick Onanian

On Wed, 08 Oct 2003 22:43:35 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:
Which leads one to wonder: Would he still ride "at the edge of his
ability" if he were not wearing the helmet?

Why would I be "not wearing the helmet"?

Care to comment, Rick?

Certainly you see where this is going. My bet is Rick would be
significantly more careful without the helmet. And my bet is that such
care would reduce injuries much more than the helmet would.

I'm not careless. I do, however, prefer to have fun while
riding; it's the only reason I ride.

You never push it? You never ride at the edge of your
ability? Riding with you must be boring.

If I had no helmet, then I'd probably want to limit myself
to smooth, low-traffic roads and MUPs (which are nearly
unused around here). If I had an actual reason to ride
elsewhere sans helmet, I would do so. My cycling,
however, is recreational and done for excitement, so I
rarely have a reason to ride a specific road.

I probably wouldn't ride off-road at all without a helmet.
--
Rick Onanian