To each their own. Everyone knows its a good idea to wear a helmet, and if they dont - well they made that choice consciously

I personally just don't want to be spoon fed because I hit a pebble

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Strava

Kids always. Adults only if I both know them and give a damn about them. So mostly no.

Actually your 3rd point is probably incorrect.
I believe there's a fair bit of evidence that motorists are more likely to give a cyclist more space and care if they look more like a "person" and less like a "cyclist".

If the cyclist is more recognisable as a human being and as vulnerable, there is more recognition of the dangers.

Motorists may use non helmet wearing as a red herring anti cyclist argument. However those without helmets are less likely to be hit.

When you see somebody smoking do you say anything?

Exactly. I used to tell people that they were not living their life the way I thought they should be living it.

I got over it though. If they are smart enough to make it to adulthood, get a job, make money, pay rent and have enough left over to buy a bike and learn to ride it then who the hell am I to get up into their business. Throw in that many of them have anger management issues, a chip on their shoulder and access to guns?




Pfffffffftttttt!!!!

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The more people I encounter the more I love my cats.

I don’t. I may not agree with it but it’s their decision. The only time that I did, I was told to go fuck myself.

I can say that my decision to wear one saved me when I had a bad crash and my helmet was cracked from above my left ear to the top center. When I was in the ER, the doc asked if I was wearing a helmet and asked to see it (my wife had it with her in a backpack). He then said “I can’t tell you how many skulls I’ve seen that look like this.”

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

I think that’s true as to point one, though I’m not sure of the motivation. Studies seem to show, for whatever reason cars give more space to riders without helmets.

I don’t know if the last point has been established, but regardless, it’s not the cars that see me that I’m worried about.

.

This was the helmet I found in my hotel room after getting out of hospital in Phuket in Sept 2017.I don't remember much of the accident and I have been suffering from the effects of that crash ever since.Pretty sure that the lights would never have come back on if I wasn't wearing it.

Glad you are safe braddah.

I had a low speed crash after a car cut me off and pushed me into the curb on the way to work one day. I went over the bars and lightly hit my head, but jacked up the knuckles and on my left hand pretty bad.

After work I decided to go to the hospital just in case and got an MRI on my head. While the Doctor scrolled through each layer I briefly saw what looked like Jim Carrey's Grinch, so I asked the doctor to scroll back to that specific layer. When he did I got a chuckle because of the resemblance.

The Doctor looked at the lower left of the slide and asked what those two things were at the bottom. My brother and I were always fighting, riding skateboards, shooting BB guns and fireworks at each other, jumping from houses and building ramps, crashing, hitting each other with crap and I started going over what those could be. The only thing that came to mind is that they are BBs so I thought...

"My brother is mean enough to shoot me in the back of the head, but he wouldn't do it twice, and he surely isn't that good of a shot to get 2 of them that close together unless I was knocked out and laying face down in the dirt, immobile."

Then it hit me. I had a skateboard crash and was knocked clean out at the bottom of a hill. It took me about a week to get my balance back, so I told the doctor that was likely what it was.

He said that it looked like two bone chips came loose from the impact and were floating around, then asked if it hurt.

I shook my head really hard as a shocked look grew on his face. He was probably thinking I'd sever something important.

"Nah, it doesn't hurt at all."


He had had enough and was glad that I was ready to go.

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The more people I encounter the more I love my cats.

Somewhat agree, it is clear that people that bike for training/excercise almost always wear helmet, i can not remember the last time i saw someone riding their carbon/tri bike and not wearing a helmet!
Urban/city biking is different though. Having lived in CPH i think luckily it is going in the right direction, when i was kid noone was wearing it as it was uncool, now they all have those skater-like helmets. Parents an young people are way better at it too. Also you have the new "air bag"-helmet, so for the women that dont want their hair messed there is an option too.

Personally i always wear one now. Did not use to on the city bike, but had an accident (non bike related), resulting in ½ year concussion, trust my lying in a bed for ½ a year makes you prioritise your head safety more!

Been riding in Amsterdam?

I run faster than quite a few family's and kids etc. on bikes, should I have a helmet on?!

I wear them always when riding, not dense - but have no interest in ostracising anyone for their choice of risk.

I'm not sure how that relates to my post?
But I'll answer anyway: In general I do not. I hardly think they're oblivious to the hazards of smoking, so what's the point. Of course if they're doing something to significantly impact others like smoking around others in a place where they're not entitled to, I may very well comment.

I'm aware this and my previous post may come across as undermining helmet use, but that's not my intention. I always wear a helmet myself. However, I do think it's preferable to have some context and not always try and boil things down to a simplistic "good" and "bad".

So, while seeing heavily damaged helmets does get one's attention and it's easy to imagine the difference it may have made. It's not always the full story. I'll preface this by saying I'm no expert on this and I'm open to correction if anything I'm suggesting is inaccurate.
As I understand it, a helmet can actually make an accident much worse in some circumstances. The most dangerous injuries are not the cracked skull but the torn blood vessels due to brain movement. The skull is there to protect the brain but savingthe skull doesn't necessarily save the brain. I think rotational accelerations on the head and neck during impact can cause some of the most dangerous injuries to the brain or spine. helmets can make these worse due to increasing the effective radius of your head so that less force can produce higher torque. Furthermore, decorative or aerodynamic protrusions on the helmet can make it more likely for the head to get violently twisted in an accident. A smooth skater style helmet is probably the safest and a tailed aero helmet probably the worst I would imagine. So while a helmet should protect you from a direct blow, it may make things worse if it introduces or exacerbates a rotational element. On balance I'm taking it that the helmet improves your chances and I always wear one. However, a damaged helmet isn't proof that you're a fool not to wear one. IMO of course!

 
This.

Someone made a comment about it being a financial burden in socialist countries, yet the evidence indicates a net cost saving from cycling that outweighs any costs from not wearing a helmet. So I don’t buy the argument that not wearing a helmet is overall a selfish move. It beats sitting on the couch, drinking a six pack and bag of chips. We each could always do more. But let’s celebrate the positives.

If bicycles are going to gain even a semblance of acceptance as a mode of transport, we need to normalise cycling in everyday clothing. Not everyone wants to rock up to work in Lycra, hence the success severa brands have had with commute friendly clothing.

Funny thing here

D'Kid [20 years old] has always been one of those "I don't need one" helmet-less riders, but before we went out together on Sunday [she, her mom & I] D'Kid asked if we could get her one online, since the LBS is still closed

She tried her mom's on, and we kinda figured which size she'll need from there

She even offered to pay for it

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

this seems to me a very US-centric thing. I'd never been lectured on wearing a helmet before living in the US, and was a bit startled to find the fervor with which people proselytized for helmets..

Most cyclists I see in Germany, Holland, Denmark etc, don't wear helmets. Their bike injury rates are way lower than US. So I guess it makes sense that US riders need helmets more ;-)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...articles/PMC5227927/
"The United States has much higher fatality and serious injury rates per kilometer than the other countries examined, and has made the least progress in reducing per-capita fatality rates."

In Africa I'd always worn a helmet for road biking and commuting on the roads, seldom wore one for dirt or riding to the store. This seems to be typical for non-US countries, where most people are cyclists and a few are bike racers. Racers wear helmets.

Last week I did my first ride outside, on a trail, since March. I remembered to wear my mask protective gear, got home and realized I'd been riding without a helmet..

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"It is a good feeling for old men who have begun to fear failure, any sort of failure, to set a schedule for exercise and stick to it. If an aging man can run a distance of three miles, for instance, he knows that whatever his other failures may be, he is not completely wasted away." Romain Gary, SI interview

What gives anybody the right to say anything to someone not wearing a helmet, I ride outdoors almost everyday and if I choose to not wear a helmet on the towpath trail riding with my wife that's my business not yours.

chart by Forbes based on OECD data,

The only time I say something is if they have a helmet with them, but it's not on their head. Because really, if you are going to take it along, you might as well wear it.

The 3 countries you have mentioned have superior cycling infrastructure, and the most key element of all... vulnerable user laws. Instant jail time for hitting a cyclist/pedestrian or DUI. I have lived in holland for 2 years.


I wear my helmet here in USA, it has saved my life a couple of times.


But to those who say something to the helmet-less.... do you also mask shame people for not wearing covid19 face covering?

Helmet Nazis fuck off. I think that was a song by the Dead Kennedys.

Well then, based on this logic, we should be calling out everybody for anything deemed unhealthy. People drinking soda, eating fast food, smoking and the list could go on and on. All of these things lead to higher premiums. I would dare say that the things I have listed contribute more to higher health care rates than someone who is not wearing a helmet.

Don't forget "Take the Helmet-heads Bowling"

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Ah, yes, the Camper Van Beethoven classic. And who can forget "War Inside My Helmet-less Head" by Suicidal Tenancies?

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"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

Precisely - I'm surprised this is even a discussion point as any reasonable person would agree it is none of your business (obviously different if it is someone you are responsible for, someone you know, someone you are riding with, or someone who is representing your club).

The reference to socialist countries amused me, I'm assuming it was tongue in cheek. I suggest it is replaced with any of the following:

- Countries with a Social Welfare system
- Developed Countries
- Civilised Countries