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Marathon runners aren't generally dodging the mirrors of automobiles driven by inattentive people. Do you really believe bicycle helmets are completely ineffec

Marathon runners aren't generally dodging the mirrors of automobiles driven by inattentive people. Do you really believe bicycle helmets are completely ineffective? I'm going to have to call [citation needed] on that, because having at some hard padded thing on my head seems like it should at least help somewhat. Concussions, etc.

arbitrarywords 16y ago
It's contentious. It's suggested they may prevent certain injuries (fracture) but exacerbate others (rotational/shearing). So wearing a helmet may prevent a large number of lesser injuries at the cost of causing a smaller number of more permanently damaging ones (although this a problem people are working on) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_helmet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_helmet http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/17/2985631.htm http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/17/2985631.htm http://members.pcug.org.au/~psvansch/crag/h-i-mech.htm http://members.pcug.org.au/~psvansch/crag/h-i-mech.htm
ZeroGravitas 16y ago
There's plenty of advocacy sites if you google for them. A very nutshell summary is that the minor benefits are accompanied by minor drawbacks. For example you'll not get much benefit if dragged under a 16-wheeler and research shows that drivers will come closer when overtaking someone wearing a helmet. A major problem though is that well-meaning types want to legally enforce helmets in the name of safety. An immediate impact of this would be to reduce cycling amongst those who think helmets are a nuisance or uncool (as well as another reason for cops to hassle the poor/minorities for breaking laws that they won't bother the better off about). It's fairly well documented that more cyclists/cycling means safer cycling so anything that discourages cycling makes the remaining cyclists less safe.
fab13n 16y ago
I don't believe it's completely ineffective; it can certainly save your scalp from some road rash, and I'm sure you can find a couple of cases where a helmet avoided genuine head trauma. But I'm not convince that the benefit of helmets for cyclists far exceeds the benefit of the same helmets on pedestrians, or on car passengers. Now, most people agree that there's a comfort/price/benefit compromise, which makes it inappropriate to enforce mandatory helmets onto pedestrians, although it would obviously save some lives. In order to accept that what applies to pedestrians doesn't apply to cyclists, I'd like to get some hard data, not some "gut feeling" from lawmakers who barely read what they vote for. Also, I could understand that serious head traumas avoided in significant numbers would justify a law: in most civilized countries, the corresponding hospital bills and disability grants are paid by public insurance, i.e. taxpayers; cyclist are therefore accountable in front of them. But if it mostly saves scalps from roadrashes, I don't think that a law is appropriate.
- oiujmngbvfgh 16y ago
  There was a study that car drivers would benefit far more than cyclists from wearing bike helmets. Apart from there being 100x as many car drivers - there were a lot of accidents were the seatbelt saved them but they suffered injuries hitting the dashboard (this may have been before airbags).

arbitrarywords 16y ago

It's contentious. It's suggested they may prevent certain injuries (fracture) but exacerbate others (rotational/shearing). So wearing a helmet may prevent a large number of lesser injuries at the cost of causing a smaller number of more permanently damaging ones (although this a problem people are working on) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_helmet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_helmet http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/17/2985631.htm http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/17/2985631.htm http://members.pcug.org.au/~psvansch/crag/h-i-mech.htm http://members.pcug.org.au/~psvansch/crag/h-i-mech.htm

ZeroGravitas 16y ago

There's plenty of advocacy sites if you google for them. A very nutshell summary is that the minor benefits are accompanied by minor drawbacks. For example you'll not get much benefit if dragged under a 16-wheeler and research shows that drivers will come closer when overtaking someone wearing a helmet. A major problem though is that well-meaning types want to legally enforce helmets in the name of safety. An immediate impact of this would be to reduce cycling amongst those who think helmets are a nuisance or uncool (as well as another reason for cops to hassle the poor/minorities for breaking laws that they won't bother the better off about). It's fairly well documented that more cyclists/cycling means safer cycling so anything that discourages cycling makes the remaining cyclists less safe.

fab13n 16y ago

I don't believe it's completely ineffective; it can certainly save your scalp from some road rash, and I'm sure you can find a couple of cases where a helmet avoided genuine head trauma. But I'm not convince that the benefit of helmets for cyclists far exceeds the benefit of the same helmets on pedestrians, or on car passengers. Now, most people agree that there's a comfort/price/benefit compromise, which makes it inappropriate to enforce mandatory helmets onto pedestrians, although it would obviously save some lives. In order to accept that what applies to pedestrians doesn't apply to cyclists, I'd like to get some hard data, not some "gut feeling" from lawmakers who barely read what they vote for. Also, I could understand that serious head traumas avoided in significant numbers would justify a law: in most civilized countries, the corresponding hospital bills and disability grants are paid by public insurance, i.e. taxpayers; cyclist are therefore accountable in front of them. But if it mostly saves scalps from roadrashes, I don't think that a law is appropriate.

oiujmngbvfgh 16y ago
There was a study that car drivers would benefit far more than cyclists from wearing bike helmets. Apart from there being 100x as many car drivers - there were a lot of accidents were the seatbelt saved them but they suffered injuries hitting the dashboard (this may have been before airbags).