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

Jeez...

There must be an empirical answer out there somewhere

Must there? Everything we think we know about this question points to there being no answer with sufficient statistical confidence to justify either personal decisions or legislative policy. It would be a surprise if there were data waiting to be discovered which swung the debate either way.

Never worked out whether the politicians are all that way before they enter politics or something changes once they are there.

Six of one and half a dozen of the other. You pretty much have to be an egomaniac to stand for political office, but there is clear evidence that people become increasingly deranged with time in power. To take just one recent example, it took A.Blair a decade to transform from well meaning idiot to genocidal psychopath*.

Why is this still going?
Didn't mdcc sort everthing?
Oh almost forgot its the first rule of the helmet thread
'If its been said, say it again
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...and again
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...and again

you can say that again.

Six of one and half a dozen of the other. You pretty much have to be an egomaniac to stand for political office, but there is clear evidence that people become increasingly deranged with time in power. To take just one recent example, it took A.Blair a decade to transform from well meaning idiot to genocidal psychopath*.

I pretty much think he started out as a power hungry psychopath
He was never an idiot and never well meaning.
The war was deliberate. He wanted his own Falklands, and saw Iraq as his opportunity.

Amount of folks come up to me today and said "hey vickis helmet looked cool at the weekend" and I'm like "yeah you should get one you'd look wicked commuting in a visor-do it"

I thought the images of Hoy were really spoilt by his helmet

Talking about Blair is perfectly on-topic in a thread about helmets.

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Oliver Schick again"

^allow me.

Talking about Blair is perfectly on-topic in a thread about helmets.

Boom. End thread.

he would quickly turn into the egotistical and hypocritical authoritarian

Ironic?

I didn't know Blair had an interest in cycle helmets and their use. Although I wouldn't be surprised if he was an 'advisor' for one of the helmet companies and getting £2,000,000 per year for it.

Posting from hospital

I always used a helmet to cycle to and from work

I absentmindedly left my helmet at a friends house on Tuesday night, and was going to pick it up Friday morning on the way to work

Thursday night, cycling home as normal...wake up on road side with paramedics - I have no idea what happened

Nothing life threatening, but I needed 4 stitches on my noggin, a broken cheekbone and some grazing on the side of my face - I dont think I would have suffered these injuries with a helmet

I am now a staunch supporter of wearing helmets all the time

Because you usually wear one of these?

Sorry to hear about your spill. Heal up soon Zakkz.

Wow. Helmet debate in one move

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/24/tim-dowling-bike-trouble

38 quid for a new chain, which is apparently inappropriate for the cassette?? Which kak LBS did he go to then?

Ha! It was all going so well until the last sentence.
Just sit back and watch as the pearl clutchers and staunch individualists battle it out in the comments.

Because you usually wear one of these?

It would definately have taken some of the impact, I might have still had some grazing but not as bad...

Oh well - lesson learnt...

What an amazingly emotive old chestnut this subject is! Apart from the fact that cyclists live longer than other people - full stop. You are statistically more likely to receive serious injuries while playing tennis; people walking or driving suffer more head injuries than cyclists etc. . .
So you should definitely wear a cycle helmet - you should put it on the instant you get off your cycle and walk to your car, especially if you are going to drive to the gym and play tennis!
You will if you are interested enough find appropriate links to actual peer reviewed research on the CTC the national cycling organisation's web site.

Pah, she's positively swathed in protection compared to Rollie Free:

Seen here achieving 150.313 mph on a Vincent Black Shadow at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

"most famous picture in motorcycling"

and yet it has taken this long to appear before my eyes. #clearlynotamotohead

Just wanted to add - this is fricking awesome.

The ones that die on the roads aged 13 don't.

Personally I wish it was socially acceptable to wear a helmet when withdrawing money from a cashpoint late at night (semi serious), but you'd be arrested for being a nut-job. Likewise I might consider wearing a crash helmet whilst driving, but it'd be a bit nuts unless I was going to get a roll-cage as well, I'd get stopped by the police all the time, and if I was involved in a crash they'd probably do me for my restricted peripheral vision.

If I was not terrified of heights I'd definitely wear a helmet for rock-climbing. MTBing and BMXing helmets definitely make sense.

If I ran and walked as quickly as I cycle I'd wear a helmet then too. Are your stats compensated for speed?

Your stats - I AM NOT SAYING YOU SHOULD WEAR A HELMET OR THAT THEY SHOULD BE COMPULSORY... but until you can show me stats overall, per mile of travel; til you can show me how serious injury is defined (how many people have there lives fucked up by a tennis injury - it certainly happens to cyclists, not that a helmet would have helped in all cases, and no-one really knows what percentage of cases it would have helped)... sorry your post is fucking anti-helmet shit.

How do pedestrians get head injuries by the way? How many are to very elderly people who fall - people too old to ride a bike, but if who tried would fall and crash at 5mph after 100 m or less, and fuck their heads right up much quicker on a bike than they would on foot? Are you comparing like for like?

Sorry, you post is total shit.

Giles

I suppose that I am a helmet wearer who sits on the fence with regards the evidence. I fully accept that bike helmets probably don't do much / any good in the most serious of accidents and that there is no evidence that they do good overall.

But -

(1) The evidence is by its very nature very difficult to collate and compare. What is serious? Is the average pedestrian and the average cyclist the same age? In the average pedestrian more drunk than the average cylist?

(2) When people like Giles trot out anti helmet shit that completely flies in the face of anecdotal evidence it is hard to take it seriously. Tennis. I played for a couple for years at school and a couple of years in a club as a kid. I can't remember a single minor injury to myself or anyone else, let alone a serious one. How often do tennis players suffer serious head injuries or broken bones? How often do pro tennis players die in competition compared to pro road cyclists?

I have personally witnessed one LFGSS member end up in hospital due to a head injury whilst cycling (this is out of about 5-10 forum rides I have been on, and I would be astonished if a toy helmet would not have had a marginal benefit, let alone a good quality one.)

Do you not question the evidence / methodology when it is so far removed from the anecdotal? (This is not the same as saying that anecdotal evidence is reliable, and it is certainly no good compared to decent evidence, but I just don't believe the studies into the dangers of cycling are particularly reliable.)

It's a sunny Sunday; go out for a ride. Wear a helmet if you like, we don't care and it probably won't do you any harm.

I did put a lot of thought into my user name.

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[QUOTE=Jeez;2724207] Going for a ride on a tennis court and getting seriously helmeted up. Polo anyone???