Cycling helmets.

[RedRobin]

only ever worn a helmet, and it was not like you see nowadays, when racing.



Have 3 bikes (Mountain, road and my last bike I ever raced in the '80's) and don't own a helmet at all.

Just my preference. 

....I'm very surprised indeed to read that it's your preference not to wear a helmet, Dave. An accident doesn't have to be your fault if you end up with a brain damaging hit on your head, and it's not a reflection of how good a rider you are either.

[stealthwolf]

I encountered two pertinent examples today:

1. Car in front pulls over to the left. I move slightly to the right to go around it. From the pavement on the left a kid on a bike pulls out to cycle across the road, diagonally, without looking. Thankfully I wasn't going fast.

2. Further down the road, I see a girl brushing herself down, bike on the ground. Car is just at the edge of the driveway. Evidently car was pulling out of driveway and girl on cycle on pavement got hit.

In both cases, neither was wearing any safety gear. No helmets, no knee/elbow pads, no hi-visibility gear.

It amazes me what some cyclists get up to. Most are fine but, like drivers, the bad few give the bad name. Last night, I saw some muppet cycling at night. No lights. No hi-visibility, no helmet.  I struggled to see him and it could have easily been disasterous if he decided to do anything other than drive in a straight line.

[ub7rm]

Personally I always wear a helmet, the same way I always wear a seatbelt - its just common sense but I respect others right to choose.

My wife is a nurse and came home with a particularly sad story one night about a chap on her ward who fell off his bike, hit his head on the ground and is basically a vegetable for the rest of his life.  I forget how old he was but he had children in their early twenties, wife, good job etc - all devastated.  The thing is this guy was a really keen cyclist, I think he had done a few charity runs along the length of the country, commuted by bike etc and he ALWAYS wore a helmet and made sure anyone riding with him wore one too....  until that day.  No one can understand why he decided to go out that day without his helmet but it just shows no matter how good a cyclist you are, how experienced etc it only takes a split second for your world, and the world of others around you, to come crashing down.  For the sake of a £20 helmet its just not worth the risk.