What's new

To wear or not to wear: the helmet issue

thomas

The Crank Engine
Nov 1, 2005
2,084
605
I have broken an unwritten rule applying to the cool cyclist: not to wear a helmet. I admit that I had subscribed to that principle as well, frowning upon wearing one of these ugly, mushroomy and sweaty styrofoam things. However, I have changed my mind. One reason for that move is my second bicycle accident in three weeks (which for once cannot be blamed on my reckless riding, lolol).

bell_slant_helmet.jpg

I have joined the mushroom club!

Browsing the web I was astonished to find out how many bike-related resources argue *against* wearing a bicycle helmet. I have summarised some of their arguments:

- No scientific support

The key scientific studies in support of the law have been proven flawed, usually due to limitations in their data or methodology.

- Anecdotes prove little

''My helmet saved my life'' anecdotes prove little towards the effect of enforcing helmets on an entire population, and notwithstanding the tendency for people to exaggerate their claims. Anecdotes can be a compelling argument for individuals to choose to wear helmets, but do not constitute the scientific evidence which should be a pre-requisite to legislation.

- Helmet wearers may be more at risk of injury

Some studies have suggested helmet wearers to be more likely to strike their heads and/or have an accident. There appears to be a rational explanation for this phenomena. Wearing a helmet increases the size and mass of the head. Helmet wearers, like all groups subject to safety intervention, may also be subject to risk compensation - a well recognised and accepted problem, i.e. helmet wearers cycle more dangerously because they feel safer.

- Bicycle helmets may increase some kinds of brain injury

Studies of the mechanics of head injury show that one serious cause of brain injury is rotational forces, which helmets can do little or nothing to prevent and may actually worsen.

- Helmets may reduce scrapes, but are not designed to protect against serious injury

Helmets have little benefit in a severe collision with a motor vehicle. Bicycle helmets are certified only for simple falls up to about 20 km/h. Helmet promotion tends to exaggerate the effectiveness of helmets, and consequentially has probably reduced their effectiveness through the effects of increased risk compensation.

- Helmet laws erode civil liberties

Don''t even think about civil liberties, you don''t have any. Wear a helmet or else! Just as compulsory motorbike helmets were used to justify compulsory seatbelts, and compulsory seatbelts in turn were used to justify compulsory bicycle helmets, there can be little doubt that at some point in the future the bicycle helmets law will be used to justify other breaches of civil liberties.

- Helmet laws blame the victim

Helmet law attempt to mitigate the effects of a crash, but does nothing to reduce the likelihood of that crash.

Source: Cycling Health


Below is another article by a certain Dr Richard Keatinge published in the Irish Medical Times. He states that "on balance, cycle helmets do not show the benefits that some have claimed". He continues:

"In London, more than two-thirds of all cyclist deaths were due to collision with a heavy good vehicle, 97 per cent with a motor vehicle of some sort. I have no access to post-mortem reports, but one may doubt that any helmet could save the majority of cyclists killed by a heavy goods vehicle.

Cycle helmets are not designed to protect against most serious impacts. Design standards involve dropping them from a height of a metre or so, directly onto a hard surface. The design intention is that the foam should compress, thus slowing deceleration of the head. Some of our patients may produce stories about damaged helmets, with the implication that the helmet has avoided a much worse problem.

In fact, it requires very little energy to break a helmet, even to smash it. Most broken helmets have simply failed."


Take a look at the graph below:

helmet-wearing_countries.jpg
Source: Bicycle Helmet Research Foundation

It seems that countries with more and safer cycling are countries where fewest cyclists wear helmets. Striking, isn''t it?

So much for the cons. What about the pro-lobby? There is a plethora of online resources actively promoting the use of bicycle helmets. One of them is the US-based Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute. From their quick stats page:

First, our own pick of Basic Numbers from many sources:

- There are 85 million bicycle riders in the US.
- 720 bicyclists died in crashes with motor vehicles in the US in 2005.
- About 540,000 bicyclists visit emergency rooms with injuries every year. Of those, about 67,000 have head injuries, and 27,000 have injuries serious enough to be hospitalized.
- Bicycle crashes and injuries are under reported, since the majority are not serious enough for emergency room visits.
- 1 in 8 of the cyclists with reported injuries has a brain injury.
- Two-thirds of the deaths here are from traumatic brain injury.
- A very high percentage of cyclists'' brain injuries can be prevented by a helmet, estimated at anywhere from 45 to 88 per cent. - Many years of potential life are lost because about half of the deaths are children under 15 years old.
- Direct costs of cyclists'' injuries due to not using helmets are estimated at $81 million each year.
- Indirect costs of cyclists'' injuries due to not using helmets are estimated at $2.3 billion each year.
- Helmet use in the US varies by orders of magnitude in different areas and different sectors of our society. White collar commuters probably reach 80 per cent, while inner city kids and rural kids would be 10 per cent or less. Overall, our best wild guess is probably no more than 25 per cent. Sommers Point, NJ, where a state helmet law is in effect, found that only 24 of the 359 students who rode to school in one week of the Winter of 2002 wore helmets (6 per cent) until the School District adopted a helmet rule. North Carolina observed 17 per cent statewide before their law went into effect in 2001.
- Helmets are cheap. The typical discount store price has risen from under $10 to about $15, but there are still models available for under $10 at major retailers.

More stats


There you go. Safetly belt, smoking, boozing ...and the bicycle helmet: the choice is yours! It is not very likely that I''m going to wear it for the combini run around the corner, but I have decided to use my helmet from now on for touring and longer urban rides. And let''s admit it: somehow they *do* look cool. :)

Conclusio: better safe, sweaty and sound. ;)
 
Back
Top Bottom