[clm]

As Friday was international cycling accident day i thought id start up a bit of discussion.

Big Phil stacked over a polo and i had a chain incident and stuffed it headfirst down the Essex road, getting under the wheels of, and taking down the guy i was overtaking.

Now apart from bruises and road rash and a bit of an infected cut im alright.  My helmet is fucked! bashed up on the lefthand side and scraped right across the crown.  I am sure that without it i would be dead or seriously injured or scalped as until i stopped i was largely upside down.

I know there are loads of bikers on here but that they are mountainbikers or roadies who are pretty good at wearing a lid but i see loads of commuters and hundreds of fancypants fixie riders manchester and London without helmets.

Im not going to preach but want peoples opinions - do you think it should be law?

PS - the guys wife who asked if i was going to apologise while i was still counting limbs, digits etc can sod off the dizzy bitch.  As if i did it on purpose.

[slackline]

As Friday was international cycling accident day i thought id start up a bit of discussion.

Big Phil stacked over a polo and i had a chain incident and stuffed it headfirst down the Essex road, getting under the wheels of, and taking down the guy i was overtaking.

Now apart from bruises and road rash and a bit of an infected cut im alright.  My helmet is fucked! bashed up on the lefthand side and scraped right across the crown.  I am sure that without it i would be dead or seriously injured or scalped as until i stopped i was largely upside down.

I know there are loads of bikers on here but that they are mountainbikers or roadies who are pretty good at wearing a lid but i see loads of commuters and hundreds of fancypants fixie riders manchester and London without helmets.

Im not going to preach but want peoples opinions - do you think it should be law?

PS - the guys wife who asked if i was going to apologise while i was still counting limbs, digits etc can sod off the dizzy bitch.  As if i did it on purpose.

I'm neither or roadie or mtb (although I do go off-road every now and again).  I primarily cycle to commute and get around the city.

Never used to wear a helmet until I went to Australia where it was the law, and having got in the habit feel somewhat naked without it.

That said I don't think it should be law though.  It should be down to the individual in the same manner as it is individual choice to wear a lid when climbing.

There is conflicting evidence as to their effectiveness (e.g. a study that shows motorists pass lid wearers closer, see web-page of researcher).  Also the one accident I had when I wasn't wearing a helmet would likely have resulted in the loss of teeth if I had as the peak of the helmet would have made contact first, and the next point would have been my chin/mouth as opposed the eyebrow I landed on (I'd had 9-10 pints and decided to ride home, unlocked the bike and wobbled about 10m before I clipped a phone box, gone over the handlebars and knocked myself out, needed six stitches in eyebrow, but ambulance people kindly let me bring my bike on board and lock it up before waiting in A&E, even got it on the bus on the way home by virtue of being covered in blood!!!).

[clm]

I was doing about 20 mph though.  not the same as wobbling into a phone box (though im sure it hurt like fook)

[tlr]

I'd actually say that round here the 'proper' old school roadies are the worst for not wearing helmets. I'd even venture that that the majority don't wear them. Just come in from a ride now, saw maybe half a dozen other riders, only one was wearing a helmet.

I wear it on road or off road, there's just no good reason not to.

[slackline]

Oh I don't disagree, but was providing one example of where they are ineffective.  I guess that's why serious MTB/downhillers wear full face helmets.

The humiliation was probably worse than the injury though (reeking of booze being stitched up by a pretty, young (female) doctor) 

[205Chris]

I crashed my road bike about a year ago, mistakenly thinking I'd be able to change lanes across a tram line at high speed. Front wheel jammed solid in the tram line and I went sailing over the handlebars landing head first on the tarmac.

Weirdly the first thought I had was "thank f**k I'm wearing a helmet" and I'm pretty sure I'd have been in A&E without one. Luckily I cycled home with little more than a few scrapes and bruises.

I wouldn't head out of my bike without one, no matter how safe you are there's always a few drivers who are numptys and even if they're in the wrong there's no prizes for guessing who's going to come off worse.

[slackline]

I wouldn't head out of my bike without one, no matter how safe you are there's always a few lot of drivers who are numptys and even if they're in the wrong there's no prizes for guessing who's going to come off worse.

And First Mainline bus drivers are the worst of the bunch 

[Percy B]

I don't like wearing a helmet when I ride my bike, but I always do. I agree with Tim that the worst offenders are the older roadie crew, who seem to think that their vast experience and superior bike handling skill (blah, blah, blah, yawn, spare me...) make them impervious to serious injury when they get nailed by a clumsy motorist.

Darwinism in action, thats what it is. The stupid ones won't survive!

And whilst we are discussing accidents, when I was a student in Newcastle many moons ago, I got "doored" by a bitch picking up her brats from a private school in her Range Rover. Obvioulsy, I was giving the line of parked cars a wide berth, but hadn't allowed for this stupid cow to fling her massive door open without as much as a by your leave. I was going pretty quick, and hit the edge of her door pretty hard, 'cos I bent the whole door back on its hinges quite a long way. I went sailing a good distance over the top of the bars and her car to land in a broken heap a good way further on down the road, and my bike was utterly destroyed. Whilst I lay there all busted up and bleeding pretty heavily from a number of deep cuts, she came over and bollocked me for the damage I had done to her car, and how I should pay for it. When I suggested seeing as she had caused the accident, she might want to shut up and call an ambulance she just pissed off and left me. I was too beaten up and dazed to even remember to get her number plate before she drove off having somehow tied her door shut. I was however wearing a lid which was certainly the reason why I wasn't even more badly hurt. With people like the whore mentioned above alive on the planet, it seems irresponsible not to cover your swede with a helmet. As for making it law, it seems pointless. See the Darwinism in action reason above!

[adam p]

got knocked off the bike on the way to work ten days ago - exiting regents park straight over to head down portman place in central london for those who know.

anyway the helmet stopped my head turning to strawberry jam as a toyota prius turned left without indicating and i went straight on, and into it, and then hollywood-rolled across the tarmac.

have sometimes been v casual about riding without a helmet, and probably still will be on a sunday mornig potter to the shops, but anything more energetic i reckon i'd be stupid not too wear the lid. even if they make me look like a knob.

[cofe]

there's just no good reason not to.

amen to that t-bone. landed on my face/head as a youth. would have fucked myself up if i'd not had one on. thankfully my classicly handsome good looks have been preserved for broads around the world.

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

thankfully my classicly handsome good looks have been preserved for broads around the world.

 

[Oli]

I'll admit to being a bit bad with regards to wearing a lid, and with some warped (non)logic.
Before I went to uni, I'd wear a helmet for absolutely everything including riding 200m to some shops. Then at uni I wore it less and rode to uni without a lid most of the time.
Riding off road/skate park/street/bmx track/xc I'd always wear a helmet

What irritates me more than people not wearing a helmet for certain things, is the fuckwits who have a helmet hanging from their handlebars whilst riding along. (My exception to this is riding very slowly up a hill with a full face helmet, as that's clearly never a good plan).

[SteveM]

Always. I suppose I got in the habit when I was commuting in London and it's just second nature now. Helmets amongst roadies in the peak are definitely a minority.

But then I have a helmet for cycling, one for climbing, another for skiing/boarding and a fourth for paragliding.

[bigd942]

Never used to wear a helmet unless I was racing, have changed in the last few years though. Find in the summer they're good, control sweat better and keep the sun directly off your head, found in the past if I've bonked/got the knock it's mostly felt like a little bit of heat stroke.
If you are going to buy one would spend the extra for one thats good lookn, you'll never wear it if it looks like something you'd see in BMX Bandits.