Today my Helmet has saved me a Headache

[flecc]

For the great majority of all my cycling years there weren't any cycle helmets, I'd been cycling for just short of 40 years when the first standards for one were accepted.

I've never worn a helmet in 70 years of cycling, didn't wear one for motorcycling for 23 years either, and have never suffered an injury. I just prefer not to come off in the first place.

Ever since the nanny state was invented more than half way through my life I've had self appointed nannies telling me that it was only a matter of time before it would happen to me.

Well they were all wrong and will remain so, since in my eighties I've finally stopped cycling due to Reynauds and the winter cold and lack of time in the summer due to my other activities.
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[georgehenry]

I do not disagree with any of the comments made. I just want to be able to decide myself whether I wear one or not.

There are so many things in life that could be pivotal moments when you look back but my personal preference is to be able to make as many choices about my life and what I do unencumbered by regulation.

I also remember riding an old Yamaha XT500 without a helmet around the lanes of Hampshire in my late teens well after the legislation had been passed to make them compulsory just to feel what it was like (sorry mum), and found that the engine sounded worse than when I had my open face helmet on as I heard all the tinny rattling noises of the top end of the motor rather than the bass of that thumping single engine that dominated when I had my helmet on. A shattered dream.

My worsening hearing and mild tinnatus may not have been helped by riding motorbikes fast without earplugs or standing next to the Marshall Stack at the front of a Motorhead concert at Bracknell.

Etc Etc but they were my choices I would not want to change them now.

Then again perhaps I could take out a personal injury claim out against Lemmy's estate for not displaying the right health and safety notices,

 

[KirstinS]

When I was 13 I saw a mate of mine get knocked off his BMX by a car. He flew high up in the air and landed on the bonnet, spread eagle position facing the sky. His head whiolashed back and slammed into the center of the windscreen which did th at saftey glass shatter thing. He was wearing a helmet.

The helmet was buried in the screen and utterly mangled when removed. He just walked away with a few scratches and a headache.

I've never forgotten what that helmet looked like after they prised it out the windscreen though. Never will either.

 

[flecc]

When I was 13 I saw a mate of mine get knocked off his BMX by a car. He flew high up in the air and landed on the bonnet, spread eagle position facing the sky. His head whiolashed back and slammed into the center of the windscreen which did th at saftey glass shatter thing. He was wearing a helmet.

The helmet was buried in the screen and utterly mangled when removed. He just walked away with a few scratches and a headache.

I've never forgotten what that helmet looked like after they prised it out the windscreen though. Never will either.

Proof once again that these things happen to other people.
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[KirstinS]

Proof once again that these things happen to other people.
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For full disclosure I should have said it was 100% my friend being a bloody idiot. Poor innocent car driver

So you do have a point of course......but I don't think many people would see what I saw and think , you know what, that graph or report there says different to my own eyes. I'll go with that then . So we all have our reasons.

I don't judge , I just tell my view and why I hold it. No helmet evangelism here !

 

[flecc]

I don't judge , I just tell my view and why I hold it. No helmet evangelism here !

In saying it only happens to other people I was teasing of course, though for me it's proved to be true lifelong.

It does seem that some are accident prone, while others like myself are completely the opposite.

When someone posts in here, as sometimes happens, about their three or more times they've wrecked a helmet in an accident, I wonder why they've done nothing about avoiding them after the first one or two.

After all, I'm just an ordinary person riding and driving on the same roads in the same country and it never happens to me. That can't just be luck, not for 70 years, so if I can manage it, surely so could they if they tried.
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[Gubbins]

The it never happens me argument was mine to brag about until 3 years ago when my life was turned upside down in 7 days.
I used to think I had a charmed life with the so many nearly or near misses put down to a sixth sense or guardian Angel. But now I know different.. any control I had over my life turned out to be illusory ...

 

[georgehenry]

Off course I made my children wear cycle helmets.

Hypocrite I hear you cry

 

[topographer]

Been experimenting with limiting my bike to 12mph recently. Everything...tarmac, kerbs, roots, branches, tree trunks...seems less scary and dangerous at that speed. It's fine in the woods but tedious when doing a few miles on the open road.

 

[Trevormonty]

Unfortunately we are unlikely to hear from riders brain damaged from an accident. They will have important things to do with their time than this forum.

 

[reggie_electric]

I did something very similar last winter - wet stuff turned to black stuff. I also hit the side of my helmeted head as the bike went over so quickly.

Now I will lower tyre pressures and saddle, and have some winter tyres to put on too. Plus you can get Endura pants with padded hips.

This was in 4 degrees but in sheltered areas e.g. between trees and hedges with no sun it can still be icy.

I hope you fully recover soon!

(see about 55secs in) :

 

[Gubbins]

I did something very similar last winter - wet stuff turned to black stuff. I also hit the side of my helmeted head as the bike went over so quickly.

Now I will lower tyre pressures and saddle, and have some winter tyres to put on too. Plus you can get Endura pants with padded hips.

This was in 4 degrees but in sheltered areas e.g. between trees and hedges with no sun it can still be icy.

I hope you fully recover soon!

(see about 55secs in) :

Ha! I notice you didnt slither into view like I did... I dont think any change of tyres or pressures can help with ice like that, apart from spikes perhaps, but they would be like wearing hob nail boots on normal roads which I dont think would be good.
I didnt escape as well as I thought I had cos when the bike went down it crushed and split the gear cable outer and bent the droppy thing on the gears so as its all internally routed I rode it on to Paceline (My new LBS) who fixed it there and then whilst I perused their new bikes upstairs.

 

[topographer]

I wonder if the Dutch salt or sand their cycle paths.

 

[jwm]

I didnt intend to rekindle the Helmet debate.. Just saying I would have taken a much bigger knock to the side of my head had I not been wearing one.

You were lucky/unlucky ... that ice was pretty bad, particularily shown when you stood up. Glad you are ok, I had a similar off a few weeks back, blink, bang and slide. I tend to wear a helmet, I've had a few offs, most knocks coming from my shoulder hitting the ground and accelerating my head sideways to the ground. For a cyclist it's mostly about protection from hitting the ground rather than other objects.

John

 

[jonathan75]

Exactly a leg injury can be mended not so easily a brain injury


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Lose the leg, still got a life to lead.
Lose the brain, not got a life to lead.

 

[jonathan75]

I find this "helmets don't protect you or make things worse" argument bizarre. The thing speaks for itself, as they say in law, or res ipsa loquitur. Having a protective helmet to absorb the impact of concrete is going to help. The kind of additional risk one exposes onesself by not having one is enormous. A trivial fall from a bike could have devastating consequences.

 

[MikelBikel]

I wonder if the Dutch salt or sand their cycle paths.

Think they clear them somehow. This blog may answer your query.
http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2017/01/the-effect-of-snow-clearance-from-on.html?m=1
I put a studded winter tyre on the front, I'll see how it performs tomorrow!
I wear a scooter helmet mainly for the weather and bug/debris protection afforded by the full visor, rather than impacts.
Switching to a bike helmet when warmer, but more out of habit than anything.

 

[flecc]

I find this "helmets don't protect you or make things worse" argument bizarre. The thing speaks for itself, as they say in law, or res ipsa loquitur. Having a protective helmet to absorb the impact of concrete is going to help. The kind of additional risk one exposes onesself by not having one is enormous. A trivial fall from a bike could have devastating consequences.

Fully agreed, but what I read from that is don't have the accident.

Secondary safety isn't always going to protect, as the majority of the London cyclists killed in recent years who had worn helmets show.

Primary safety, not having an accident, doesn't kill anyone.

Those helmet wearers who have repeated accidents have their priorities all wrong.
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[Gubbins]

Just the word we use "accident" says it all (An event that happens by chance or that is without apparent or deliberate cause.) For me its the small things.. At one end if a truck runs over your head a helmet is of no use at all, but at the other end to save a graze, scratch or small bump it does its job really well. Yes the black ice caught me out, and I suppose I could have avoided the chance of it by staying inside, staying on the main roads, or even going on the bus and while I accept that you can do many things to avoid being in that situation in the first place you cant avoid everything!
I have had a few knocks in my life including motorcycle and car crashes, but never broken a bone whilst others have broken many so what does that mean?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

In saying it only happens to other people I was teasing of course, though for me it's proved to be true lifelong.

It does seem that some are accident prone, while others like myself are completely the opposite.

When someone posts in here, as sometimes happens, about their three or more times they've wrecked a helmet in an accident, I wonder why they've done nothing about avoiding them after the first one or two.

After all, I'm just an ordinary person riding and driving on the same roads in the same country and it never happens to me. That can't just be luck, not for 70 years, so if I can manage it, surely so could they if they tried.
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When you get hit from behind by a driver texting on their phone, it has little to do with your riding style.

Some people win the lottery, some people were born good looking, some were born with exceptional intelligence and some get wiped out by circumstances beyond their control. Life's a lottery: Some people have luck and others don't.

Maybe some of us have protection from above, like when I used to sail a lot, but never wore a life jacket. I went fishing with a friend one cold November. I was so cold that I dug out an old-fashioned buoyancy vest to wear as a body warmer under my jacket. In full wet weather gear, including heavy boots, I went overboard and my mate didn't have a clue how to handle the boat to rescue me, so I was in the water about 10 minutes. I'm in absolutely no doubt that that buoyancy aid saved my life.

As we get older and wiser, we learn to navigate our way around life's hazards, but remember, next time you go into the shopping centre and the IS supporter decides to blow himself up: When the ceiling falls down, your helmet might just protect you - as long as you didn't take it off.