Cyclists hitting their heads on crashing

[tim-b]

I've heard about a Dutch (I think) video of helmetless commuters crashing on ice and holding their heads away from impact
Here's a video of Dutch Pro Ellen van Dijk in the 2021 Paris-Roubaix Femmes hitting the cobbles hard, the rider behind does much the same but hits the grass verge. The helmetted Ellen went on to finish
Was the impact exacerbated by her helmet, or did it protect her?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJJcEufq3Ok

[pjclinch]

I know the video you mean, was taken down a few years ago (I don't know why).
It's multiple falls at the same corner, so in each case the rider is sliding out sideways at low speed. I imagine most of us have done it at some point, cornering and finding we're on a patch of ice/mud/gravel and down we go, generally taking it on the hip/shoulder.

It is natural to old one's head up when falling like that, but it certainly doesn't always work.
This video shows pretty much exactly why helmets can be a good idea, and what they were originally intended for (a better hairnet): after taking a fall with a head-whack where the lid is usefully protective, rather than seeing stars and having a painful bump you can get back on and finish the race.

The real lessons here in terms of general rider safety aren't "always wear a helmet just in case", but more that your safety isn't actually a premium when racing hard in a dense peloton on slippery cobbles. I was out for a ride in Ayrshire on Saturday with my wife and we took a gravel short cut at one point. I was on my Moulton with 28mm slicks running at 90+ psi and they're not what you'd call ideal on gravel, but rather than be terrified by my lack of helmet I just took care and rode the downhills slowly. You won't win a race, especially a high-prestige professional one, riding like that though.

Had EvD not been wearing a helmet... Speculating, but probably out of the race, nasty headache, tender bump on head for several days. So good job she was wearing a lid, but a hard-as-nails professional racer on a famously technically difficult, very long, very tiring day at silly speeds is not representative of me, or I would venture to suggest, many others. So what's your point?

Pete.

[Nearholmer]

I came off on ice when going very slowly, in a straight line, not long before Christmas. It was very odd, because the bike just shot out from under me, forward and to the left, I think because of camber on the path, and dumped me flat on my back as if I was laying in bed. The impact was very gentle, except to my head.

It happened so quickly that I had zero time to react, I was pretty much unaware anything was happening until I hit the deck.

Did I bang my head? Yes, for the first time in 50+ years of cycling my head hit the deck as I landed, the impact being just above and to the fore of my right ear, onto solid frozen ground.

Was I wearing a helmet? Yes.

How did it all turn out? Well, the energy in the fall was low, no different from falling when walking, but it was a really solid “bang”, momentarily shocking if not stunning, and I actually felt the helmet spread the load across my head, across wider than the direct impact area. It must have given me very mild concussion, because I had a dull ache in that area for about three or for days, and felt generally a bit off colour.

Glad I was wearing a helmet? Very. I don’t think it would have been a really, really nasty one without, but I’m convinced that a more concentrated impact area would have made it worse.

Could I have cradled my head as I went down? No chance whatsoever; it all happened far too quickly.

[Jdsk]

...
Could I have cradled my head as I went down? No chance whatsoever; it all happened far too quickly.

I'd expect that to be typical.

Jonathan

[Nearholmer]

Coming off a bike is a funny thing (well, not funny, strange) in that sometimes it all happens “in slow motion” and on other occasions you don’t know it’s happened until you are picking yourself up from the floor, and that without hitting the head.

Previously though, even on the “didn’t know it had happened” occasions, I’ve taken instinctive protective action. I wonder if the difference this time was that I came off backwards, not in a generally forward direction.

(I try not to make a habit of coming off, but I do ride a lot of very rough paths, and it does occasionally happen!)

[thirdcrank]

Coming off a bike is a funny thing (well, not funny, strange) in that sometimes it all happens “in slow motion” and on other occasions you don’t know it’s happened until you are picking yourself up from the floor, and that without hitting the head.

Previously though, even on the “didn’t know it had happened” occasions, I’ve taken instinctive protective action. I wonder if the difference this time was that I came off backwards, not in a generally forward direction.

(I try not to make a habit of coming off, but I do ride a lot of very rough paths, and it does occasionally happen!)

If you don't know something is happening, then you don't know etc.

People who have known something bad is happening seem often to report that everything went into slo-mo, even though they might have been unable to react in time to prevent the mishap. I fancy this affects other senses too, so eg looking down the wrong end of a firearm can make it look bigger.

[Boring_Username]

I've heard about a Dutch (I think) video of helmetless commuters crashing on ice and holding their heads away from impact

Judo students are taught to hold their heads away from impact when they are thrown to the ground.
The fact that this needs to be taught suggests that it cannot always be relied on to occur naturally.

[axel_knutt]

I can think of four occasions when I have had injuries to the head:

1. Crashed off my go-kart as a child, broke one of my teeth on the road surface.
2. Crashed the car, broke my nose on the steering wheel.
3. As I was climbing out the deep end of swimming pool, I slipped and caught my chin on the poolside as I dropped back into the water feet first. My chin was cut through to the jawbone, but it surprises me that I didn't smash every tooth in my mouth.
4. Picked something off the kitchen floor and banged my head on the underside of an open cupboard door as I stood back up gain. It left me with a soft mushy holllow depression which made my head spin when I touched it, so I assume it was a fractured skull.

None of these were whilst cycling, and the only occasion when I would have been protected by a helmet was at home in the kitchen.

[Stevek76]

Looks a borderline one to me, obviously not easy to determine the counterfactual. A matter of if and how much would her head have slowed over that extra 2-3cm.

The rider behind looked to have a worse impact to me. Hit the slightly softer surface but much more violent acceleration changes and the sort of knock a cycle helmet does very little for. No hard/rough surface to be mitigated and acceleration high enough to be in ouchy/mild concussion territory but likely not high enough for the EPS to crush and therefore reduce peak deceleration

...
Could I have cradled my head as I went down? No chance whatsoever; it all happened far too quickly.

I'd expect that to be typical.

I'm not sure I would, but I'd be interested on any sort of evidence eitherway.

Obviously the actual time to impact doesn't change, unless some sort of moment is acting that can transfer horizontal velocity downwards, fairly rare in cycling but can happen when e.g. catching an edge snowboarding. Typical fall time is around 0.5-0.6s, well within the realm of human reaction times if you're not dozing off. I wonder if that is the principle difference here and why my entirely anecdotal impression is that longer distance roadies tend to form the majority of the 'my helmet saved my life' social media legion, far easier to zone out a bit when you're munching up the miles as opposed to navigating around town or doing some off road stuff.

Also regarding the dutch video, there's going to be an element of rider position in this, fair bit easier to deal with an unintended dismount from a upright sit up and beg bike than a hunched over aero road position.

[mattheus]

I've heard about a Dutch (I think) video of helmetless commuters crashing on ice and holding their heads away from impact

Judo students are taught to hold their heads away from impact when they are thrown to the ground.
The fact that this needs to be taught suggests that it cannot always be relied on to occur naturally.

It's very common amongst (non-judo trained) riders to throw a hand out to stop your fall (I know I've done it, although not on ice*); this leads to collar-bone fractures.

*My couple of ice falls have been in the too-fast-to-think category. Or maybe cos I have crap reactions - whatever the cause, I've landed on my elbow twice time (very sore, slight graze), hip once - hip seized up, struggled to ride the remaining 30 miles.

Only head injuries have been:
- over the bars on a grassy field (aged ;
- SMIDSY - van lauchned me sideways across the road. Broke some teeth.
- crashed own car on an icy dual-carriageway. Broken legs were more of an issue than the cuts to my head ..

[mattheus]

3. As I was climbing out the deep end of swimming pool, I slipped and caught my chin on the poolside as I dropped back into the water feet first. My chin was cut through to the jawbone, but it surprises me that I didn't smash every tooth in my mouth.

Oh lord, that's one of my nightmare scenarios - I could barely finish that paragraph <flinches> !

[Nearholmer]

Typical fall time is around 0.5-0.6s, well within the realm of human reaction times if you're not dozing off

You don’t have to be “dozing off” in order not to know it’s happening until you hit the deck, or at least to be so far into the fall that instinctive reactions barely have time to operate. Human reaction times to make quite small movements can be 300-400ms, so a bit longer to make substantial movements to achieve effective protection, and the nature of the fall may or may not be such as to allow an effective reaction anyway.

Likewise, you don’t have to be “dozing off” in order to come a cropper in the first place, especially off-road where ground conditions are constantly changing. I’d say that getting too cocky is the bigger danger, hubris, nemesis stuff.

[Cugel]

I can think of four occasions when I have had injuries to the head:

1. Crashed off my go-kart as a child, broke one of my teeth on the road surface.
2. Crashed the car, broke my nose on the steering wheel.
3. As I was climbing out the deep end of swimming pool, I slipped and caught my chin on the poolside as I dropped back into the water feet first. My chin was cut through to the jawbone, but it surprises me that I didn't smash every tooth in my mouth.
4. Picked something off the kitchen floor and banged my head on the underside of an open cupboard door as I stood back up gain. It left me with a soft mushy holllow depression which made my head spin when I touched it, so I assume it was a fractured skull.

None of these were whilst cycling, and the only occasion when I would have been protected by a helmet was at home in the kitchen.

This is the logic I apply when deciding whether or not to wear a cycling helmet: what are the comparative likelihoods of it coming into use to protect my head from the mild concussions it's designed to reduce? Sixty three years of cycling with no head bangs resulting versus a number of other activities for for which no one would dream of wearing a helmet yet which got me a head bang.

One of the most likely conditions leading to head bang, for me, was being a child. I banged my head with varying degrees of force (including 3 knockouts) countless times as my proprioception developed. School games, street games and just moving about up/down steps, across rocky grounds etc.. In the many falls from a bike (poor tyres, terrible brakes on chromed steel rims) as a child I never once banged or broke my head, just everything else.

As an adult I've banged my head when fell-walking, running along the canal towpath, gardening, ice skating and doing DIY. Never when falling off the bike (which I do very infrequently - decades since the last time).

**********
Perhaps a time will come when I detect a degradation of my proprioception and other body-control mechanisms? It may be that this will suggest use of a helmet (and hip and shoulder and knee pads). Or even giving up cycling! (Oh no ).

I have considered using a helmet when gravel riding about the forest tracks, as there are more fall-off hazards and also more trackside things (sticky up rocks, overhanging branches and the like) that could impart a head bang. On the other hand, a helmet seems unlikely to protect from stick and rock pokes unless I wear a solid shell item.

But on the road bike, I've developed a lot of skills in 63 years that tell me what to avoid, lookout for and so forth, as well as how to deal with skids or sudden road hazards, as well as the dangerous driver signals given off by the rascals as they hurl their 4-wheeled weapons about. Prevention (of falling off) is better than trusting to a feeble safety aid that seems designed for looks rather than head protection. But if I conform to the exhortations of the safety zealots, I'll have to keep it on for going up stairs (and down), gardening, walking the dog and woodworking. And driving the car or being a passenger on the bus.

Cugel, safe enough for now, thenk yew.

PS To the OP - get some studded ice tyres or avoid the icy road riding.

[axel_knutt]

3. As I was climbing out the deep end of swimming pool, I slipped and caught my chin on the poolside as I dropped back into the water feet first. My chin was cut through to the jawbone, but it surprises me that I didn't smash every tooth in my mouth.

Oh lord, that's one of my nightmare scenarios - I could barely finish that paragraph <flinches> !

The thought of my tongue being between my teeth is what makes me cringe.

Typical fall time is around 0.5-0.6s, well within the realm of human reaction times if you're not dozing off

You don’t have to be “dozing off” in order not to know it’s happening until you hit the deck, or at least to be so far into the fall that instinctive reactions barely have time to operate. Human reaction times to make quite small movements can be 300-400ms, so a bit longer to make substantial movements to achieve effective protection, and the nature of the fall may or may not be such as to allow an effective reaction anyway.

I tried the reaction timer in the driving school at Essex police headquarters once, which consisted of a car cockpit with a red light on the dash to start the timer, and the brake pedal stopped it. I got my foot off the accelerator onto the brake in 300ms, which prompted the supervisor to say "You're bang on the national average". The fastest among us was 200ms, but that's reacting to a stimulus that you're anticipating, if you aren't anticipating anything, typical times are nearer 2s, which is why you're advised to drive >2s behind the car in front.

That was ~45 years ago, in those days if I tripped on the pavement I would stumble but react quickly enough to catch the fall. Nowadays I just keel over like a felled tree before I know what's happening.

It's very common amongst (non-judo trained) riders to throw a hand out to stop your fall (I know I've done it, although not on ice*); this leads to collar-bone fractures.

Last time I fell whilst walking I put my arm out as I went down. The first to make contact were my little & ring fingers, which both broke as they got bent back, then as my arm buckled underneath me, the pointy bone on the inside of my elbow whacked into my chest and broke a rib.

[Nearholmer]

That was ~45 years ago,

It does increase noticeably with age, both the cognitive component and the physical movement component.

A similarly long time ago, maybe 40 years, I used to spend lunchtimes “Guinea Pigging” for a group of colleagues who were developing a simulator to help train train drivers. I was in the near to 200ms group for reacting to signals, but I know full well that if I tried it now I’d be in the “rather disappointing, bordering on not safe” group, and when it comes to playing a very fast-paced card game based in shape recognition with younger members of the family I loose on both the cognitive and physical fronts ….. the nippiest age seems to be early twenties.