ElectricBikeRevolution
New Member
I think that if helmet companies made more stylish and comfortable helmets, more people would wear them. Thoughts?
Should wearing helmet be optional?
- Thread starter Timpo
- Start date
Josh W
New Member
I have to agree with you @ElectricBikeRevolution
If only I could find a helmet that not only fit my gourd comfortably AND didn't look so bad, I would probably wear one.
Until anything changes, it will just have to remain up to personal preference.
If only I could find a helmet that not only fit my gourd comfortably AND didn't look so bad, I would probably wear one.
Until anything changes, it will just have to remain up to personal preference.
ABUS recently sent me one of their helmets with the built-in light and I appreciate how lightweight it is and how far down it sits because the visor actually keeps the sun out of my eyes. By comparison, my Specialized helmets sit higher and the visor isn't as effective. I think they both look cool, but I'm kind of a helmet geek 
Specialized helmet is on Brandy in this review at roughly 32:55
ABUS helmet is on me in this review... for the entire video
Specialized helmet is on Brandy in this review at roughly 32:55
ABUS helmet is on me in this review... for the entire video
Roxlimn
Member
I think helmets should be mandatory for bike races and club rides. Local groups and organizers can make this choice on a case to case basis. Per personal experience, helmets start becoming very useful once you're breaking 12 mph. But 10 mph? 8 mph? 6 mph? Yeah, you won't need a helmet for those speeds.
rich c
Well-Known Member
I guess you didn't read my post. I was watching the scenery and fell at almost zero mph on a paved trail. My helmet bounced off the paved trail and broke the visor tabs on one side. Had it been my head that bounced off the pavement, it would have been as bloody as my hands!
Roxlimn
Member
For what it's worth, I don't support banning the use of helmets at any speed. Feel free to wear your helmet at the cafe. I won't hold it against anyone.
If you're helmet less when riding your donor-cycle, please make sure that you are indeed an organ donor. Thanks.
-society
What would save more lives is to make organ donor "opt-out" on driver's licenses. Make donation standard, and if someone really doesn't want to, they can opt out.
/tangent
-society
What would save more lives is to make organ donor "opt-out" on driver's licenses. Make donation standard, and if someone really doesn't want to, they can opt out.
/tangent
Do you disable your airbags and never wear your seatbelt too? How do you feel about vaccines? The FDA? Drinking water standards?
Sometimes the government's role is to save people from themselves.
*shrug*
Reid
Well-Known Member
But what if you bang into some projection, like tree limb or low awning overhang at any speed? You will be hurt.
However, I do not wear a helmet unless I am going to ride within heavy auto traffic.
No one has right in the USA to tell others how to live their lives. I appreciate that my state of FL, a police state, at least does not force helmets onto adult cyclists.
I started cycling at six. That would be 1960. Have not hurt my head yet. Your results may be different.
Reid
Well-Known Member
How variable we all are! This is why the helmet question must only be answered by each of us alone and not by force of artificial law. I wear my helmet on some rides. I do not wear my helmet on other rides. I wish I had worn my helmet for this ride, but despite that I did not, I escaped a lucky scrape that almost busted my front teeth as I kissed the pavement.
I reject any call from others that anyone must wear a helmet in order to safely ride a bike.
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What's an "artificial law?"
I've only seen a few responses from those saying 'I don't want the government telling me how to live my life' about the ability of insurance companies to deny any coverage whatsoever for head injuries sustained during a ride when the rider isn't wearing a helmet. Some insurers, in fact, do that. I'm all for that.
CodyDog
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Colorado
I'll start with saying that wearing a helmet should be a choice. My point is not to encourage debate. It is my opinion and I think it's worth sharing. Perhaps it may encourage safer riding.
In my past did a lot of things not using a helmet (8 motorcycles, skydiving-20 years and professional bull riding). I was very lucky to escape any head injuries other than being scraped up a little. I defied the odds and was damn lucky, perhaps even stupid.
Unfortunately someone, somewhere, is going to hit their head today. As we know, these occurrence our usually random no matter how much you prepare to avoid it from happening. You can not control everything.
What sounds ridiculous to me is the excuses people use to not wear head protection. Such excuses as: 1) it's uncomfortable 2) doesn't look good 3) It's my right not to wear one 4) I've ridden without one for years and never been hurt 5) Just going down the street 6) It impairs my vision. The list goes on and on.
Have any of you seen or known a person with a bad head injury? it is very sad. Talk to a ER nurse or doctor about head injuries. Contrary to believe, many bad head injuries occur at low speeds,
Head injuries not only impact the injured but family members and friends as well. Stop being selfish, self centered and irresponsible (stupid). if you don't care about yourself at least care about those around you.
So next time you ride without a helmet at least, give its some thought. Is today your lucky day or not?
Please ride safe and keep the wheels on the road.
Roxlimn
Member
I'd like to point out that we're NOT talking about whether wearing a helmet when riding an ebike at speed is a good idea. It's absolutely a good idea. There's no point in making that case further because no one here is disagreeing.
What we're talking about is whether we ought to arrest people when they get on their bikes and pedal at 6 mph in a parking lot.
Yes, it's possible that they could still sustain serious head injury. Having said that, if that's a significant risk, I'd say they shouldn't be raising their seat high enough that it'll be an issue. Possibly, they should be using balance bikes instead. Dead serious. If there's any significant risk that you can sustain a life-threatening injury on a pedal bike at height, don't do it. That will increase your safety more than a helmet because it'll prevent the incident rather than maybe protect your body when it happens.
So now we're talking about riding a balance bike at walking pace. Do we still need mandatory helmets for that? Maybe we need helmets for walking.
What we're talking about is whether we ought to arrest people when they get on their bikes and pedal at 6 mph in a parking lot.
Yes, it's possible that they could still sustain serious head injury. Having said that, if that's a significant risk, I'd say they shouldn't be raising their seat high enough that it'll be an issue. Possibly, they should be using balance bikes instead. Dead serious. If there's any significant risk that you can sustain a life-threatening injury on a pedal bike at height, don't do it. That will increase your safety more than a helmet because it'll prevent the incident rather than maybe protect your body when it happens.
So now we're talking about riding a balance bike at walking pace. Do we still need mandatory helmets for that? Maybe we need helmets for walking.
Reid
Well-Known Member
Wear a helmet or get a ticket = artificial law.
On the other hand,
the inverse square law is natural law, and as such cannot be argued against; ie: the impact force at 20mph is four times that of 10mph.
Accepting that natural laws cannot be argued against, each of us makes a personal decision for each ride, whether to wear a helmet.
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Reid
Well-Known Member
That seems like a draconian reply. I hope I misunderstand you. In the video below,
If a car cuts him off and he hits his head,
do you maintain that he should be denied insurance restitution because he legally refused to wear a helmet?
Nopers, right? In my police state of Florida helmets are only required by artificial law for cyclists under the age of sixteen. Above that age it is considered a grown-up personal choice, whether the individual wishes to increase her/his risk of head injury.
Here, even in this police state, it is for the cyclist a personal decision to wear a helmet, unlike the seat belt requirement for occupants of automobiles that may be full of uncalculating, innocent people of all ages and thus variable competency to make correctly a truly informed decision.
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Bruce Arnold
Well-Known Member
I have mixed feelings about this issue so I haven't posted yet. I've read everyone's posts and there is something to be said for every one of them.
Being aware that we have an international community on this forum, let me say that my comments refer to the USA. It's been almost 50 years since I lived in France, and I was only in high school then, so I have no useful information or opinions on other countries.
Should it be illegal to ride without a helmet? My instinct is to say no.
I don't especially like the fact that there isn't a switch to turn off the air bag in my car. I just might have a good reason for wanting one. Back when airbags were being developed, Joan Claybrook at the NHTSA got the manufacturers to put in powerful airbags because she wanted them to work even if seat belts weren't being worn. The auto companies wanted to see airbag and seat belt as a system, which would have meant less impact from the airbag. Who doesn't know someone who was injured by an unnecessarily violent airbag deployment?
So as far as freedom and rights go, I lean towards "that government is best which governs least." (Thomas Jefferson)
Yet there are laws that we have, and most of us accept, that govern individual behavior like this. Laws that say you have to cross a street at a crosswalk, for instance. They don't protect automobiles!
More to the point, please consider laws requiring children to wear bike helmets. A strong case could be made that this should be the parent's decision. Most states require children of some age to wear a helmet, but no one has voiced any serious disagreement about that.
So that's the legal stuff.
On the other side, there's personal choice. I wear a helmet on most every ride regardless of speed or distance. It has nothing to do with the calculation of odds. The odds are I won't have an accident involving my head, seeing as how I haven't had one in 65 years.
But here's what I've learned from playing poker, and from the absence of any such references, I gather there are not a lot of gambling folks on this forum. One simple dictum that every serious gambler must learn, and most amateur gamblers never do: you never gamble what you can't stand to lose. Even if I'm sitting there with a full house I don't gamble the rent money, because someone else might have four of a kind. And I don't take chances with my head, because it's the only one I've got.
Being aware that we have an international community on this forum, let me say that my comments refer to the USA. It's been almost 50 years since I lived in France, and I was only in high school then, so I have no useful information or opinions on other countries.
Should it be illegal to ride without a helmet? My instinct is to say no.
I don't especially like the fact that there isn't a switch to turn off the air bag in my car. I just might have a good reason for wanting one. Back when airbags were being developed, Joan Claybrook at the NHTSA got the manufacturers to put in powerful airbags because she wanted them to work even if seat belts weren't being worn. The auto companies wanted to see airbag and seat belt as a system, which would have meant less impact from the airbag. Who doesn't know someone who was injured by an unnecessarily violent airbag deployment?
So as far as freedom and rights go, I lean towards "that government is best which governs least." (Thomas Jefferson)
Yet there are laws that we have, and most of us accept, that govern individual behavior like this. Laws that say you have to cross a street at a crosswalk, for instance. They don't protect automobiles!
More to the point, please consider laws requiring children to wear bike helmets. A strong case could be made that this should be the parent's decision. Most states require children of some age to wear a helmet, but no one has voiced any serious disagreement about that.
So that's the legal stuff.
On the other side, there's personal choice. I wear a helmet on most every ride regardless of speed or distance. It has nothing to do with the calculation of odds. The odds are I won't have an accident involving my head, seeing as how I haven't had one in 65 years.
But here's what I've learned from playing poker, and from the absence of any such references, I gather there are not a lot of gambling folks on this forum. One simple dictum that every serious gambler must learn, and most amateur gamblers never do: you never gamble what you can't stand to lose. Even if I'm sitting there with a full house I don't gamble the rent money, because someone else might have four of a kind. And I don't take chances with my head, because it's the only one I've got.
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