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

Sadly it wasn't as simple as that. I was going along a quiet road on my drops at about 20 mph when he suddenly stepped out without looking from between some cars. I had time to shout, try and go behind him and try and grab my brakes. Sadly my shouting made him stop and step back into my redirected path. My helmet hit his face. 15 stone at 20 mph. He came off worse. My helmet saved me from any head injury. No bruising; no headachess. Unfortunately, I was thrown backwards off my bike and landed yards down the road on my hip. Almost two weeks later I am still suffering from heavy bruising but at last it is easing to allow me to ride comfortably and to sleep. My head and my bike are unimpaired, for which I am very grateful. The pedestrian had a bleeding face which, no doubt has since swollen up. He might have concussion but I hope that my helmet absorbed a good deal of the force. He claimed, initially, thathe had been looking; a claim that failed to pass the test of "why did you step out then?"

The moral of the story is that one cannot always control events. Other people's idiocy can harm you. A helmet can save you and has saved me.

With all due respect there is nothing in this story that states that wearing a helmet has really saved you from anything more than a cut on the top of your head, which is never anything that bad (head wound bleed alot thats what makes them look bad most of the time). Of course it is impossible to know how you would have fared without a helmet one way of the other so to be honest my theory of a cut is no more valid than yours.

I'm not saying don't wear a helmet but I am saying don't think that just because you had a crash and hit your head that helmet made a significant difference. (Unless you are considering road rash to be significant). Some times a helmet does help some times it does not. There are so many variables that it is incredibly difficult to say. I agree that most of the time wearing a helmet in a crash is more likely to help than is is to harm but to suppose all the time that the helmet made a big difference is wrong. You can barely ever come to a conclusion on this factor without very complicated analysis.

I say this as someone who does wear a helmet.