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Gizmoish
15,553 posts
78 months
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CoolC said:  I'm sure if he was a strong believer in legislation he wouldn't pose for pictures like this with his son. Compulsory helmets will always be one of those subjects that polarises opinion, but ultimately is un-enforcable. how would you police the kids riding up and down their streets or those in the park, the little old dear who rides past out house every day to the shops down the road etc etc. Minor note... That's a closed road, at low speed, dry surface...
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AM04ARO
2,719 posts
84 months
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I think a helmet should be mandatory.
20 years ago I got hit by a car and the impact bent the frame of the bike (where my knee hit it breaking it and the knee) and I landed on my head.
I had serious concussion and kept in hospital to asses what brain damage I may have received.
I think I was lucky that there were no lasting effects. A helmet would have provided decent protection and would probably have stopped me looking like the elephant man for a week as my head was so swollen I did not recognise my own reflection in a mirror.
is it worth the risk?
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Getragdogleg
3,668 posts
52 months
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I think people should be treated like grown ups and allowed to make up their own minds about wether or not to strap a piece of overpriced polystyrene on their head.
I don't wear one, I do not deem it necessary, Gloves I do, as any accident I have had has torn my hands up and I don't like picking little bits of gravel out of my hand.
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Hackney
1,748 posts
77 months
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If you don't wear a helmet and something happens to you and the damage you do to yourself is worse because you weren't wearing a helmet then you only have yourself to blame.
Although legally where you'd stand seems to be very one-sided. I was reminded of the case a while back where a car driver hit a cyclist (can't remember what happened to the cyclist, whether they were hurt or killed) but the car driver was hit with the full weight of the law as she was texting at the time.
The cyclist had ridden through a red light.
So despite the fact that the cyclist did something illegal and would not have been hurt / killed if he / she had stopped at the light or just been aware enough to see the car coming (through a green light) it was the car driver who was punished as though 100% to blame.
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IroningMan
5,815 posts
115 months
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Hackney said: If you don't wear a helmet and something happens to you and the damage you do to yourself is worse because you weren't wearing a helmet then you only have yourself to blame.
Although legally where you'd stand seems to be very one-sided. I was reminded of the case a while back where a car driver hit a cyclist (can't remember what happened to the cyclist, whether they were hurt or killed) but the car driver was hit with the full weight of the law as she was texting at the time.
The cyclist had ridden through a red light.
So despite the fact that the cyclist did something illegal and would not have been hurt / killed if he / she had stopped at the light or just been aware enough to see the car coming (through a green light) it was the car driver who was punished as though 100% to blame. I think you're referring to an incident in Southampton at a major junction. The cyclist received the death penalty for his negligence.
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daz3210
5,000 posts
109 months
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I have heard comments that helmets can cause worse injury.
How do you counter it if this is provable?
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RobDickinson
15,236 posts
123 months
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Helmets are compulsory in NZ. Riders get fined if caught without them, this happens sometimes.
Theres a fair movement in cycling here to get this law repealed. The argument is cycling has declined due to the requirement of wearing a helmet and this has more impact that the risk of head injuries to those who choose not to.
i.e. its better for people to be cycling and risking head injury than sat watching TV.
I guess you always have the personal choice of riding with a helmet though you may look a bit more dorky. I guess the same as snowboarding , which I do with a helmet also, most of the time....
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smartypants
17,422 posts
38 months
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If you're mixing it up with normal traffic on a regular basis then I think you're well advised to wear a helmet. Making it compulsory is stupid though - just a quick nip to the shops on the cycle-ways off the road does not constitute a helmet.
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DJFish
3,770 posts
132 months
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I never used to wear one as I thought they looked silly.
Now I do wear one.
I had an accident wearing a helmet and it undoubtedly saved me from more serious injury so I'll always encourage people to wear one but I don't think it should be a legal requirement, the police have enough to deal with, much better to encourage people with education and subsidised helmets...
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warp9
661 posts
66 months
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The only people that argue about whether you should wear a helmet or not, have obviously never fallen hard off a bike (or been knocked off) and clattered their head against something very solid. Because if they had they would never doubt the importance of wearing a helmet. It's a bit like an insurance policy. You never think or believe you're going to need it and for the majority of people, most of the time, you don't. But when you do you realise how f  ked you'd be without it. I don't really care about adults not wearing a helmet, that's their call, but it does amaze me how many parents don't make their kids wear a lid.
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will_
4,040 posts
72 months
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Hackney said: If you don't wear a helmet and something happens to you and the damage you do to yourself is worse because you weren't wearing a helmet then you only have yourself to blame. Why should that be limited to when you're riding a bike?
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IroningMan
5,815 posts
115 months
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Experience suggests that compulsion has a contrary effect, but I wonder if we're re-hashing the arguments that our parents and grandparents had about seatbelts and motorcycle helmets.
Personally I always wear one, and encourage my children to do likewise:
I have to wear one to compete, so it's silly not to train in one.
Even if all it saves you from is a cut scalp, it's still worth it.
Once you get into the habit, much like a seatbelt you feel odd without one.
Helmet = kit, and any excuse to spend money on kit has to be good.
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will_
4,040 posts
72 months
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AM04ARO said: I think a helmet should be mandatory.
.....
is it worth the risk? Isn't that sort of risk assessment up to the individual? The seemingly endless need to demand more legislation and red tape to protect people from themselves is pointless, expensive, unenforceable and patronising.
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will_
4,040 posts
72 months
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IroningMan said: Experience suggests that compulsion has a contrary effect, but I wonder if we're re-hashing the arguments that our parents and grandparents had about seatbelts and motorcycle helmets. The comparison with seat-belts is only partially valid, because the health benefits of cycling should be considered overall - i.e. the decrease in deaths due to helmet wearing versus the increase in deaths due to a population exercising less.
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Timbo_S2
103 posts
132 months
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I never wore a helmet until I had kids. When I put my little boy on the back of the bike the first thing I did was make him wear a helmet. Realising that made me something of a hypocrite, I now wear one all the time.
People do not recoginise personal risk well. We only really recognise risks to other people (its why you feel fine driving, but uneasy when someone unfamilar is)...
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itsnotarace
3,667 posts
78 months
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Oh f k here comes another 10+ page helmet thread
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smartypants
17,422 posts
38 months
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itsnotarace said: Oh f k here comes another 10+ page helmet thread You could also merge with skiing helmet threads, they will be along in a few months 
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daz3210
5,000 posts
109 months
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Are there any real standards to helmets? I mean whats the difference between one costing 10 quid and one at ten times the price? If no real standards exist how can it be made compulsory.
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croyde
8,751 posts
99 months
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I retook up cycling 3 years ago and wore a helmet religiously until I realised that it was the main reason for me getting so hot. A very large percentage of heat is lost through the head and having it covered in plastic and foam does not help. The freedom of using a bicycle has already been ruined by having to carry around massive locks and chains, don't ruin it totally by insisting that I can't bomb down to the shops without a helmet. Sadly it would appear that this has all come about from the death of the cyclist at the Olympic Park. Unfortunately I think in his case that a helmet would not have stopped him from undertaking a large vehicle turning left (allegedly) or would have saved him from his injuries. 
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IroningMan
5,815 posts
115 months
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Perhaps cyclists should be made to pay Road Tax unless they wear a helmet?
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