I’ve never heard of a single person who has regretted wearing a helmet, yet people are still incredibly resistant to the idea.
I just don’t get it.
I spoke with a guy, strong cycling supporter with influence in our local government. He made it clear that he views helmets are unnecessary “with safe cycling infrastructure.”
While I get the logic, the reality is that a large number of crashes (reported as half) are single bike accidents with no involvement of another vehicle (i.e. car).
This is why, even when you look at the underreported stats from the Netherlands, cyclists have very high rates of head injuries. They don’t wear helmets, have the gold-standard cycling infrastructure, yet crack their head open.
The point is, don’t be stupid and just wear a damn helmet.
safe cycling infrastructure does nothing to prevent you from having a sudden equipment failure and finding yourself going over the bars face-first, or from just being an uncoordinated idiot who wipes out for no reason and gets a closed head injury. I had a crank fail on my bike once, snapped in half in full sprint and I wiped badly. helmet did its job and I was thankful to have it, because there’s no predicting stuff like that
One of the most absurd things I’ve gotten heavily downvoted for on reddit is for saying people should wear helmets no matter how good the cycling infrastructure is. Not that it should be mandated by law, but that it’s simply the wise thing to do. Then people are like ‘wELL I gUeSs YoU ShOUld THeN wEaR a HElmEt whiLE walKinG tOo’
Fine, then don’t wear a helmet. It’s not my head.
I didn’t use to wear one when I was a kid either but nowdays it feels like driving without a seatbelt. Hell, I might even just take my bike for a test drive around the block after having done some adjustments on it and I still go grab my helmet first.
Not that it should be mandated by law, but that it’s simply the wise thing to do. Then people are like 'wELL I gUeSs YoU ShOUld THeN wEaR a HElmEt whiLE walKinG tOo
I don’t think people really understand just how devastating head injuries can be, and just how easy it is to get a tbi when on a surface as hard as concrete.
Even when doing something as simple as walking/running on wet concrete is deceptively dangerous. Every summer the trauma ward I work in has to deal with dozens of kids acquiring life altering tbi for doing something as mundane as running near a pool.
The ironic thing about bikers not wanting to wear helmets is that if you’re not lucky, you’ll end up being fit with a soft shell one at the hospital after you’ve bashed your head anyways. I’ve fit a bunch of people with orthopedic helmets for not wearing helmets over the years.
Yeah, pediatric care is both tremendously rewarding and horrendously soul crushing depending on what department you’re working in. You eventually build up some callouses over the years, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit summers haven’t lost some of its luster because of my job.
Engaging with families who went from having some of the best time of their lives to the worst moments of their existence over the course of the evening is still tough.
At that point, just let them self-select out of the gene pool. In a few generations, maybe our descendants won’t be so adverse to basic self-preservation and common sense.
I had only fallen once with my bike as an adult. I live in Sweden and our cycling infrastructure in my town is g r e a t. The problem was that it was spring, so all the gravel/sand which had been spread during the winter was now on bare asphalt. I turned left and while the wheel turned, the bike did not.
There ain’t much good infrastructure can do about gravel on asphalt.
Thankfully I didn’t hit my head as it would’ve surely been a pretty bad accident. Instead I just hit every single boney part on my left side.
One of my coworkers is a story of a single bike accident. He was riding uphill on a road when his front fork broke. He went over the handle bars and head/face first into the ground. He had his helmet on, and was still knocked out. He was found in the drainage ditch on the side of the road after he was reported missing.
He has no long term damage today, but that certainly wouldn’t be the case if he wasn’t wearing a helmet
You don’t have to wait a certain amount of time to report someone missing. If your partner says “On my way home” then is 2 hours late and not responding to calls feel free to report them as missing. They could’ve easily been in a major accident.
it’s crazy how my brother doesn’t wear a helmet. Even my adrenaline junkie dad always wore a helmet (he did have some accidents when he was younger so that probably helped)
I’ve never heard of a single person who has regretted wearing a helmet, yet people are still incredibly resistant to the idea.
I just don’t get it.
I spoke with a guy, strong cycling supporter with influence in our local government. He made it clear that he views helmets are unnecessary “with safe cycling infrastructure.”
While I get the logic, the reality is that a large number of crashes (reported as half) are single bike accidents with no involvement of another vehicle (i.e. car).
This is why, even when you look at the underreported stats from the Netherlands, cyclists have very high rates of head injuries. They don’t wear helmets, have the gold-standard cycling infrastructure, yet crack their head open.
The point is, don’t be stupid and just wear a damn helmet.
safe cycling infrastructure does nothing to prevent you from having a sudden equipment failure and finding yourself going over the bars face-first, or from just being an uncoordinated idiot who wipes out for no reason and gets a closed head injury. I had a crank fail on my bike once, snapped in half in full sprint and I wiped badly. helmet did its job and I was thankful to have it, because there’s no predicting stuff like that
in the us* (for some reason?)
helmets are pretty standard where i live, you will very rarely not see people using it.
One of the most absurd things I’ve gotten heavily downvoted for on reddit is for saying people should wear helmets no matter how good the cycling infrastructure is. Not that it should be mandated by law, but that it’s simply the wise thing to do. Then people are like ‘wELL I gUeSs YoU ShOUld THeN wEaR a HElmEt whiLE walKinG tOo’
Fine, then don’t wear a helmet. It’s not my head.
I didn’t use to wear one when I was a kid either but nowdays it feels like driving without a seatbelt. Hell, I might even just take my bike for a test drive around the block after having done some adjustments on it and I still go grab my helmet first.
I don’t think people really understand just how devastating head injuries can be, and just how easy it is to get a tbi when on a surface as hard as concrete.
Even when doing something as simple as walking/running on wet concrete is deceptively dangerous. Every summer the trauma ward I work in has to deal with dozens of kids acquiring life altering tbi for doing something as mundane as running near a pool.
The ironic thing about bikers not wanting to wear helmets is that if you’re not lucky, you’ll end up being fit with a soft shell one at the hospital after you’ve bashed your head anyways. I’ve fit a bunch of people with orthopedic helmets for not wearing helmets over the years.
😬 yeesh, the mental image.
Yeah, pediatric care is both tremendously rewarding and horrendously soul crushing depending on what department you’re working in. You eventually build up some callouses over the years, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit summers haven’t lost some of its luster because of my job.
Engaging with families who went from having some of the best time of their lives to the worst moments of their existence over the course of the evening is still tough.
At that point, just let them self-select out of the gene pool. In a few generations, maybe our descendants won’t be so adverse to basic self-preservation and common sense.
I always wear a helmet, except in bed.
different kind of helmet
deleted by creator
I had only fallen once with my bike as an adult. I live in Sweden and our cycling infrastructure in my town is g r e a t. The problem was that it was spring, so all the gravel/sand which had been spread during the winter was now on bare asphalt. I turned left and while the wheel turned, the bike did not.
There ain’t much good infrastructure can do about gravel on asphalt.
Thankfully I didn’t hit my head as it would’ve surely been a pretty bad accident. Instead I just hit every single boney part on my left side.
I don’t get their logic either. You can clip a rock and fall of your bicycle pretty easily at speed. TBI is no joke.
oh no never ask the dutch why they are not wearing helmets, the cyclists will send every excuse your way
One of my coworkers is a story of a single bike accident. He was riding uphill on a road when his front fork broke. He went over the handle bars and head/face first into the ground. He had his helmet on, and was still knocked out. He was found in the drainage ditch on the side of the road after he was reported missing.
He has no long term damage today, but that certainly wouldn’t be the case if he wasn’t wearing a helmet
WTH how long was he out if they got to the point of reporting him missing?
You don’t have to wait a certain amount of time to report someone missing. If your partner says “On my way home” then is 2 hours late and not responding to calls feel free to report them as missing. They could’ve easily been in a major accident.
yeah, that still means the guy was out for 2 hours tho
Where did that idea even come from?
The longer you take to report someone missing, the harder it is to find them.
I assume from crime dramas to heighten the tension
It’s the “don’t tell me what to do” mindset
it’s crazy how my brother doesn’t wear a helmet. Even my adrenaline junkie dad always wore a helmet (he did have some accidents when he was younger so that probably helped)