Get a good helmet, and wear it.

If bike, then helmet. No long set of special conditions and exceptions, very simple to remember, keeps the most important bit safe from catastrophic damage. I value the exhilarating feeling of the neurons in my head more than the wind in my hair. Plus, dementia runs in my family, why would I want to accelerate the process by smashing my unprotected head?

Nobody expects a helmet to protect them from a car, but that isn't its function. Construction workers don't expect hard hats to stop a rogue i-beam or electricity. Hockey helmets don't cushion body checks. Military helmets don't bounce away a missile.
 
Dallant said:
Yet another great reason to wear a helmet! This happened to me numerous times in early summer this year. Red-Winged Blackbirds in my case.
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Even an acorn can give you a nice knot and startle you... Not good at speed.
I wear a helmet and glasses which can be equally important. I've had several large insects bounce at +15mph
 
Gionnirocket said:
Even an acorn can give you a nice knot and startle you... Not good at speed.
I wear a helmet and glasses which can be equally important. I've had several large insects bounce at +15mph
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Sometimes you can do it all and still get nailed…
Back in the days of 70 mph highway speeds, I was wearing a full-face Bell helmet doing 75 on my motorcycle when I felt a sudden, violent and very painful hit to my Adam’s apple. Felt like I’d been shot in the throat! Almost lost it but recovered and pulled over. Whipped my helmet off and there, venom sack still pulsing, was a bumble bee stinger stuck in my skin! My neck was covered in bumblebee guts! Had a big old welt on my neck for about a week afterward.😳
 
Dallant said:
Sometimes you can do it all and still get nailed…
Back in the days of 70 mph highway speeds, I was wearing a full-face Bell helmet doing 75 on my motorcycle when I felt a sudden, violent and very painful hit to my Adam’s apple. Felt like I’d been shot in the throat! Almost lost it but recovered and pulled over. Whipped my helmet off and there, venom sack still pulsing, was a bumble bee stinger stuck in my skin! My neck was covered in bumblebee guts! Had a big old welt on my neck for about a week afterward.😳
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I know that one, it's happened to me 3 or 4 times over the years. One time the venom must have got into my carotid artery and it went straight to my head. I was red in the face and very dizzy, but after about 20 minutes I was okay except for a sore area at the site of impact. Another time one was inside my helmet walking around, so i pulled over safely to try and get the bee out, but as I was pulling my helmet off, it stung me on the ear. Oh well, I tried. At least I'm not allergic to the venom.
 
I'm all for personal freedom, but life is all about playing the odds, and odds are if you're wearing a helmet you're going to fare better in an accident. I spent many years behind the wheel of a state police car, and my wife, in an emergency room. We have both witnessed, many times over, those who defied the odds and lost. Helmets and seatbelts are not a panacea, but I can tell you from many first hand observations that odds are you'll likely fare much better in a crash if you are wearing them.
 
Dallant said:
Yet another great reason to wear a helmet! This happened to me numerous times in early summer this year. Red-Winged Blackbirds in my case.
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They buzz and slightly peck my head as I go by walking. People freak out but it's just a bird protecting their nesting territory . Relax , they won't hurt you.
 
Gundalow said:
I wonder if I would have fared better if I had been wearing the latest technology.
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No.

Gundalow said:
The mishap could be described in aviation parlance as "pilot error - controlled flight into terrain" I never saw the curb.
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It was your fault, so may want to be careful it doesn't happen again instead to pass that responsibility over your helmet, which cannot prevent your accidents.
 
Pobidz said:
Nobody expects a helmet to protect them from a car, but that isn't its function.
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But a majority of people outside bike forums do think helmets protect against everything. In fact, drivers tend to drive more recklessly when a cyclist they pass is wearing a helmet.

PS: I always wear one. I'm not saying don't. But I am saying that a majority of injuries in the US occur because of cars and lack of suitable infrastructure and too many people out there want to argue about putting the burden on cyclists to wear a piece of plastic/styrofoam and not want to discuss actual infrastructure that actually protects cyclists. And if you want to focus on helmets, then we aren't focusing on infrastructure because those people making the argument won their argument and moved on to doing other NIMBY agenda items.
 
Westlafadeaway said:
But a majority of people outside bike forums do think helmets protect against everything. In fact, drivers tend to drive more recklessly when a cyclist they pass is wearing a helmet.

PS: I always wear one. I'm not saying don't. But I am saying that a majority of injuries in the US occur because of cars and lack of suitable infrastructure and too many people out there want to argue about putting the burden on cyclists to wear a piece of plastic/styrofoam and not want to discuss actual infrastructure that actually protects cyclists. And if you want to focus on helmets, then we aren't focusing on infrastructure because those people making the argument won their argument and moved on to doing other NIMBY agenda items.
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Same mentality as the magic gloves that food workers wear. I have on a plastic/rubber glove so everything is protected, even if I use that gloved hand to scratch my ass.
 
Tars Tarkas said:
Who on this planet thinks that helmets are supposed to prevent accidents? They are meant to help prevent injuries from accidents and no one expects any guarantees of that.

TT
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Drivers and journalists think this exact thing. Headline: "Cyclist without helmet crushed by 18 wheeler". Like that piece of styrofoam would have done anything to protect a cyclist from a multi-ton big truck. But it's included in the article everytime, the police include it in their report automatically, and anti-cyclists use it to punish cyclists, just like they do when cyclists are some how a menace.
 
And in Amsterdam, not a helmet in sight.

Starts at 4 minutes.

 

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Pobidz said:
If bike, then helmet. No long set of special conditions and exceptions, very simple to remember, keeps the most important bit safe from catastrophic damage. I value the exhilarating feeling of the neurons in my head more than the wind in my hair. Plus, dementia runs in my family, why would I want to accelerate the process by smashing my unprotected head?

Nobody expects a helmet to protect them from a car, but that isn't its function. Construction workers don't expect hard hats to stop a rogue i-beam or electricity. Hockey helmets don't cushion body checks. Military helmets don't bounce away a missile.
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If a worker was expecting rogue beams or electricity they'd be required to wear appropriate protection. Here the issue is not rogue beams or electricity but distracted speeding drivers who kill 6,000 pedestrians and cyclists every year in the US, in areas that lack even a modicum of infrastructure. Helmets are not the issue and you helping NIMBYs win the battle of not fixing our streets by arguing this.
 
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