Cycle helmets, are they important?

10 Votes here (click stars to vote)

The issue of cycling helmets - whether to wear on or not - is always a hot topic.

Reasons for:

They protect your head!

Reasons against:

They won't help in a serious crash, or stop you breaking your neck, they are just not strong enough
In the heat, there is a risk that they cause heat exhaustion
Pedestrians and car passengers are as likely to suffer head injuries and no one suggests they should all wear helmets
They look daft and cost money

People tend to fall into one of three camps:

1. No one is going to tell me what to do so I am not going to wear a helmet

2. I wouldn't leave home without it - any help with safety is important and worthwhile

3. I wear a helmet on busy roads or on group rides where it is obligatory, but not otherwise.

Now I am going to take the side of the helmet wearers here, although I understand the objections. I suspect that for some people the objection is that they don't want to look silly. If none of your friends cycle, or wear helmets when they do, you feel a bit of a prat. Same as wearing cycling shorts the first time. Another objection is that personal skill and ability will prevent an accident occurring.

Yet another objection is that a helmet will often not help at all, which is true. There are many situations where wearing a helmet won't even protect your head sufficiently - but the point is, there are also circumstances where it will help. And very few real downsides to wearing a cycle helmet.

In fact there is a third, more serious objection. Studies showed that motorists were much less cautious when overtaking cyclists who wore helmets, and left much less space between their car any your bike. Similarly, there is a possibility that wearing a helmet makes a cyclist more confident when cycling, and more likely to take risks.

However skilled you are, you can fall off. Near where I live recently a lorry had spilled some fine gravel on the road. Same colour as the road, on a long, slightly downhill stretch where I am usually doing 35-40 kmh. Someone had swept most up, leaving a strip two centimetres deep and two metres wide. When I hit it I didn't fall off, just skidded spectacularly, but I could easily have fallen. So could you, it was completely invisible until I was on it.

If there is a 10% chance or even a 0.1% chance that in a cycle accident you avoid death or serious injury, that sounds good enough reason to me.

I do have a lot of sympathy with the desire to remove your helmet when you are cycling up hill on a hot day. But I cycle mostly in southern France, and it can get pretty hot, and I have never felt that the helmet is adding to my over-heating. I think avoiding having the sun beating on your bare head outweighs the disadvantages.

I don't much care if anyone else wears a helmet or not, and would not suggest to someone else that they should. But a little anecdote. For a while I rode every week with a group of four or five cyclists. When I first joined them, none wore a helmet on 'casual' rides, except me. Then after a week or two, one of the others started, and within six weeks everyone was wearing a cycling helmet. I think a lot of people would like to wear a helmet but don't want to be the first in the group to start, in case it doesn't look cool.

Have you ever had a car come unexpectedly out of a side road right in front of you, or slipped on some gravel, or had a squirrel hop under your wheels? Or had the bike in front of you in a team event suddenly brake unexpectedly? If not yet, you will one day.

So overall, I suggest you should wear a cycle helmet - they are light and airy nowadays anyway if you haven't tried one on recently. Ignore what anyone else might say, but don't preach to others about the importance of cycling helmets if they haven't made the decision themselves - a lot of people cycle for the 'free and easy' feeling it gives them and really do object to restricting that with a helmet. Their choice.

11 Comments

John Nixon makes this comment

Sunday, 21 March 2010

I had a spectacular fall on the Quayside in full view of massive crowds one sunny Sunday afternoon. As my helmeted head bounced off the deck, I breathed a sigh of relief. I have no idea what the injury would have been if I had not been wearing a helmet.
Simon Jones makes this comment

Sunday, 21 March 2010

My brother in law was in a serious cylcle accident when some idiot hit him on a roundabout. He survived, but his helmet, was badly dammaged. His doctor, who had obviously seen this kind of accident before, asked if he could keep the helmet so he could show it to some of his colleagues who chose not to wear helemts, how my brother in law's life had been saved.
You may be the best, safest cyclist in the world, but there are far more idiots in cars.

Helmet helmet helmet every time.
Admin makes this comment

Sunday, 21 March 2010

For all the arguments for and against, talk of quiet roads and personal freedom, and claims that risks to pedestrians are just as great and they don't have to wear helmets, I don't remember ever once reading a story which started 'my bike crash would have been far worse if I had been wearing a helmet...'
Dorian makes this comment

Monday, 22 March 2010

As an avid cyclist & doctor at a hospital in South Africa (where the notion of dedicated cycle lanes is unheard of...) I have seen far too many cases of head-meets-asphalt/car. Let's state it plainly: Helmets SAVE LIVES!

Simon made an extremely valid point - you might be the safest cyclist out there, but there is no accounting for other road users. Would you not much rather suffer a few broken bones and live to tell the tale, than be a vegetable for the rest of your life...?
Graham Barker makes this comment

Monday, 29 March 2010

the answer to the question is...yes....the negatives listed are pointless...and as for heat exhaustion...p-lease.....unless you are cycling through death valley or the namibian deserts....look daft?....save your life more like...and as for a serious crash?...well, if its that serious im guessing more than just your head will be broken anyway....
i was knocked off my bike a couple of weeks ago, the main impact being on my thigh as i managed to take some avoiding action....but then i went over the bonnet of the car and landed on my head...i was wearing a helmet...
so...wear a helmet....
John Ireson makes this comment

Monday, 12 April 2010

Whilst riding in a Sportive a couple of years ago, I hit some moss in the centre of a country lane. The bike went from under me and I carried on mid air towards a tree, which I hit with my head. The helmet crushed at the point of impact, I walked away with some cuts and bruises and hurt pride. There is no doubt that my helmet saved me from a more serious injury, and I will not ride or allow my 13 year old son to ride without a helmet. The helmet as some point out looks 'uncool', in my opinion its far cooler than being bound to a wheelchair and a burden on our already stretched health service.
Gentlejack makes this comment

Wednesday, 14 April 2010

My understanding is that some helmets actually aid in cooling of the head in comparison to going without. I wont leave home without one, but then again I have had a head rebuild due to my own fault in crashing a car, and it hurts to have titanium plates screwed in!
Pedallingmuck makes this comment

Saturday, 17 April 2010

There have not been any credible studies that show that motorists will overtake you less cautiously when wearing a helmet. It would be very difficult to prove one way or the other in a scientifically meaningful way. This is not a reason for not wearing a helmet.
Frederik Tange makes this comment

Wednesday, 14 July 2010

one day i was out riding down i hill with 40-45 km/h and had to take a 90 degree left turn, now there were some invisible sand and small rocks and i lost my balance, and slided over a meter. Thankfully i was wearing a helmet, and were able to stand up and ride on, only with some scratches down my arm and leg. Now it's 3 years ago, and i've still got some pretty big scars on my arm, but thankfully my head was saved by that helmet.
nandana makes this comment

Wednesday, 14 July 2010

I think wearing a good helmet make you look cool!
Hugh Bonner makes this comment

Friday, 30 July 2010

last Saturday while cycling through a village, a small dog bounded out in front of me, i hit it and went over the handlebars and my head bounched hard of the road surface. My mate said it sounded like a real hard crack noise and thought I was seriously hurt, I lay on the ground and thanked my stars I had a good helmet on. We were just talking how neither of us had a serious accident yet after five years and bang, a dog comes out of nowhere.
Wear a helmet

Cycle helmets, are they important?

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