Anti-Helmet tendency from cycling advocates?

[prototoast]

The basic rationale is:

-For any given bike ride, wearing a helmet is safer, but may sometimes have other costs.
-Helmet laws may discourage riding at the margin, as the costs may outweigh the benefits for some people.
-Collectively, people would be healthier and biking would be safer if more people biked.
-Thus, even if each individual would be safer for any given ride by wearing a helmet, the total benefit from the improved safety is less than the benefit to society of more people biking more.

Personally, I always ride with a helmet, but I'm fine it others don't, and I generally don't agree with helmet laws.

I think there's a more extreme version of this argument that says that people voluntarily wearing a helmet have a negative externality by making cycling seem more dangerous to others, thus discourage riding. I think that argument is more suspect than the one I outlined above.

[unterhausen]

A couple of years ago, I went out for a ride and got across town before I realized I had forgotten to put on my helmet. I just didn't feel like climbing the big hill back up to my house, so I kept going without a helmet. Anyway, I almost died on that ride.


Granted, it was from an asthma attack.

[jamesdak]

Well.... I see both sides of this equation. I feel naked heading out on one of my road bikes without my helmet. But feel no inclination whatsoever to put on my helmet when I ride my Omafiets, otherwise known as the Dutch Granny bike. LOL!



It has to do with the design of the bike and your riding position.

Among considerations on the dutch bike is the upright position where you are much more able to see everything going around you. And when things do go wrong you're more likely to just land on your feet coming off the dutch bike unlike a road bike. Speeds are usually lower when I'm on the dutch bike although with the gear range of the 8 speed IGH, it certainly can move out. Then there's the matter of this being almost primarily a bike path tool, a arguably safer and more controlled place to ride than the road. The sheer mass of the bike makes it safer, it's easily 2x the weight of my heaviest road bike. Then you have the handling. Take for example my last wreck on a road bike. A dog darted out from a roadside trailer, went right into my front wheel, and I couldn't prevent going down. Wound up with a separated AC Joint, messed up thumb joint and pretty sure I got knocked out for a few seconds. Unless a 70 year old man can sprint 75 meters in like 2 seconds... Now I bet if that same thing happened while I was on the dutch bike it would have probably been a pretty much nothing event. If the dog succeeded in taking out that front wheel I'm betting I wind up on my feet as I come off the dutch bike.



.

[avalonracing]

In the '90s used to train without a helmet. Friends were telling me I was going to die but I felt completely safe as I had done it that way for many thousands of miles. Until I took a direct header and an ambulance ride to the hospital. I was very lucky to survive it. I've worn a helmet ever since. Helmets are so much lighter and cooler now too.

[Louis]

Arguing that cycling without a helmet is OK is IMO similar to arguing that it's OK to cruise through red lights and stop signs, and I wouldn't be surprised one bit if there's a fair amount of correlation between the two groups of riders.

[fourflys]

Originally Posted by bigbill

When I was stationed in Sardinia, I often rode without a helmet. For the most part, the Sardi respect cyclists and give them plenty of room.

when I had my over the bars on the road bike, there wasn't a car in sight.. I hit a bump on the bike path from a root growing under it and my bars turned on me.. I don't wear a helmet because of cars only, but the simple fact that I know not when I might come off the bike..

[jamesdak]

https://discerningcyclist.com/why-do...-wear-helmets/

https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2...the-dutch-way/

https://dutchreview.com/culture/cycl...-bike-helmets/

[cash05458]

the basic rational really is your own call and it's just a good idea to mind your own business about what others do in the end...lots of things to be offended by but via riding with or without one prolly isn't one of them...

[jadmt]

sometimes it just feels good not to wear a helmet on a bike ride. Lately on my longer rides ie 80-100 miles I will often leave the helmet at home. Nice to have choices.

[RoosterCogset]

It perhaps helps to watch the Dutch cycling ethos in action

https://youtu.be/ynwMN3Z9Og8?si=wEl9IaNn8BtWCoY-

[marciero]

This is like deja vu in a sense. BITD helmets were tantamount to discussing politics on some forums

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by jadmt

sometimes it just feels good not to wear a helmet on a bike ride. Lately on my longer rides ie 80-100 miles I will often leave the helmet at home. Nice to have choices.

Choices? DNR or breathing tube?

You make your choices; I'll make mine.

I value my noggin and its cognitive abilities. Yea, I've fallen off a bike, at 3 mph, for no good reason (aside from heat exhaustion..)

Personally, I think it's simply stupid not to protect my moneymaker.

[jasflyfisher]

Things that have had an adverse impact on my head (while cycling) since the 70's: trees, sidewalks, cars, trails, roads, tree branches, Mother Earth, poor judgement (and probably other things that I've forgotten, because you know, head injuries).

For all but the first, I was wearing a helmet. For some of the latter, I wouldn't be here or able to write this message if I wasn't wearing a helmet. So, I choose to wear a helmet.

My noggin, my choice, your noggin, your choice.

Either way, try and stay safe out there.

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

Just what I was waiting for!

Another helmet war to distract us from the disc brake wars!

Or real wars.

[saab2000]

I first went to Switzerland in 1993, a time when helmets in cycling were hardly ubiquitous, even among hardcore riders in training. I went on group rides that were effectively races back then where many riders didn’t wear helmets. But when I got to Switzerland I was surprised to see how many riders, from casual recreational riders, to commuters to even some pros, wore hard shell helmets all the time. And the infrastructure there for riding is far better than the US. But people somehow figured out that wearing them was probably a good idea and today it’s rare for me to get on a bike without a helmet unless it’s just to check out a repair or adjustment I just made.

Anyway, I wouldn’t let anything other people say sway my choices. I’ve never hit my head in a bike accident but that could change today. I wear it now essentially all the time.