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

+1

As for helmets, on both times I have been knocked off (both times without prior warning - rear ended & then side swiped) I have landed head first - natural self preservation instinct making me land on the least important bit - I have been wearing a Giro Ionis that has compressed perfectly - the last time, the helmet compressed in by approx an inch and I was told by the ambulance crew, that but for the helmet, I would have had a fractured skull....

as ever your fate is in your hands to an extent - ride like a c#nt, you will get knocked off sooner or later, hit your head without a helmet - it will hurt

This always annoys me, how do they know this? I think it's more psychology, the helmet is fucked so the presumption is that your skull would be just as fucked. Now I'm not saying that helmets do not offer any protection it's this assumption from people who really have no knowledge about the strength of a helmet to be able to make that judgment that you'd be dead or you'd have this problem or that problem.