This isn’t a rant but I have noticed something recently and can’t figure out what’s behind it…Lately, I have seen a good number of people on bikes riding without helmets. Yes, I know we all have the right to choose, etc., but if you have ever taken a spill on a bike, or you value keeping your brains inside your head, you think you’d realize the importance of wearing one. 2 recent examples…
First, I saw a family out riding the other day (pretty amazing feat in and of itself these days). Both kids had on helmets and seemed pretty comfortable on their bikes. Both parents did not wear helmets and both seemed like they were only seconds away from crashing. They weren’t too comfortable on the bike to say the least. I really wanted to say something. Hey Mom and Dad, if you crash, your kids aren’t going to be able to drive you to the hospital.
Second, I’m flipping through the new Triathlete and see a photo of a PC racer from Belgium, Marc Herremans, racing in Monaco. He’s not wearing a helmet and even makes a comment in the article about how tough the course if for his handbike and how he saw an ambulance go by with two guys in it. Damn…This guy broke his back in a training accident not too long ago and he’s back at it without a helmet. Don’t you think he (of all people) would have learned a lesson? And why was he allowed to race without a helmet?
While one side of me screams “darwinism,” (i.e., let them learn the hard way) another side wants to mention to these folks the importance of a helmet (i.e., an ounce of prevention…). Ultimately, it’s none of my business but it bothers me…
I’m working part time in a bike store and it amazes me how many people buy a bike and all of the gear and don’t “need” a helmet. I point out that you’ll only need it once in a while but wouldn’t it suck to be in one of those situations and need it and not have it. Less than half the time do they come around and buy one. It’s amazing to me. If I forget mine (has only happened two or three times) I’ll drive home and get it. I feel naked without.
Really odd…i too feel naked…have only forgotten my helmet once in the past 10 yrs and during that ride was super paranoid the whole 4hrs really rode slow. but my helmet saved me not during high speed crashes but during really slow crashes like hitting a pothole then falling down…really saw the ground in slowmo…but before my face hit my helmet took the brunt…but my left hand and knee are scarred like where wolverine`s claws come out in his hands LOL!!
I think it’s bizarre how parents think that just 'cause their kids have a helmet on, they are OK. “Adults don’t need helmets, Timmy, we are smart enough to know how to ride a bike.”
Here’s example #3, I saw a father riding with an infant on a seat mounted on the back of the bike, the kid had on a helmet and the father didn’t. Hint to Dad - when you fall, you both will hit the ground…not just the kid. You will both get hurt…hopefully your brain injury won’t preclude you from being coherent enough to see your kid’s kindergarten graduation.
From a good business (and profit) viewpoint, why haven’t many bike companies teamed with helmet companies and included a helmet with a purchase of a bike (adults and/or kids). It makes sense. Why not go the extra mile and then offer discounts on additional helmets for other family members or members of a tri club?
What will it take to educate or, as it has already been stated above, are those who don’t already brain injured?
completely agree. I once saw a mother riding with a daughter in the seat over the rear wheel. Mommy had a helmet, daughter did not. I blaitently told her how it was sweet that she cared enough about daughter to spring the extra $30 for a helmet. She had the nerve to tell me that if people weren’t blowing by her so fast she wouldn’t crash. I politely told her that was bullshit and that perhaps if she only had one portion of desert and layed off the Ding-Dongs it wouldn’t seem like everyone else was going so fast. In hindsight I should have left sarcasm out of it and focused on dauughters safety but I’m a jerk. I’m sure she went away from that missing the point entirely. It bothers me as much as the parents who let their children play freely in the car while the parents have on a seatbelt.
When people come into my shop if they try to wheel and deal on a bike I’ll throw in a helmet for them. They usually preffer the discount. I’m sure the helmets are sold on eBay the next day.
Funny how it becomes something you feel strange without. I went to IMFL this year as a volunteer. I camp at a nearby campground and get around on my old mountain bike. This time I forgot my helmet when I packed. Within 10 minutes of having the tent set up, I had bought a basic helmet beause I just KNEW if I didn’t I’d end up regretting it. My son needed a new one anyway!
I saw some asshole riding trails with his kid on the back of his bike. He had no helmet, but the kid did and was strapped into a seat of some sort. The guy really didn’t need to be on trails - no handling skills, much less with a kid. Well, sure enough he bit it in a difficult section and the kid fell off, hitting his head - started crying, but super-dad got up, barely checked the kid and started up again. I was livid - asked the guy if the kid was okay - he didn’t really respond, just nodded and rode off in another direction like he had something to prove. I thought about going to really check on the kid, but figured it was out of my control. I wish the dad would have hit his un-helmeted head - maybe a wake-up call.
I have two helmets, one I always use when I am one my bike and one I keep in storage. The one in storage is not useable as it has a large dent and crack on the right side. If I had not been wearing that helmet when I crashed, I would have had the dent and the crack in my head. I cringe when I see anyone riding without a helmet. The same for seatbelts in a car. Most head injuries in an auto accident are from hitting the skull without a seatbelt to hold the person in.
“I politely told her that was bullshit and that perhaps if she only had one portion of desert and layed off the Ding-Dongs it wouldn’t seem like everyone else was going so fast.”
Curious as to how that was politely delivered? - freakin’ great response. I’m surprised she was actually riding on the road and not a sidewalk in the opposite direction.
A woman that I worked with died after crashing on her bike at White Rock Lake in Dallas. She flipped over the bars headfirst. No helmet. Just a person out for a bike ride at the lake. I used her as an example to my 7yo son as to why we always wear helmets…
She had the nerve to tell me that if people weren’t blowing by her so fast she wouldn’t crash. …
You can’t fix stupid.
Even if her response were factually correct, it is irrational. She cannot personally do anything about people “blowing by her so fast”. But she can do something to protect her daughter’s skull and brain, which as she seemed to acknowledge is at risk. And she chose not to…
A while back in my parents’ town, a couple my mom and dad knew was out for a ride on the local bike path. They were older middle-aged, maybe 50s or so, riding their fat, gel seat, comfort bikes, cruising along for their leisurely Sunday 6 mile ride at, oh…maybe jogging speed. We’ve all seen it a million times. Standard suburban people doing standard bike path stuff.
For whatever reason, woman’s tire hits a twig or a crack or maybe a buttefly flapped it’s wings in Tokyo…who knows? She going maybe 7 miles an hour when she loses control, and the bike topples to the side. She hits her head on the path. She’s not wearing a helmet. Now she’s a vegetable.
My parents never wore helmets b/c my mom always said she didn’t go fast enough to need one. Ever since this happened, she never gets on without one.
This summer, while he was watching one of my races from his mountain bike, my husband missed a curb. He also was poking along, weaving around spectators, not going very fast at all. He went down and smashed his helmet. (which, btw, he only wore that day b/c I made him)
It doesn’t take much to smash your melon. I personally will always wear my helmet–and I try and make my husband wear his. I’d rather have a hot, sweaty head or “look like a douchebag” than have my noggin put in a cuisinart, ya know?
I’d be interested to hear more from those in the bike industry about their take on the subject. Many communities madate helmets for kids and I know of groups that visit schools and talk about helmet safety with kids. What about adults? I mentioned Marc Herremans in my first post…an IMH finisher both on foot and now in a wheelchair…photographed RACING without a helmet. Why?
Again, at the end of the day, it really doesn’t concern me since those I ride with do wear helmets but I just look and wonder why…
I personally don’t leave home without it, but to answer your question “why not?” MILLIONS… and I mean MILLIONS of people in China and Holland, for example, ride without helmets and have for ever… yet the published statistics for bicycle injuries or death are no worse per capita than here.
I race and coach college kids in racing small sailboats, and it is required to wear a lifejacket now (for the last 20 years or so). We have all the same arguments from older people who started sailing before it was required…I’m a good swimmer, it’s uncomfortable…blah blah.
However, kids now grow up in Jr. programs, high school, and college having to wear one so that it feels very unnatural not to. If you race without it, you get dsq’d. Every once in a while at the start of a bike ride I look down and think to myself “Shit, I forgot my lifejacket…”