Cyclists hitting their heads on crashing

[Bonefishblues]

Serious question (no, really it is). Are there any studies on any psychological benefits to a victim after a collision of their wearing a helmet?

Take an imaginary case of let's say a man in his late 30s-early 40s riding around a roundabout when a vehicle driven by an inattentive driver collides with him due to no fault on his part, and the next thing he remembers is being on the floor almost under a car.

Afterwards, rather than dwell on how awful the experience was - which it clearly was - the rider thanks his lucky stars, and his good judgement and fortune in his wearing of something that without question* saved him from much more serious consequences, thus whilst not exactly being a positive experience, is something that he feels more positive about than would otherwise be the case.


*The efficacy of this is I understand, the subject of some debate, but not in some victims' minds.

[pjclinch]

Free country etc. As long as there are no laws either banning helmets or making them compulsory it's all good.

Our culture of promotion and advocacy, despite freedom to choose, puts pressure on people to conform and enables/encourages others to bully and shame those who don't.

I had to insist my kids' school staff stopped pressuring them to wear helmets, which was typically done by shaming them for non-conformance in front of their peers.
Riding home from a Girl Guide meeting when she was 14 my daughter was overtaken by a driver who apparently felt it was a public service to wind down a window and shout "Get yourself an 'effing' helmet!" at her.
And so on.

I don't characteristics this as "all good".

Pete.

[Jdsk]

Serious question (no, really it is). Are there any studies on any psychological benefits to a victim after a collision of their wearing a helmet?
...

Not that I know of. I'll have a look.

Jonathan

[dmrcycle]

No country in the world has shown that compulsory seatbelt legislation reduced deaths,

https://www.rospa.com/media/documents/r ... tbelts.pdf

[pjclinch]

No country in the world has shown that compulsory seatbelt legislation reduced deaths,

https://www.rospa.com/media/documents/r ... tbelts.pdf

Please learn to quote posts properly (I've fixed this one for you)

Then download yourself a copy of John Adams' "Risk" and get reading (http://www.john-adams.co.uk/wp-content/ ... K-BOOK.pdf). It turns out it's likely the case that while we can be sure that in any given crash with all else equal you're better off with a seatbelt than without, that doesn't necessarily mean fewer deaths overall (because all else isn't equal).

ROSPA are good people with their hearts in the right place, but when it comes to "road safety" they're not the only ones repeating "conventional wisdom" that doesn't actually work very well. They need to get with the programme and move on to road danger reduction approaches, as e.g. Active Travel England appear to have done.

Pete.

[Nearholmer]

I’ll get properly controversial now.

You should wear your cycle helmet at all times.

I took mine off while having brunch in a cafe yesterday, then as I stood up at the end of the meal hit my head with a right crack on the corner of the underside of a flight of stairs that I’d forgotten I was sitting below. If I touch it it still hurts this morning.

Which just goes to show.

[Steady rider]

I suppose the lesson is for all cafes to be required to not locate tables and chairs under stairs, unless head clearance is at least 2.5m.

[mattheus]

I suppose the lesson is for all cafes to be required to not locate tables and chairs under stairs, unless head clearance is at least 2.5m.

Root Cause Analysis: don't use indoor cafes.

[Nearholmer]

Excellent solution.

Next time, I shall sit outside in intermittent showers and strong, cold NE wind …… which were the things I was seeking refuge from.

The really annoying thing is that as I sat down, I said to myself “you’ll need to be careful as you stand up”.

[mattheus]

Excellent solution.

Next time, I shall sit outside in intermittent showers and strong, cold NE wind …… which were the things I was seeking refuge from.

The really annoying thing is that as I sat down, I said to myself “you’ll need to be careful as you stand up”.

You'd be warm and dry by now.

Instead of having a sore head.

[drossall]

Helmets absolutely can lead to lack of root cause analysis. I ran the cycling activity on an expedition a few years back. Previous participants had apparently been having some nasty accidents, and it was suggested that we provide full-face helmets to replace the standard ones that were already mandated. This was on railway trails. I went instead for a bit of pre-ride training, and managing group sizes to reduce collisions and multi-rider accidents. We had a few minor falls and one injured knee, but no head impacts of any kind.

I think anyone should be alarmed about the idea of a helmet being the first and most important safety measure.

[pjclinch]

Helmets absolutely can lead to lack of root cause analysis. I ran the cycling activity on an expedition a few years back. Previous participants had apparently been having some nasty accidents, and it was suggested that we provide full-face helmets to replace the standard ones that were already mandated. This was on railway trails. I went instead for a bit of pre-ride training, and managing group sizes to reduce collisions and multi-rider accidents. We had a few minor falls and one injured knee, but no head impacts of any kind.

I think anyone should be alarmed about the idea of a helmet being the first and most important safety measure.

I'd seen a story like this online on Usenet and wasn't sure whether I should believe it, and then I experienced it in person...

Turned up at school on the triplet to pick up the kids, while waiting noticed a bike another parent had taken in for their child to ride home on had one of the brakes unhooked so I pointed it out. And he'd deliberately unhooked it because it was rubbing but felt it didn't matter because - you've guessed it - their child had a helmet.

Pete.

[irc]

Helmets absolutely can lead to lack of root cause analysis. I ran the cycling activity on an expedition a few years back. Previous participants had apparently been having some nasty accidents, and it was suggested that we provide full-face helmets to replace the standard ones that were already mandated. This was on railway trails. I went instead for a bit of pre-ride training, and managing group sizes to reduce collisions and multi-rider accidents. We had a few minor falls and one injured knee, but no head impacts of any kind.

I think anyone should be alarmed about the idea of a helmet being the first and most important safety measure.

I'd seen a story like this online on Usenet and wasn't sure whether I should believe it, and then I experienced it in person...

Turned up at school on the triplet to pick up the kids, while waiting noticed a bike another parent had taken in for their child to ride home on had one of the brakes unhooked so I pointed it out. And he'd deliberately unhooked it because it was rubbing but felt it didn't matter because - you've guessed it - their child had a helmet.

Pete.

A perfect example of risk compensation.

[drossall]

Try asking any who comment on this how many accidents their helmets have prevented. If the answer is greater than zero, get advice somewhere else

[Mick F]

I was wearing a helmet in those days.