Why I am amazed by people being put off by helmets

[pjclinch]

^^^

Yes, “off road” covers pootling to the shops on a segregated cycleway, which is probably the least risky sort of cycling imaginable.

I ride a lot off-road, surfaced paths, “green lane” byways, vestigial bridleways, through woods, NCN, towpaths, shared paths , etc etc, and I get very good value from wearing a helmet even though I’m a pretty slow and careful bod, because it has saved me innumerable sharp whacks from low branches. And, before anyone says “but you would have ducked if you weren’t wearing a helmet”, or comes up with some other tenuous risk-compensation argument, or says it’s because the helmet makes my head bigger: yeah, right.

Well actually, yeah, actually right.
If you think something is going to hurt (taking on low branches without a lid) you wouldn't try it.
I used to be quite an active caver. Everyone wears helmets because there are lots of very low roofs, but it's pretty obvious when you're underway in low galleries that you bang your head a lot more with a helmet on than you would without because your sense of where your head stops is set too low. This isn't a big issue because you've got a helmet on so it doesn't hurt... There are some crawls that are constricted enough that you have to take your helmet off to go through, head + helmet being too big.

This isn't a criticism of bashing low branches out of the way with a lid: I've certainly done on it on many occasions, but it's worth noting we're at the "twig" end of the branch spectrum, not the "bough" end, and we're at the "scratches" end of injuries rather than the "concussion" end.
I have considerably more experience of low branches orienteering on foot than on a bike. Once I ran into a bough while looking at the map rather than where I was going, and it hurt a lot. With a helmet on hitting that riding I'd have quite possibly been in less pain than without one, but it would still have knocked me off my bike. Avoidance the better option.

Pete.

[Lance Dopestrong]

The simple fact, I think, is that if you want to do something enough, you won’t be put off by the minor inconveniences or the silly clothes, or the ten minutes to get ready.

Whether you're amazed or not is irrelevant.

In virtually every state or nation on that planet that has introduced compulsory helmet laws there has been a reduction in cycling numbers, often a marked one.

"The simple fact", as you say, is that there is a close and repeatable correlation between helmet compulsion and reduced cycling numbers.

Being amazed doesn't alter that cold hard reality.

Why this should be is open to question. Could people see it simply as a faff and cant be buttocked to spend the cash?

Or are people thinking, "blimey, if the government think it's that dangerous then maybe ill give it a miss from now on"? Who knows?

Certainly painting an inherently safe activity (per journey mile it's less likely to kill you than simply walking) as dangerous enough to require mandated PPE most definitely isn't going to promote participation.

In either case, those are valid reasons for those that hold those views and I can see no reason or latitude for anyone to find themselves "amazed" over it.

I personally believe people should be free to choose. I'll carry on wearing mine, and its of zero interest to me what others choose to wear or not.The odds of a premature death while cycling are much lower than a premature death brought about by a sedentary lifestyle. That being the case there is no logical argument for compulsion, and even less for being amazed.

[irc]

I was following with interest the recent thread on travel insurance for bike touring without a helmet. A can of worms. So I thought maybe i could try wearing a helmet in the summer months and see how it goes. The last time I wore one was in 2009 for a day in Canada where it was a legal requirement. I dumped it as soon as I was into the USA.

If it was OK then I could take a helmet the next time I went touring abroad.

So I went to Decathlon. Several helmets in the large size were too small. They fitted on the head but there was not quite enough adjustment in the chin strap. Over to Halford where after trying a few I found one that was a good fit. I just didn't like the feeling of my head being encased and straps on my head/face/chin.

On the plus side helmet adjustment is far easier than 16 years ago. The rotating knob all helmets seem to have to which allow fine tuning of the fit on the head is an advance on my last helmet.

I think I will remain helmet free. Paying money to be less comfortable does not make sense. I will review the insurance situation when required in the future.

[deeferdonk]

To be fair i have got so used to wearing a helmet that i now forget i have one on (usually until i bang my head on door). When I'm cycling places I'll often just leave it on to save carrying it.

Once i cycled to the shops in town in everyday clothes, locked my bike up and walked around with my helmet on. I went into a charity shop, and was a bit confused because the lady working there was talking to me as if I was a small child, then i realised that she probably thought a grown man in jeans walking around in a helmet was probably someone with "special needs" who couldn't be trusted to walk around without bumping his head and I'd maybe got away from my carer.

There's a good advert for helmets, they make you look like you are intellectually disabled!

[rareposter]

Once i cycled to the shops in town in everyday clothes, locked my bike up and walked around with my helmet on. I went into a charity shop, and was a bit confused because the lady working there was talking to me as if I was a small child, then i realised that she probably thought a grown man in jeans walking around in a helmet was probably someone with "special needs" who couldn't be trusted to walk around without bumping his head and I'd maybe got away from my carer.

Exactly - and it's another good argument why (as per the thread title) people are put off by helmets. Wearing one on a bike is fine.

As soon as you stop riding the bike, you basically become a pedestrian and you either have to carry on wearing it as you walk around the shops / order at the cafe (and look like a doofus) or you have to carry it around with you (and that's just one extra thing to be carting about the place).

Or you can leave it with the bike and risk it being stolen.

It's also why hire bike schemes in places that have mandatory helmet laws rarely work to anything like their full potential. Who wants to carry a helmet round on the off-chance that they might use a city hire bike? Equally, if the bike comes with one stored in a front basket, they get lost, stolen, damaged and - far worse to most people - they'll be covered in someone else's sweat plus because by design they have to be a universal fit, they rarely work to anything like the designed standards anyway.

[warey4life]

When I used to go mountain biking in the 90s at first I never used to wear a helmet, but on one occasion I whacked my head on a low branch, no concusion, just a fairy bad cut. Then on another occasion I fell off going down a steep track and whacked my head pretty hard on the ground and felt pretty weird afterwards. Pretty sure I had mild concussion. Since then I've always worn a helmet and it doesn't bother me at all. It literally takes less than 15 seconds to put a helmet on. I've had my current helmet for 5 years, a £15.00 special offer On-One helmet from PlanetX, and it's comfy, and it doesn't look that stupid.

My helmet protects my head, it wasn't expensive, it's definitely not a faff and when I stop anywhere for coffee or an ice-cream, or go into a shop, I lock the helmet to my bike.

[Rob112]

30 years in the Brecon Beacons my mate rode straight into a tree. Broke his arm and massive dent in his helmet. Doctor said helmet saved him.

So ever since I have always worn a helmet

[pjclinch]

Mountain biking and the sort of places where cycling style makes it relatively easy to ride into trees (main trunk or overhanging branches) and break things is a different context for cycling to, e.g., doing one's shopping. Folk don't do MTB because it's comfortable, convenient and practical so there are rather different forces in play regarding comfort, convenience and practicality.

Pete.

[roubaixtuesday]

30 years in the Brecon Beacons my mate rode straight into a tree. Broke his arm and massive dent in his helmet. Doctor said helmet saved him.

So ever since I have always worn a helmet

Helmets cause broken arms shock!

[mattheus]

30 years in the Brecon Beacons my mate rode straight into a tree. Broke his arm and massive dent in his helmet. Doctor said helmet saved him.

So ever since I have always worn a helmet

Go back a few weeks in this forum and you will find a member consistently arguing that helmets allow him to do more dangerous activities such as MTB riding. Food for thought ...

[Rob112]

I don't think it makes me take more risks it's part of my cycling outfit is a helmet

[drossall]

You will never recognise that you are taking more risks because the whole point is that it feels the same. That's not a proof that you are, but it seems to me to be a misunderstanding of risk compensation to think that you can recognise it in yourself.

[Cugel]

You will never recognise that you are taking more risks because the whole point is that it feels the same. That's not a proof that you are, but it seems to me to be a misunderstanding of risk compensation to think that you can recognise it in yourself.

It is possible to recognise and admit risk compensation in oneself although it takes some development of the introspection arts. Such is currently unfashionable and always has been with we modern humans. The basis is a mental mode that is highly sceptical of one's own yens, wants, lusts and desires, especially their rationalisations.

As with other arts, one learns by failing to employ them aright and making vast numbers of mistakes.

There is a useful side-effect of self-scepticism: it tends to torpedo one's wishful thinks before they become thunks. Still, its the thunks that provide the unforgettable lessons about why to avoid the wishful, along with the rationalisations-after-the-facts that permit them.

[Tigerbiten]

Just rolled my bent trike for the 5th time.
Hit the ground at around 25 mph, luckily landed on my artificial arm.
Lost around 1 square inch of skin, broke a few ribs, head never came close to the ground.
That's why I don't think wearing a helmet on my low bent trike is worth it.

[deeferdonk]

Just rolled my bent trike for the 5th time.
Hit the ground at around 25 mph, luckily landed on my artificial arm.
Lost around 1 square inch of skin, broke a few ribs, head never came close to the ground.
That's why I don't think wearing a helmet on my low bent trike is worth it.

oof - sounds like you need motorbike leathers rather than a helmet! Hope you are otherwise ok.

How do you roll a trike if you don't mind me asking?