[Closed] helmets useless in major bike accidents says new study

It's the Metro, it doesn't count.

I have a lack of respect for most research as it simply proves what ever the researcher wants it too.

Best to use what works for you and reject what doesn't, after you research it for yourself!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that article is basically just stating the bleeding obvious.

And just to highlight how stupid society can be:
"People die from smoking all the time but no one is banning cigarettes"

To which I'd like to add:
"People are killed by motorists all the time but no one is banning cars"

🙄 Humans eh, mad as cheese

Could the key to such a non-story be in the MAJOR (I sometimes wish caps would go up to 11) of the headline?

What a dumbass report, thats like saying seatbelts won't save your life if you drive over a cliff.

Well duh, "major" accident i.e. a vehicle piles into you at speed or squashes you.

Move along here, nothing to see etc.

I don't think there's anything contradictory in being pro-helmet but anti-compulsion.

The debate gets muddied because people on both sides overreact. So you've got the "a helmet saved my life" brigade (How exactly do you prove that, without cloning yourself and conducting some extremely unethical experiments?) versus the "helmets make you mroe likely to die" TJ brigade.

I do have a little wince when I see people riding off road without them, but that's because falling off is quite a commonplace and acepted part of it for most people. Not so with bimbling round the park or riding in traffic.

individuals choice to make an informed decision........liberty fraternity equality et al.............
ny own personal study shows after cracking three helmets rather than my skull i will wear one regardless of any scientific australian study!

Mods close this post, life's too short to debate this nonsense... again!

All sounds about right. You can't tell someone to wear a helmet because you might crash into them with your actions and don't want the fall out. But, if helmets save the tax payer cash through less minor injuries in A&E etc then I am all for making people wear them... 😆

this might turn into a classic big hitter thread

He's going to be faced with a serious dilemma here.

On the one hand, it validates what he's [s]relentlessly banging on about[/s] saying
On the other hand, it was in the Metro, which is published by the fascists who own the Daily Mail. So every fibre of his being will be telling him it must be lies and misinformation

His head may explode. Will a helmet be a good or bad thing if that happens?

However, he said children should be made to wear them because helmets can protect them from minor crashes and tumbles which they are more prone to.

*cough*...and many adults ❓

‘Looking at evidence, it does not matter if people are wearing a helmet or not, any serious accident on a bike is likely to kill them,’ said Dr Carwyn Hooper, from St George’s University of London.

It's a bit like saying that wearing a helmet wouldn't save a passenger in a car involved in a major accident that crushes it.

It's not new either, is it? Did anyone ever think that a bike helmet would save them in a major accident?

I'll still wear mine every time I'm out on the bike.

It's not the major accidents I'm worried about, it's being seriously injured or killed from a head wound in a minor accident which could have been avoided had I been wearing a helmet. We used to rent a house whose previous owner (our landlord's brother) had had a low speed bike/pedestrian accident on Brighton seafront, hit his head on the kerb (no helmet), went into a coma, then died.

I've had loads of accidents on my bike resulting in broken bones, surgery, metal plates and wires.

I'm 100% certain that if I was not wearing a helmet when I had most of these accidents my head would have been damaged.

Why do I think this? 'Cause I've destroyed 2 helmets.

I'd rather destroy a helmet than my head. Granted if a massive dumper truck splats me a helmet won't help much, but in most of the less mental accidents I [b]have[/b] had it's stopped me opening up my skull.

I don't think people should be forced to wear them though - do what you want!

[url= http://btawa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/The-Potential-for-Cycle-Helmets-to-Prevent-Injury-Review-.-D.Hynd-UK-2009.pdf ]appendix H.3 is interesting reading in this regard.[/url]

When I was 7 I was once hit on the head by a first aid kit falling out of a storage loft whilst I was waiting for someone to pass down some stuff.

I took up cycling several years later, and I always wear a helmet, which is why I wasn't immediately killed to death by that first aid kit.

This is a fact. Helmets clearly save lives.
I have also never bumped my head in any situation since I've been a cyclist.

What more evidence do you need?

That report does evidence a couple of things quite clearly:

*It's very easy to get a doctorate these days
*Ditto a job at St George's

The cigarette comment in particular shows a certain lack of clarity of thought.

[img] [/img]

I think we should all wear the invisible collar airbag. You just look a numpty when it goes off. 😀

However, he said children should be made to wear them because helmets can protect them from minor crashes and tumbles which they are more prone to.

I'd say adults aswell, especially mountain biking where lets face it, your going to fall off at some point.

For anyone wishing to read the paper rather than rely on the media's account of it -
[url] http://jme.bmj.com/content/early/2012/02/21/medethics-2011-100085.full.pdf+html [/url]

I dunno, you put a relatively obvious-to-insiders thread title up, and it gets changed to something completely in-yer-face.

I didn't know we got [i]subedited[/i]......makes me look as though I write for mental incompetents.

I'm in favour of a law requiring cyclists to wear helmets. Given the fervour that people have for them they are quite clearly made of magic rather than half an inch of polystyrene as it appears to the uninformed.

Did anyone ever think that a bike helmet would save them in a major accident?

I think there's a perception amongst the general public that they do. How many times do we see newspaper stories of cyclists being killed by a lorry or somesuch, with the quote "the cyclist wasn't wearing a helmet"?

I fancey doing a study on the effects of full face helmets for shopping ! Im pretty sure it would save a number of accidents as would strapping a mattress to your self or wearing steal toe cap boots while knitting !! doesnt make it a good idea though does it !? 👿 dont get me wrong i always wear a helmet off road through choice !

What a dumbass report

Not at all. Some things which are "obvious" aren't actually true, and people tend to have different ideas of what is obvious. A study proving such a basic point is actually pretty useful - it provides proper scientific proof. As mentioned, plenty of media are happy to make a point that a cyclist isn't wearing a helmet in such a major crash, when it's unlikely for them to report the lack of seatbelt of somebody driving over a cliff.

I dunno, you put a relatively obvious-to-insiders thread title up, and it gets changed to something completely in-yer-face.

I didn't know we got subedited......makes me look as though I write for mental incompetents.

The original is still visible in the URL 😉

I think it's deemed to be trolling - you should think yourself lucky, I've had similar titled threads deleted!

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/would-you-helmet-nazi-content#post-3139927

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/psa-another-study-on-the-efficacy-of-bike-helmets#post-3128520

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/thank-god-for-helmets#post-3071801

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/so-i-decided-to-write-off-my-helmet-today#post-3015561

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/will-the-uk-every-be-like-this#post-3001646

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/no-helmet#post-2983986

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/my-helmet-is-very-deformed-graphic-photo-content#post-2963127

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/the-woman-who-tragically-died-in-dent-on-the-letjog-ride#post-2956453

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/helmets-2#post-2941835

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/cyclist-hit-15-times-with-hammer-by-driverfor-riding-too-slow-up-a-hill#post-2943106

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/this-really-makes-you-want-to-wear-a-lid#post-2919841

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/good-or-bad-advert#post-2894537

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/james-cracknell-wear-a-helmet-video#post-2783611

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/bmxers-idiots#post-2758996

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/motorcyclist-protesting-helmet-laws-dies-in-bike-crash-while-not-wearing-helmet/page/3

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/wear-a-helmet-kids#post-2705179

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/psa-helmet-debate-on-radio-2-now#post-2584202

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/if-helmets-were-to-be-made-compulsory#post-2573922

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/helmet-on-your-child-always#post-2482018

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/some-very-sad-news#post-2476001

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/the-great-helmet-debate#post-2432920

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/kids-cycling-to-school-without-helmets-is-it-me-or#post-2368335

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/compulsory-helmet-law-in-ni#post-2236497

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/how-smug-will-tj-be

[img] [/img]

etc, etc, etc...

Another day, another pointless study.

"helmets make you mroe likely to die" TJ brigade.

Can I just make my position clear again cos this is not it.

!) cycling is safe and some forms the risk of head injury is so low at millions to one that I am prepared to accept that minuscule risk for the pleasure of riding helmet free. Other times I will wear one when risks are higher

2) helmets are much less effective than most people believe and in some circumstance exacerbate injury. They are very good at protecting from cuts a grazes, not much use with major impacts. But "Helmet saved me from a bruised head" is not much of a headline

This is all backed by good robust data

[url= http://www.ctc.org.uk/desktopdefault.aspx?tabid=4688 ]Is a good place to see a summary of the data with loads of links[/url]

It's around this point that I like to point out that many many more motorists die of head injuries than cyclists. If you want to save lives by making helmets compulsory then make them compulsory for motorists.

NEWS. fire exstinguisher useless in major blaze.

OTHER NEWS. Report in newspaper states the bleed1n obvious!

TJ I almost totally agree with you on the helmet stuff but from personal head banging experiance and seeing a few nasty crashes, I'd always stick on me bonce bucket off road. Often it's those unexpected slow crashes that do the damage. "Helmet saved me from a bruised head" is a good comment to make a point but most helmets will do a bit better than that. Have fun.

helmets are much less effective than most people believe and in some circumstance exacerbate injury

I would hope, particularly after the extent of the debate (that google search gave ma a LOL) that most folk here would accept the limitations of helmets for major impacts.

Perhaps it's time to make helmets that are as good as doing what they do now (protection from lacerations & bruising), not quite so good at deceleration, but are more compact, lighter, durable? I expect standards would get in the way.

An inch of polystyrene won't help much when hit by a two ton vehicle. Who'd have thought it?

Almost all cycling fatalities involve motor vehicles, IE the type of crash where nobody, not even the makers claim helmets are much good.

Another day, another pointless study.

+1,000.

"80% of cyclists deaths were wearing a helmet"

I immediately thought if an accident is serious enough its a 'hit by a bus, truck or car' in a big way. I've seen the aftermath of a truck thats run over a cyclist. The helmet was in pieces.

I've washed out on the road etc - I'd prefer to wear a helmet thanks.

I would hope, particularly after the extent of the debate (that google search gave ma a LOL) that most folk here would accept the limitations of helmets for major impacts.

I think we do, but I also think that's not the case with the public in general.

If we could just tie in picolax to this thread, it could be the thread that NEVER DIES.....!

Will wearing a helmet save me from death if I eat too much picolax?

@ nicko
it might protect your head from the ceiling . . . .

no it will not but if buy a helmet with out vents you'll be able to use it at the other end if caught short.

If you want to be ok in a 20mph plus accident you'd be far safer wearing a motorcycle helmet. Push bike helmets are primarily designed to protect the rider from falling and striking their head on the ground and not some massive road traffic collision.

Getting run over by a bus/car/lorry etc won't be mitigated by a bit of polystyrene on your bonce. But having smashed up my fair share of lids,I can vouch for their usefulness. Having said that anything that happens depends on luck too - just check out my neighbors car from a 120 foot cliff dive a couple of years ago - he more or less walked away from Hospital the next day!
[img] http://www.flickr.com/photos/20471304@N08/6964433439/ ][img] http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7042/6964433439_4b70f6b5af.jp g" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/20471304@N08/6964433439/ ][img] http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7042/6964433439_4b70f6b5af.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/20471304@N08/6964433439/ ]Cliff Diver[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/20471304@N08/ ]sangobegger[/url], on Flickr

Ransos - I don't think folk on here do realise how little protection a helmet offers judging by the "helmet saved my life" posts we keep on getting.

[s]helmets[/s] seatbelts are much less effective than most people believe and in some circumstance exacerbate injury

His team pointed to evidence in Australia where 80 per cent of cyclists killed or seriously injured were wearing helmets.

Helmet compliance in Australia is very close to 100% as its been legislation for quite some time now, and its just an accepted part of cycling.
Going cycling without a helmet is like cycling without a bike!

By inference given that only 80% of cyclists killed were wearing helmets, its logical to conclude that not wearing helmets killed the other 20%. 😆

Ransos - I don't think folk on here do realise how little protection a helmet offers judging by the "helmet saved my life" posts we keep on getting.

Following an accident last year I was pretty surprised at how relatively small an impact was required to crack a helmet. Sure, I hit my head on the ground, but not with any great force. I strongly suspect that my helmet saved me a trip to A&E, but I don't think one can infer that a cracked helmet stopped a fractured skull...

it's like saying a bulet proof vest won't save you if you're shot by a 50 cal rifle when there are also lots of people shooting at you with handguns