Bike Helmets: Stupid Hat or Essential Protection?

Having used my helmet multiple times it’s fairly obvious to me they actually performa a useful function. As far as I’m concerned the only controversy is whether they should mandatory or not (and I don’t think they should). But otherwise, if you choose to wear one I think you ARE doing yourself a favor wearing one.

Grew up riding mountain bikes, skateboards (street) and snowboards 25+ years ago. I laughed at the snowboarders wearing helmets and told friends who were getting into the sport not to bother with them. Got married and my wife made me get a helmet (lame, but whatever), then I had some kids.

8 years ago, I crashed snowboarding on an easy green run when going in for lunch. I was with a friend (rare for me as I usually went alone) and was taking it easy on an otherwise chill day. I ended up with two broken vertebrae, a tibial plateau fracture, a broken shoulder, and a concussion - i have no recollection of the accident, going down the hill in a sled on a backboard with patrol, taking an hours-long ambulance ride from the mountains, or any of my time in the ER - I apparently just kept repeating the same couple of lines to anyone I talked to, including my wife.

I got back into biking a couple years ago and am now riding more than I ever did growing up - I avoid cars/paved roads and mostly ride gravel, single track, and multi-use paths now. I wear a helmet every time i go out. I went over the handlebars a week and a half ago while riding alone. I didn't hit my head - just a hard landing, some scrapes and a bruised ego - but just another reminder how quickly things can go bad and how little control over the situation you have when it does.

A sweaty head and some random person thinking i don't look cool aren't really big concerns of mine (i also don't think I look very cool so I guess that makes two of us).

I wear my helmet. Comes in real handy when I hit my head against the ceiling of my basement.

When I was a teenager I had a bad wipe out cycling off road doing about 30mph that resulted on me landing on my head. I was knocked out, swallowed my tongue, and if it wasn't for my friends stopping myself from choking to death I would have been dead, as it was I had a concussion and an overnight stay in hospital. But if I had not been wearing a helmet I would have been dead on impact. I think its pretty telling that all my friends invested in helmets after that.

Even in non car areas you can fall from relatively low speeds and have a bad time.

What I do not like is that a significant number of other road users are more likely to see you as less human for helmet wearing than not: https://road.cc/content/news/cyclists-wearing-helmets-seen-less-human-301661 This has a negative impact on how they treat you on road.

Here's the thing...yes, wearing a helmet is less safe than having bike infrastructure. No doubt about it.

But I don't fucking HAVE safe bike infrastructure. Also, I am very involved in bike safety advocacy, so I'm not exactly just shirking all safety responsibility onto a silly hat and expecting things to be fine.

We can throw off the dualistic thinking for a second and acknowledge that, yes, helmets are a very imperfect solution that puts the onus of protection onto riders. Also, it'll save your goddamn life.

If I didn't wear a helmet, I never would have gotten married and my kiddo would never have been born. I'd have died on a sidewalk (or in an ambulance) on the side of a residential street on a multi-use path where a dumbass teenager was going 35mph the wrong way on an electric scooter at night.

I really like Oh The Urbanity; been watching them since perhaps early on in the pandemic. Not Just Bikes also

I would be dead a few times if not for my bike helmet.

Bikes mixed with faster metal objects? Wear a bucket and pray to god.

Bikes separated from cars and people on specific thoroughfares? Doff the lid and ride easy.

It's not the bikes' fault, but that's not really relevant -- they squish the same either way when up against a car, at fault or no. The only true prevention is separation so the cars can't get close.

For me, the truth is I barely notice I’m wearing a helmet, and cars barely notice me as a cyclist even exists.

So even if a helmet only does half of what it claims to do, I’ll take that chance in an accident with a giant metal box on the road.

I have seen far enough people died who could have survived if they wore a helmet. I rather keep wearing one. The same thing when in any two wheeled vehicle.

Studies in USA show automobile drivers perceive helmet less bicycle riders to be more dangerous so they give them more space. Therefore it is safer to not wear a helmet, up until the point your head makes contact with something. That said I always wear a helmet. Been hit by cars twice, twice cracked my "styrofoam hat" but not my skull.

I wear a helmet. Either I'm mountain biking, or I'm in a bike lane along cars, where I'm riding in the 22-25mph range and the cars are in the 45-50mph range. If I get directly run into, it probably won't make a lot of difference, but if I get clipped/knocked down, way more likely, it quite likely will.

I don't think they should be mandatory, but it does bring up the same arguments that get made about motorcycles - if you don't wear one and you crash, will the (horrible, shitty, awful, stupid, American) insurance industry try to reduce their liability? Rhetorical question, of course they will.

@lgsp I'm a fan of requiring them over 25kmph. Yes this is largely unenforcable, so no one will be fined. But it still gives the message that if you go fast you should wear one.

But it also gets out of the way of people riding to the corner store for milk

This video is a great example of a seemingly simple topic having more nuance than you might expect.

https://youtu.be/b9yL5usLFgY

Eww, a helmet discussion on the internet! Lemmy had a good run almost without them.

Anyway, stupid hat 😆