Helmets (incoming!!!)

Rod M said:

OK, as a novice soon-to-be-commuting-in-london, I'm slightly baffled
by the various tongue-in-cheek remarks about helmets on this group.
Am I to assume that they're not necessarily A Good Thing(tm)?

Google is your friend.

In summary:

They protect you against minor injuries (light grazing)
very well.

They protect you against motorised vehicles barely at all
(the manufacturers tell you this if you read the small print).

All the population level statistics show that when helmet wearing
rates go up, teh serious-injury-to-cyclists rate also goes up.

Lots of teh pro-helmet 'research' is seriously [censored] - some of it
'proves' that helmets protect against lower leg injuries more
effectively than it 'proves' they protect against head injuries.

Lots of teh pro-helmet propaganda makes the [censored] research look
brilliant - things like mandatory helmet law will save more lives than
the total cyclist fatalities, save more money than teh NHS spends etc.

Wear a helmet if you like, but consider it's a silent vote for
compulsion (this is stated DoT policy), and there are lots of things
you can do that will improve your safety more than a plastic hat will.

regards, Ian SMith

Rod M said:

OK, as a novice soon-to-be-commuting-in-london, I'm slightly baffled by
the various tongue-in-cheek remarks about helmets on this group. Am I
to assume that they're not necessarily A Good Thing(tm)? What's the beef?

Rod

Uh oh.... erm...

Why not start here: http://www.lesberries.co.uk/cycling/helmets/helmets.html

Read lots and make your own mind up seems to be Best Practice(tm) on
this one.

--
Chris

On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 22:53:45 +0100 someone who may be Chris
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

Why not start here: http://www.lesberries.co.uk/cycling/helmets/helmets.html

Or more up to date www.cyclehelmets.org

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me by using the RIP Act 2000.

Chris <[email hidden]> whizzed past me shouting

Quoted message said:

Read lots and make your own mind up seems to be Best Practice(tm) on
this one.

Here's a hat that'll improve your safety more than a cycle helmet will:

<http://www.tfaw.com/toys/profile.html?&sku=APR053964U>

so long as you're the only person wearing one, of course.

Seriously, I've found fancy dress highly effective in getting motor
vehicles to keep their distance. Be seen, be safe.
Cycle helmets make you more anonymous, so if you must wear one, add
something conspicuous and distinctive, like a fun-fur mohican or a
bowler hat.

--
Sue ];(🙂

Rod M said:

OK, as a novice soon-to-be-commuting-in-london, I'm slightly baffled by
the various tongue-in-cheek remarks about helmets on this group.

Rod, if you want to wear a helmet then go ahead.

The beef on this group is about compulsion - ie. proposed laws
which will make everyone cycling wear a helmet.

Rod M said:

OK, as a novice soon-to-be-commuting-in-london, I'm slightly baffled by
the various tongue-in-cheek remarks about helmets on this group.

I have a helmet myself, and sometimes wear it, depending on my mood
and the conditions.
But when I see people on shopping bikes, pootling along the docks near
me, complete with polystyrene helmets perched on top my heart sinks.

God help us when the day arrives when little old ladies or men going to
the shops are pressured into wearing helmets.

Chris said:

Read lots and make your own mind up seems to be Best Practice(tm) on
this one.

Cue definition of Best Practice:

"Best Practice: ... finding someone who looks like they know where
they're going, and following them". - Robert Newbold

Tony ;-)

in message <[email hidden]>, Rod M

(') said:

OK, as a novice soon-to-be-commuting-in-london, I'm slightly baffled
by
the various tongue-in-cheek remarks about helmets on this group. Am I
to assume that they're not necessarily A Good Thing(tm)? What's the
beef?

Oh, help.

Try this: <URL:http://www.jasmine.org.uk:80/dogfood/story?article=20>

Basically cycle helmets are not designed to be effective in road traffic
accidents, and may make things worse.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
Ye hypocrites! are these your pranks? To murder men and give God thanks?
Desist, for shame! Proceed no further: God won't accept your thanks for
murther
-- Roburt Burns, 'Thanksgiving For a National Victory'

John Hearns said:

Rod M said:

OK, as a novice soon-to-be-commuting-in-london, I'm slightly baffled by
the various tongue-in-cheek remarks about helmets on this group.

I have a helmet myself, and sometimes wear it, depending on my mood
and the conditions.
But when I see people on shopping bikes, pootling along the docks near
me, complete with polystyrene helmets perched on top my heart sinks.

God help us when the day arrives when little old ladies or men going to
the shops are pressured into wearing helmets.

In New Zealand (fiercely enforced helmet compulsion) you don't see people
on shopping bikes, pootling along the docks near me, complete with
polystyrene helmets perched on top. neither.
You don't see people like that at all!! All the helmet law seems to have
done is to squash, flatten, and otherwise annihilate utility and commuter
bicycling, leaving the roads to the bum-up head-down lycra-clad
devil-may-care road-warriors. Latest figures show bicycling has reduced
39% since the law came in, with head injuries reduced about 30%; that is
less than the reduction in bicycle users pro-rata.
Perhaps this was an intended effect. Bicycles don't belong in the modern
world, think the "authorities"

Peter
--
If you are careful enough in life, nothing bad -- or
good -- will ever happen to you.

Peter Keller said:

...Bicycles don't belong in the modern
world, think the "authorities"

Peter

Hmm... with petrol rapidly approaching a fiver a gallon, I think that
could be about to start changing.

Chris said:

Peter Keller said:

...Bicycles don't belong in the modern
world, think the "authorities"

Peter

Hmm... with petrol rapidly approaching a fiver a gallon, I think that
could be about to start changing.

Only if the "authorities" don't vote themselves massive pay increases.

John B

On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 07:52:57 +0100, John Hearns <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

The beef on this group is about compulsion - ie. proposed laws
which will make everyone cycling wear a helmet.

And about the way helmets are promoted with gross distortion,
exaggeration and occasionally outright lies. Not all helmet promotion
is dishonest, but quite a bit of it is.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 07:52:57 +0100, John Hearns <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

The beef on this group is about compulsion - ie. proposed laws
which will make everyone cycling wear a helmet.

And about the way helmets are promoted with gross distortion,
exaggeration and occasionally outright lies.

By nannying busybodies who have nothing better to do than tell adults what,
in their opinion, is good for them.

Pete

Peter B said:

"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 07:52:57 +0100, John Hearns <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

The beef on this group is about compulsion - ie. proposed laws
which will make everyone cycling wear a helmet.

And about the way helmets are promoted with gross distortion,
exaggeration and occasionally outright lies.

By nannying busybodies who have nothing better to do than tell adults what,
in their opinion, is good for them.

But would never consider getting on a bicycle themselves.

Tony

"Rod M" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

OK, as a novice soon-to-be-commuting-in-london, I'm slightly baffled by
the various tongue-in-cheek remarks about helmets on this group. Am I
to assume that they're not necessarily A Good Thing(tm)? What's the beef?

I do wear a helmet. Wearing one saved me from worse injuries than I got when
I went over the 'bars, I feel sure.

The added bonus is it give me extra confidence and makes me look more road
warrior when facing idiot vehicle drivers.

I have always figured that were I have to stick the nut in if needed I
wouldn't come off second best.

Not that I would ever condone such behaviour.

Andrew

Quoted message said:

Rod

"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email hidden]> whizzed past me
shouting

Quoted message said:

On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 07:52:57 +0100, John Hearns <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

The beef on this group is about compulsion - ie. proposed laws
which will make everyone cycling wear a helmet.

And about the way helmets are promoted with gross distortion,
exaggeration and occasionally outright lies. Not all helmet promotion
is dishonest, but quite a bit of it is.

Guy, it's been conclusively asserted on Usenet that wearing a helmet
makes it harder for aliens to suck your brains out and take over your
body - what more do you need?

--
Sue ];(🙂

Helmets are useful for holding your gloves and lamps while you're in the pub.

"Sue White" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Guy, it's been conclusively asserted on Usenet that wearing a helmet makes
it harder for aliens to suck your brains out and take over your body -
what more do you need?

Silly woman, it's the tin foil hat that protects you from aliens sucking out
the brain and banana skins on the forehead cure migraines dont'cha know.

Cheers, helen s

On Thu, 21 Apr 2005 20:22:42 +0100, Sue White <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Guy, it's been conclusively asserted on Usenet that wearing a helmet
makes it harder for aliens to suck your brains out and take over your
body - what more do you need?

This much is known - hence one of the standard urc nicknames for
plastic prophylactics, namely the Polystyrene Foam Deflector Beanie.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

andrew carver said:

The added bonus is it give me extra confidence and makes me look more road
warrior when facing idiot vehicle drivers.

I'll file that one under "risk compensation" then, shall I?

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at CHS, Puget Sound