crosspostato da: https://piefed.social/post/741601
Few topics in cycling inspire as much controversy as helmets. Some people insist they’re essential, calling non-wearers reckless and invoking harsh and violent imagery: “enjoy your traumatic brain injury”. “You’ll regret it when you’re in a hospital with a feeding tube”. You hear suggestions of denying access to public healthcare. On the opposite end, helmet skeptics argue that they’re a distraction. I’ve actually heard people call them “magic hats” that “don’t offer significant protection (if any at all)”. Helmets dehumanize cyclists and send the wrong message. They’re dorky and uncool, rather than fashionable and European.
So what’s the truth about helmets?
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References:
- Protection provided
Bicycle helmets – To wear or not to wear? A meta-analyses of the effects of bicycle helmets on injuries (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0001457518301301)
- Risk compensation
Drivers overtaking bicyclists: Objective data on the effects of riding
position, helmet use, vehicle type and apparent gender (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0001457506001540)
Bicycle helmet wearing is associated with closer overtaking by drivers: A response to Olivier and Walter, 2013 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0001457518309928)
Emotional reactions to cycle helmet use (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0001457512001169)
Risk compensation theory and bicycle helmets – Results
from an experiment of cycling speed and short-term effects
of habituation (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1369847816305666)
Risk compensation? – The relationship between helmet use and cycling
speed under naturalistic conditions (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022437517307302)
Bicycle helmets and risky behaviour: A systematic review (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369847818305941)
- Level of risk
Sport-related major trauma incidence in young people and adults in England and Wales: a national
registry-based study (https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/injuryprev/30/1/60.full.pdf)
Active Living and Injury Risk (https://www.thieme-connect.de/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/s-2004-819935)
Epidemiology of injury in professional cyclists (https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/44/Suppl_1/i4.2)
- Discouraging cycling
Do the Health Benefits of Cycling Outweigh the Risks? (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2920084/)
Bicycle helmet research [CARRS-Q Monograph Series - Monograph 5] (https://eprints.qut.edu.au/41798/)
The effects of provincial bicycle helmet legislation on
helmet use and bicycle ridership in Canada (https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/16/4/219)
Recommend or mandate? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the
effects of mandatory bicycle helmet legislation (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S000145751830397X)
Helmet law makes nonsense of bike hire scheme
- Dehumanization
The effect of safety attire on perceptions of cyclist dehumanisation (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369847823001018#b0200)
- Claims bike helmets don’t help
https://www.cnet.com/science/brain-surgeon-theres-no-point-wearing-cycle-helmets/
https://www.rwcpulse.com/blogs/peeking-at-plans/2023/09/25/bike-helmets-01/
- Dutch statistics
https://swov.nl/en/fact-sheet/cyclists
https://www.veiligheid.nl/sites/default/files/2022-06/Rapportage (Snor- en brom)fietsongevallen in Nederland.pdf (English summary included)
Had a workmate that said helmets are ‘just for kids’, he was riding his bike home from work one evening and slipped on some sand on the path while rounding a corner that he’d ridden hundreds of times prior. No cars involved, nothing but him his bike and a pavement. His head hit the cement path, and he was dead before an ambulance arrived.
No helmet.
His funeral was the largest I’ve ever attended (200+) and his teen son reading a eulogy was something I’ll never forget.
I miss him. He was a great guy, intelligent and funny and always had interesting stories, enjoyed discussing conspiracies - but more the ones with evidence (COINTELPRO etc) over pure speculation. The one dumb thing I thought he did regularly was ride daily without a helmet.
So yeah, you guys who think helmets make no difference - you’re wrong. The impact forces delivered to your skull is enormously reduced by wearing a helmet, and everyone that chooses not to wear one is convinced, “that won’t be me, I ride safe, I know the path well”. You’re wrong, and you’re gambling with your life - for what?
Had a doctor who also rode share a story with me. He and a friend had finished a ride and were in the car park, friend took off helmet as the chatted and cooled down, friend then remounted and began riding to his car, slipped on debris at 5 mph, fell, stuck his head, dead before the ambulance arrived.