Remember kids... always wear a helmet. (The almighty bikeradar helmet thread)

I know more cyclists who have had broken collar bones than brain injuries. Helmet should be made to protect collar bones, I'd buy it asap.

I really don't like helmets, but down here I don't get given a choice, so I put up with it.

Thursday morning I set off, daughter on the bike seat and all, and felt so subtly different for like 5 mins. Until I realised I was missing my helmet on my head.

So back to the house ... nothing ... I keep my bike outside the front over night and the helmet is just over the handle bars. Must've gotten pinched.

Ewwww, who would steal an old sweaty helmet? That's like stealing used socks.
There was other stealworthy stuff on the verenada, but that got ignored. First time something got stolen from me here in beautiful, naive Adelaide, where people lock up cervelo carbon bikes with tiny cables.

I think there was a study done saying that collar bones is the number one injuries cyclists suffer, gotta find it.

Rode all day without a helmet yesterday, as I usually slap one on every day. It was mostly fine and I think I was slightly more careful, but I'm a fairly conscientious road user on my bike anyway. Only hairy moment was slamming on the rear brake when someone decided to indicate late and turn left, but it was all fine. Reactions kicked it and it was all very automatic.

Think I can occasionally place myself poorly on the road or in traffic because I have the protection of a helmet, but one day's riding without highlighted those areas that need improvement.

Have you considered....

Great thread on BR at the moment discussing not tightening Q/Rs. Comedy gold. Or summat.

I'm sure it's been mentioned, either here or other threads on the forum, but discussing cycling safety through the topic of helmets is completely backwards. As anyone who's ever been to a Health and Safety course will know, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is the last defence in making something safe. So if we care about making cycling safer, we should start by designing it to be safe. Also: it is not fair to place all the responsibility on the cyclist's end. All road users are responsible for making it safe for all road users.

Examples that are not helmets:
If you design roads to have a cycling path that's physically removed from the road used by motorised vehicles, minimising the time they have to share the same space, you would expect most of the accidents and altercations that lead to annoyance, injury or death to a cyclist not to happen at all.

Failing that, if roads are to be shared, then cars, buses, trucks etc. should be designed to minimise their blind spots. It is the operator's responsibility to make sure they use their mirrors and recognise situations that are likely to put others in danger (e.g. making a left turn). I'm sure the education of motorists in this respect can be improved.

In the event of a collision, the speed at which this happens matters greatly. Therefore, speed limits should be part of this discussion.

Finally, if helmets were to improve the outcome of collisions, then it would be just as reasonable to require all cars to be fitted with plastic or rubber bumpers. Different car types may also affect cycling safety differently, so one could think of regulating this. For pedestrian safety, for example, tall cars fitted with bull bars are very unsafe compared to 'normal' sedans.

Hope this adds something?

After nine years, there's always something to add.

Haha, after the enjoyment of this morning's session I may just do some more.

Indeed. Good to see you this morning ☺

compulsory jamaican ginger cake for all bikers NOW. It clearly SAFES LIFES.

^ Jammy dodger!

Until yesterday I didn't think there was much point wearing a helmet as all the accidents I'd had until then hadn't involved my head and it's not like a helmet is going to save me from an HGV.

Then yesterday I was dashing through Angel going about 25km and next thing I knew I was crashing down on my side and people were telling me my head was bleeding. It had been raining beforehand so my wheel must have slipped on something. Ended up in an ambulance and getting my head literally glued together in A&E.

I feel fine today and grateful I am live with a brain that is functioning the same as ever but the whole thing did scare the hell out of me and caused me to dig up my helmet from under my bed.

At 25km an hour a helmet would fail, you'd would instead have an extended impact duration. Any decrease in the collision forces must necessarily be accompanied with a increase in impact duration. Plus the 30% increase in radius around the head would have exposed you to rotational forces that could have done serious damage. It's very lucky that you weren't wearing a helmet.

Sounds like in either case I'm very lucky to be alive and not done more damage than the cut to the top of my head.

What about those expensive inflatable helmets?

So the story goes:

Chap on a bike has quite a full on crash, including a head impact, whilst not wearing a helmet, survives with a "cut to the top of the head" and concludes he needs a helmet.

I am confuse.

I'm confused too though apparently that's to be expected after hitting my head and hardly sleeping.

On one hand I've got ambulance and hospital staff telling me all these anecdotal horror stories about the injuries they see happen to cyclists without helmets and then I've got counter arguments about the other forces that wearing a helmet introduces.

Only thing I know for sure is not to ride so fast after it's been raining.

Emergency staff are an archetypal example of a biased sample. By definition they ONLY see the traumatic injuries. They also do not see eventual outcomes of incidents.

25kmh
not to ride so fast

Id suggest you might have avoided the accident if riding quicker. The quicker you go the less time journeys take so the less time there is to get in an accident.

If there is ever a next time that you go to A&E ask them if they ever see traumatic head injuries from any other activity. Ask them what the activities are, and then ask if people should wear helmets whilst doing those things.

I survived a near death subdural heamatoma with a swvre cap on only, no helmet,
Im completely normal. yeah. right.

+5kph for each item of Rapha clothing too, don't forget, basically making accidents impossible

yet another miracle:
http://www.wokinghampaper.com/cyclist-in-road-crash-my-helmet-saved-my-life/#comments

Arborfield is where my mum grew up, I'll make sure I wear a helmet if I pass my grandma's old house when I'm down at the end of the month.

4 years:

The video includes a call from a member of the public reporting what they had seen, Maria Sutton's call to police reporting her car stolen and the reaction from Graham Ruecroft's family on hearing her call for the first time

During the call she added: "The car's been stolen, then there was an accident because the whole of the road's closed off and I want to know where the hell my car is."

But Judge Peter Ross said her attempt to pervert the course of justice did not stop there, because when police seized her phone Sutton deleted the text messages by logging into the handset through an iPad.

http://www.heraldseries.co.uk/news/14533279.VIDEO__Killer_driver_s_apology_is__too_little_too_late__say_grieving_family___listen_to_her_999_call/