I don't judge , I just tell my view and why I hold it. No helmet evangelism here !

 

In saying it only happens to other people I was teasing of course, though for me it's proved to be true lifelong.

 

It does seem that some are accident prone, while others like myself are completely the opposite.

 

When someone posts in here, as sometimes happens, about their three or more times they've wrecked a helmet in an accident, I wonder why they've done nothing about avoiding them after the first one or two.

 

After all, I'm just an ordinary person riding and driving on the same roads in the same country and it never happens to me. That can't just be luck, not for 70 years, so if I can manage it, surely so could they if they tried.

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The it never happens me argument was mine to brag about until 3 years ago when my life was turned upside down in 7 days.

I used to think I had a charmed life with the so many nearly or near misses put down to a sixth sense or guardian Angel. But now I know different.. any control I had over my life turned out to be illusory ...

Off course I made my children wear cycle helmets.

 

Hypocrite I hear you cry

Been experimenting with limiting my bike to 12mph recently. Everything...tarmac, kerbs, roots, branches, tree trunks...seems less scary and dangerous at that speed. It's fine in the woods but tedious when doing a few miles on the open road.

Unfortunately we are unlikely to hear from riders brain damaged from an accident. They will have important things to do with their time than this forum.

I did something very similar last winter - wet stuff turned to black stuff. I also hit the side of my helmeted head as the bike went over so quickly.

 

Now I will lower tyre pressures and saddle, and have some winter tyres to put on too. Plus you can get Endura pants with padded hips.

 

This was in 4 degrees but in sheltered areas e.g. between trees and hedges with no sun it can still be icy.

 

I hope you fully recover soon!

 

(see about 55secs in) :

 

I did something very similar last winter - wet stuff turned to black stuff. I also hit the side of my helmeted head as the bike went over so quickly.

 

Now I will lower tyre pressures and saddle, and have some winter tyres to put on too. Plus you can get Endura pants with padded hips.

 

This was in 4 degrees but in sheltered areas e.g. between trees and hedges with no sun it can still be icy.

 

I hope you fully recover soon!

 

(see about 55secs in) :

 

Ha! I notice you didnt slither into view like I did... I dont think any change of tyres or pressures can help with ice like that, apart from spikes perhaps, but they would be like wearing hob nail boots on normal roads which I dont think would be good.

I didnt escape as well as I thought I had cos when the bike went down it crushed and split the gear cable outer and bent the droppy thing on the gears so as its all internally routed I rode it on to Paceline (My new LBS) who fixed it there and then whilst I perused their new bikes upstairs.

I wonder if the Dutch salt or sand their cycle paths.

I didnt intend to rekindle the Helmet debate.. Just saying I would have taken a much bigger knock to the side of my head had I not been wearing one.

 

You were lucky/unlucky ... that ice was pretty bad, particularily shown when you stood up. Glad you are ok, I had a similar off a few weeks back, blink, bang and slide. I tend to wear a helmet, I've had a few offs, most knocks coming from my shoulder hitting the ground and accelerating my head sideways to the ground. For a cyclist it's mostly about protection from hitting the ground rather than other objects.

 

John

Exactly a leg injury can be mended not so easily a brain injury

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Lose the leg, still got a life to lead.

Lose the brain, not got a life to lead.

I find this "helmets don't protect you or make things worse" argument bizarre. The thing speaks for itself, as they say in law, or res ipsa loquitur. Having a protective helmet to absorb the impact of concrete is going to help. The kind of additional risk one exposes onesself by not having one is enormous. A trivial fall from a bike could have devastating consequences.

I wonder if the Dutch salt or sand their cycle paths.

Think they clear them somehow. This blog may answer your query.

http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2017/01/the-effect-of-snow-clearance-from-on.html?m=1

I put a studded winter tyre on the front, I'll see how it performs tomorrow!

I wear a scooter helmet mainly for the weather and bug/debris protection afforded by the full visor, rather than impacts.

Switching to a bike helmet when warmer, but more out of habit than anything.

I find this "helmets don't protect you or make things worse" argument bizarre. The thing speaks for itself, as they say in law, or res ipsa loquitur. Having a protective helmet to absorb the impact of concrete is going to help. The kind of additional risk one exposes onesself by not having one is enormous. A trivial fall from a bike could have devastating consequences.

 

Fully agreed, but what I read from that is don't have the accident.

 

Secondary safety isn't always going to protect, as the majority of the London cyclists killed in recent years who had worn helmets show.

 

Primary safety, not having an accident, doesn't kill anyone.

 

Those helmet wearers who have repeated accidents have their priorities all wrong.

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Just the word we use "accident" says it all (An event that happens by chance or that is without apparent or deliberate cause.) For me its the small things.. At one end if a truck runs over your head a helmet is of no use at all, but at the other end to save a graze, scratch or small bump it does its job really well. Yes the black ice caught me out, and I suppose I could have avoided the chance of it by staying inside, staying on the main roads, or even going on the bus and while I accept that you can do many things to avoid being in that situation in the first place you cant avoid everything!

I have had a few knocks in my life including motorcycle and car crashes, but never broken a bone whilst others have broken many so what does that mean?

In saying it only happens to other people I was teasing of course, though for me it's proved to be true lifelong.

 

It does seem that some are accident prone, while others like myself are completely the opposite.

 

When someone posts in here, as sometimes happens, about their three or more times they've wrecked a helmet in an accident, I wonder why they've done nothing about avoiding them after the first one or two.

 

After all, I'm just an ordinary person riding and driving on the same roads in the same country and it never happens to me. That can't just be luck, not for 70 years, so if I can manage it, surely so could they if they tried.

.

When you get hit from behind by a driver texting on their phone, it has little to do with your riding style.

 

Some people win the lottery, some people were born good looking, some were born with exceptional intelligence and some get wiped out by circumstances beyond their control. Life's a lottery: Some people have luck and others don't.

 

Maybe some of us have protection from above, like when I used to sail a lot, but never wore a life jacket. I went fishing with a friend one cold November. I was so cold that I dug out an old-fashioned buoyancy vest to wear as a body warmer under my jacket. In full wet weather gear, including heavy boots, I went overboard and my mate didn't have a clue how to handle the boat to rescue me, so I was in the water about 10 minutes. I'm in absolutely no doubt that that buoyancy aid saved my life.

 

As we get older and wiser, we learn to navigate our way around life's hazards, but remember, next time you go into the shopping centre and the IS supporter decides to blow himself up: When the ceiling falls down, your helmet might just protect you - as long as you didn't take it off.

Just the word we use "accident" says it all (An event that happens by chance or that is without apparent or deliberate cause.)

 

Mistaken attitude to start with. Most of what are called accidents are really caused and even when two or more are involved and one party is clearly the major cause, it does not completely exonerate the other.

 

I've explained this in meticulous detail a couple of times before, but in essence I was involved in three minor accidents in the early years of my driving career. In all three the other party readily accepted they'd caused it. But after that third one I got to thinking why, in more years of motorcycling I hadn't had any accidents. To cut a long story short I concluded from all the examined facts that I was an inadvertant contributor to those accidents. In motorcycling, and indeed even longer cycling, perhaps because of my vulnerability, I had avoided being in the accident positions despite being on the same roads with all the same people. If that was possible on two wheels, it should be on four and that changed my thinking and future behaviour for the next 60 plus years. The result, not a mark on me or others, a permanently clean licence and full no claims bonuses.

 

You have far more control than you might think.

 

the black ice caught me out, and I suppose I could have avoided the chance of it by staying inside, staying on the main roads, or even going on the bus and while I accept that you can do many things to avoid being in that situation in the first place you cant avoid everything!

 

Quite right, and I don't avoid everything either. Three years ago approaching a mini roundabout downhill to turn left with the road moist from drizzle, the bike suddenly slid from under me so I just sat down onto its seat tube to rear wheel area as it fell into the lowside. Then I got up, found it was a diesel spill masked by the damp surface that had caused the slide. I just got back on completely unharmed and continued my trip to the supermarket. Of course if I'd been riding like an idiot, head down at speed on the approach it might have been very different since there were cars entering the roundabout just ahead.

 

If you can't understand the moral of that story, I can't help you.

 

I have had a few knocks in my life including motorcycle and car crashes, but never broken a bone whilst others have broken many so what does that mean?

 

You should be able to work out the possible reasons for that, and what can be done about them.

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Anyway.. Helmet or not.. Who cares! I am just saying it saved me a knock to my head and always wear mine even for the short 2 miles run to the post office, which is where I had been on the Morning in question.

I recently read of a suggestion that a Helmet and High Vis Tabard should be compulsory which would be almost worth it to see the peletonites all wearing bright yellow vests flapping in the breeze..

Anyway.. Helmet or not.. Who cares! I am just saying it saved me a knock to my head and always wear mine even for the short 2 miles run to the post office, which is where I had been on the Morning in question.

 

I'd just been to the post office too but think I'd have looked stupid wearing a cycle helmet.

 

I was driving the car.

 

I recently read of a suggestion that a Helmet and High Vis Tabard should be compulsory which would be almost worth it to see the peletonites all wearing bright yellow vests flapping in the breeze..

 

. Such compulsions will never happen of course. Since the world saw how those places that introduced compulsion suffered large falls in cycling rates, our governments wanting many more to cycle won't take the risk. They even killed a bill to introduce helmets for children.

.

I don't have problem with local compulsory helmet law but some regulations are just over top. Friend is child care worker, the children have to wear highviz vests for walks, even though they are on footpaths, parks and beaches.

the children have to wear highviz vests for walks, even though they are on footpaths, parks and beaches.

 

There's so much inconsistency too. The Netherlands is famous for almost universally cycling without helmets but I've been informed they have regulations insisting that children wear hi viz vests when being walked by schools etc. Strange variation in attitudes.

 

Life was so much simpler a few decades ago before m/c helmets, cycle helmets, lycra, hi viz vests and seat belts were invented. One just dressed in the morning and what one wore sufficed for every activity.

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My snowboarding dudes helmet saved me a bashed head today, I always wear it on my leisure rides. Today being no exception esp in the very raw and cold./icy condition's. Twice on my 44.5 mile ride I came off. First off was a front low sider at about 8mph and I just gently eased off on to the ground nr Horsted rail station, 2nd in the Chelwood area was a head banger as the rear just disappeared sideways and I landed on my back and my head hit the ground square on at the back.

Thanks to flecc for finding a name for something I've always been aware of but struggled to explain, namely primary safety vs secondary safety. They say drivers are more likely to die than flyers. But what they really mean is average drivers. You don't have to be an average driver. I'd guess that you're in control of more than ninety percent of your safety when driving a car. Flier? Close to zero percent.

I landed on my back and my head hit the ground square on at the back.

Gulp 

You didn't pick a good day for it.

Thanks to flecc for finding a name for something I've always been aware of but struggled to explain, namely primary safety vs secondary safety. They say drivers are more likely to die than flyers. But what they really mean is average drivers. You don't have to be an average driver. I'd guess that you're in control of more than ninety percent of your safety when driving a car. Flier? Close to zero percent.

 

id give it a go if you buy me one

id give it a go if you buy me one

Who ate all the pies?