BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

i read it on the internet somewhere. it's true with football too. a helmet gives your head more surface area and more mass. think of your head as a bowling ball on a spring. the heavier it is the more it will jostle when impacted, this jostling is what causes concussions.

So if you read it on the Internet, it's true? This is the Internet, Nick, and it's telling you that it's good to wear a helmet, especially in the city.

can you wear a straw hat and a helmet at the same time? i don't think so! think about what this would do to my image..

Saved my dome, more than once. I'll wear it. I'll tell everyone I can it saved my dome, and hopefully that convinces them to wear one as well. My smashed up helmet is in my basement still, if anyone wants to have a look. The dents still have the paint from the guys car.

The obligatorily bike mailing list/forum helmet debate is as old as helmets. It isn't a law, and anyone is free not to wear one. It sucks, but not much we can do to change it. It upsets me to see so many people puffing on cigarettes too, but what're you going to do? "Hey [some activity] may kill you someday, I command you to change!" doesn't go over well with most people.

Maybe a bamboo helmet? Eco friendly, sustainable, functional in a crash?

@quizbot they've already come up with them.

here's a wool version from Lacoste http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/07/lacoste-helmet.php

and here's a bamboo one

http://inventorspot.com/articles/bamboo_ecofriendly_and_lifesaving_all_at_once_16725

"i read it on the internet somewhere. it's true with football too. a helmet gives your head more surface area and more mass. think of your head as a bowling ball on a spring. the heavier it is the more it will jostle when impacted, this jostling is what causes concussions."

Concussions are from your brain moving within your skull right? Does added weight from a helmet make much of a difference?

When you adjust the springs on a suspension fork you don't account for the weight of the tires. You account for the weight of the rider. With your head, its the weight of your brain that matters.

It seems that everything from the fluid in your skull to the compression of your skull to the movement of your neck act as suspension to cusion your brain.

The helmet is going to help absorb energy in an impact. Yes, it adds mass, meaning more energy must be dissipated. So there is no straightforward answer here. Maybe you should do some tests and let us know how it turns out.

As a simple experiment you could try riding your bike with no tires, just on the rims. If you go slowly enough and/or on smooth enough roads then it will be better than using tires (less rolling resistance and less energy used getting the wheels rolling since they are lighter). But in most cases the tires are a big help.

think of your head as a bowling ball on a spring. the heavier it is the more it will jostle when impacted,

You have this backwards. The heavier it is, the less it will jostle. Imagine a compact car hits a bus. The bus passengers get jostled a lot less. It's basic physics.

But bike helmets are so light relative to your head that their added weight offers little extra protection. They protect instead by absorbing the impact.

And I think your belief that it's very unlikely you'll ever be in an accident where your head smashes hard into something is contradicted by the experience of lots of message board posters, as well as bike accident statistics. Here's a report from some years ago that says "A bicyclist can expect a minor injury every three years and a more serious one every fifteen." If you ride more than most cyclists, you can probably expect more frequent serious injuries.

I will add that I ride a fair bit and stopped wearing a helmet about 5 years ago. Personal choice, like dwillen said. Though I understand people's shock; I thought Randy was pretty crazy when I saw him mountain biking without a helmet.

+1 BradQ

Helmets reduce the chances of brain damage or death, end of story.

Newbies should be strongly encouraged to wear helmets, I think a helmet should be required by law with every new bike sale, unless the buyer can show a helmet.

Children under 10 are required in PA to wear helmets. I require my children to wear helmets.

I wear a helmet 95% percent of the time, on the street, and in the woods.

But,

Society still allows/requires choice and personal responsibility. Once an individual is provided with all the information, and allowed an informed choice, the individual has to make their own choice as to where to place their safety boundary. Wearing a helmet is great, but you CHOOSE to ride a bike rather than drive, which seems to you to have an acceptable safety threshold. To take your helmet argument to it's extreme, I'm pretty sure your family would not have you bike at all, to them, a car being the ultimate "helmet".

I did not wear a helmet on the recent tweed ride, and I did not make my 14 year old son wear his when we were with the group. When we left the group, we put on the helmets. Just a decision as to where to place the safety threshold.

I would disagree that you're more likely to crash the more frequently you ride. The data exists for motorcyclists that the greatest incidence of a crash is in the first year, and drops significantly with every year of experience, for motorcyclists with more than 15 years of experience the odds of crashing are very low. As a similar activity, I would expect biking to be, not the same, but similar.

I think steven was saying more that statistically, over a long enough timeline, your odds of having an accident increase. as you become more skilled you learn how to mitigate your risk of accident, but still the more you ride, eventually something will happen. I would say more than half of the cyclists I know have had some encounter with an automobile, whether it was a major wreck, or just a "tap"(a tap for a 4000lb object is still very substantial).

+1 personal choice.

Bear in mind, the guy wearing the full-on downhill helmet with visor (or motorcycle helmet, if ya want something that may withstand real impact!) can look down on you just as much for being inadequately protected as you can the dude riding sans helmet.

Safety isn't a true/false condition, it's a gradient. Bike helmets exist at one point on that gradient; cervical collars, motorcycle helmets, shoulder-mounted airbags, and not riding at all are other points on the same scale.

Of course, as I've said before, I wear a helmet 'cause it gives me a place to mount extra lights and doodads.

I wear a helmet 'cause it gives me a place to mount extra lights and doodads.

reddancam?

I just started wearing a helmet in the last year, someone elses idea actually, I was wearing it when I caused a one bicycle pile-up in Oakland, when the dust cleared I had a busted wrist and a couple scratches on my new helmet. I wonder how those little scratches woulda looked on my head. I still forget it at home sometimes but will turn around and get it, same with lights, didn't use to have them, now I insist.

Me, I like helmets.

You, whatever. My life is to busy to worry about your head.

reddancam?

Have you been reading the prospectus for my late-night home-based business? That name is trademarked...

I wear my helmet every time, except that one time. I was riding in Shadyside once without a helmet, stopped at a red light, and a cute girl walks up and says, "You'd be sexier with a helmet". So, you know, helmets pick up chicks.

Dang, I think Joe might be on to an effective campaign.

Quick straw poll! - non-helmet wearers - more likely men or women?

I was an off and on user for a while, until one day a bunny strolled out in front of me on the jail trail while hands were off the handlebars. The worst of my injuries were the bruised ribs from landing on my helmet which was slung around the messenger bag I had on at the time - talk about irony and bruised ego…

So yes, I wear one now. Dare I bring up the headphones and cycling topic all at once too? Ha!

New bumper sticker. Get it done.

"You'd be sexier with a helmet"

As for the topic I think it's a personal choice. Newbies are influenced by their friends so if you wear a helmet they will too.

I do wear a helmet, I feel naked without it.

Um, I was "influenced" by my wife, "you a baby's daddy now!, you better get it together hot rod, yinz got a family now" something like that.

I always wear a helmet. I go by the philosophy that accidents usually don't happen when you are doing something dangerous, well because you are paying attention. I think most mishaps occur during routine, boring times when you are not focused on the activity at hand. Ever notice how many “experts” get killed plying their trade? If you do something dangerous often enough you get complacent, that’s when the lack of focus is going to bite you. The first time you go 30MPH down a hill in traffic you notice every little pebble in the road, how about the 100th time you do it? But as much as I want everyone to wear a helmet, I still think it’s a choice.

+1 for feeling naked without. I am also an advocate of treating your helmet with extreme care. Don't throw it around or drop it on the macadam!

Um, I was "influenced" by my wife, "you a baby's daddy now!, you better get it together hot rod, yinz got a family now" something like that.

Heh...sounds familiar. That's why I quit smoking a few years back.

I've had a few low-speed crashes where I've heard my helmet scraping along the pavement. A disgusting sound that makes me glad it wasn't my head getting torn up. Even at low speed, an unexpected fall that throws your head into the hard surface can hurt bad.

I resisted the helmet for many years. Now I am a convert. About once a year I'll head out on a remote rail trail and ride without one, savoring the feel of the sun and wind in your hair. Otherwise, you'll see me with a helmet. In fact, I have a helmet for each bike (coincidence).

When we do bike counts in Oakland (and elsewhere) wer try to collect anecdotal data on helmet usage and gender split of cyclists. Used to be that we would see 70/30 or 60/40 men to women. Helmet use was in the 60 percent range. Last year, we saw a higher percentage of women wearing helmets than men. In the few counts that we have completed this year, it looks like there are more women riding, but the percentage of women who are wearing helmets is dropping. We'll continue to monitor.......

i read it on the internet somewhere. it's true with football too. a helmet gives your head more surface area and more mass.

Football is a different creature. In a hard contact sport, there is a certain amount of evidence that more "protection" = harder hitting = more serious injury.

Not usually true with bike riding.

When a (ewwww) car driver asks me about wearing a helmet, I hit them with the same question.

Unlike for bike helmets, there have been scientific studies that show helmets while driving are effective protection.

I do believe bike helmets are protective, but last I checked they hadn't done any particualrly well-designed studies about it.

And they won't, either. It's considered the equivalent of "Randomized case-control study on the use of parachutes to prevent impact injures on ejection from airborne vehicles."

Dang, I was hoping my post would work like a Craigslist "missed connection" post.

Dang, I was hoping my post would work like a Craigslist "missed connection" post.

You need a nice, snappy comeback line for that to to work. Something like "You think I'd be sexier in a helmet? Wanna come help me adjust the fit?"

Give it time, Joe. It may still work that way...!

I started wearing a helmet because my kids were riding with me. I felt that it was only right that they see me wearing one, if I expect them too. Its the same reason I wear my life jacet in the kayak as well. I will occasionally go without (helmet or life jacket) but like others, it does feel naked.

I do make comments to younger people when I see them not wearing helmets, but I imagine they just blow it off. The big thing that gets me is when I see families riding on the trails and the parents will have helmets and the young kids will not.

It would be great if there was some kind of organization out there that would pass out cards to cyclists who could in turn give them out to other cyclists withotu helmets and have a voucher for a free helmet or at least a nice discount. I know a local hospital (?) did somethign similiar to this at one point, but only in a certain area for a day.

It looks like Children's Hosptial is doing their Hard Heads program again this year.

Keep trying Joe, keep trying.

She didn't happen to actually say you'd be sexier in a (full face) helmet, did she?

Nyuk.

: (

Ha! just jokin', don't go sad.

Probably past the issue now, but in 30 minutes outside I counted 7 men on bike and one woman.

The woman was wearing a helmet and only 2 of the men were.

I also saw three bike cops, one downtown wearing a helmet and riding a bike that appeared to have those electric assist wheels. Two in Oakland who were not wearing helmets but that's because they not on their bikes had a gentleman cuffed in front of the New Balance Shoe store/paerna. Said gentleman did not appear to have been riding a bike.

One of the unhelmeted cyclists I saw was riding in the bus lane on Smithfield, against traffic and swooping around buses at stops. I'm 97% sure he was busted by a Port Authority cop who was in front of one of the stopped busses.

@joe et-all.... Haha! Helmets are indeed sexier! I'm trying to think of funny guy's pick up lines I've heard that might work for you!

(Hrm..... can't think of anything that's actually snappy...

I hope nobody here speaks British.

More anecdotal evidence from my commute home:

19 people on bikes!!!!

5 females

5 people not wearing helmets, 2 were female.

http://safetyissexy.blogspot.com/

vs.

http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com/

Can we pit bar ends vs. riser bars as the next celebrity death match?

Question though... Every time I see images of places like Copenhagen and Amsterdam I tend to see far fewer riders wearing helmets. I'm well aware of their incredible bike infrastructure, but does anyone know the data in terms of bike accidents in these places as compared to areas like Pittsburgh with relatively little devoted bike infrastructure?

Is wearing a helmet only much of a factor when dealing with exclusively bike-auto accidents? Or would bike-bike or bike-ped accidents factor into wearing a helmet as well?

I feel like just using the European example I would be inclined to think that helmets only really matter when dealing with bike-auto accidents.

This has not been discussed on the internet at all

snark

escalated snark!

@dwillen, you should post the pic of your busted helmet.

And yah yah, personal choice whatever. I'm more concerned that people be safe. I concur with Bikeygirl-- it is indeed a most attractive quality to see someone making a wise decision from the mind that they are taking care to protect.

I really don't think any valid excuses exist to not suit up, and I'd be hard pressed to find someone who looks more ridiculous in a helmet than myself-- my friends tease that I have enough hair to count for two helmets, yet I still insist to top it off. Click it, folks. And encourage your friends.

Seen last night on Liberty Ave in Bloomfield after dark: a young man riding no hands, texting on a cell phone. No helmet, no lights, no reflectors. I wouldn't object to a little more enforcement.

Natural selection will get to that guy.

+1 on positive encouragement.

Resist the urge to blow your top.

And Joe, do you recognize anyone from this site from your street encounter?;

http://bikesexy.com/

Oy!

And yah yah, personal choice whatever. I'm more concerned that people be safe.

I think we're gonna have to agree to disagree on that one. Someone could quite validly point out that I would be 'safer' riding the bus to work...but I, personally, choose to ride my bike.

I'm reluctant to wade into this... but here goes.

First, I have to wear a helmet because I've drilled it into my kids that they have to wear helmets. So any time i've rolled off without one, they bust my stones and basically shame me into going back for my lid.

Next, the football/cycling analogy is completely incoherent.

Third, the relation of cycling in Pittsburgh to cycling in Amsterdam or China or wherever else is a bit misleading, I think. It's a little bit of apples and oranges. These message boards are littered with experiences of safe cyclists meeting unfortunate ends due to aggressive drivers, equipment failure or just bad luck.

But for the most part cycling here is done individually or in small groups. Compared to images i've seen of other cultures where cycling is a more prominent everyday means of transportation - where masses of hundreds of cyclists chug on down the street to their job or whatever. There's safety in those numbers.

So for them not to wear a helmet makes sense to me. For anyone in Pittsburgh going further than the corner market, it does not.

Having said my piece, it's still a matter of choice. Except for me, my kids won't let me.

I think that other cyclists would be wise to wear helmets, but I look at that as a personal choice. The primary consequence of not wearing a helmet is that they endanger themselves.

One could argue secondary consequences, like increased societal costs for healthcare, accident insurance, etc., but I'm not a big fan of that- too much of a slippery slope. For example, anti-cyclists would argue that cycling on streets should be outlawed altogether, because it's dangerous. Others would argue for outlawing fatty foods, bungee jumping, et al.

I *do* have a major problem with cyclists who do not respect stop signs and red lights. That endangers not just themselves, but also others, including motor vehicle drivers who are driving lawfully. Including me, on my bike, when one of them blows through an intersection and cuts me off. It also makes cyclists in general look bad, and further fosters the opinion that cyclists should not be allowed to share roads with motor vehicles.

JZ right on. Helmets optional (I wear one for reasons already covered), stop signs mandatory. Even if no cars are around, Santa is watching. Or so I figure.

Personal choice = key

While I do think that wearing helmets is uber-important, and do think higher-better of people I see riding wearing a helmet, it is ultimately personal choice to do it or not.

Yesterday and this morning I kept an eye on my commute to see the kind of people wearing helmets, and between yesterday afternoon and this morning I saw (3) guys and (1) girl NOT wearing helmets, and (3) guys and (6) girls wearing helmets.

Of the (4) people total I saw not wearing helmets, (3) were hipster-looking people on fix bikes who were going more for the cool factor than the safety one. The one that scared me the most was this black dude, no hands on handle bar, flying down by Penn Avenue near Brillobox with no helmet..... he looked cool, but MAN... just not safe.

Of the people that were wearing helmets, most of them looked like commuters, and even some of them were of the hipster-kind with some nice helmet choices (that's what I call style!!).

So.... yeah... freedom of choice. An accident can happen anywhere...... but one's head is precious (my head its been to some ordeals in the past so I know this to be true).

I would think that perhaps Helmets should be a requirement while riding on city streets & traffic -just as drivers have to buckle-up. It's just safer for everyone. Motorists should too.... how many cases of people dying on motorbike accidents not wearing helmets are reported?? Plenty to make anyone aware.

SO.... yeah, my 2+ cents

Last night my gf and I get to the incline and there is a guy in the car with a bike already. I say to him that I am loading two more bikes in with him. He tells me if they give us shit about it its on me. I agree. So I stand my bike up and get in my gf tries to follow but this guys bike is on both wheels. She asks him nicely if he could stand his bike up so she can fit it. He gets annoyed and says i guess so. What the fuck man when I am waiting on the incline and bikes come in I welcome them and tell them to squeeze in.

Well we get to the top and go on our way. We actually walked our bikes up shilo street to virginia ave to get to boggs ave. As we are on virginia ave(pretty dangerous road I might add)the anti social bicyclist rode by going against traffic with no lights at all. I yelled out "get a light your gonna get hit man" but he was too cool to take any advice

reddan: "Someone could quite validly point out that I would be 'safer' riding the bus to work...but I, personally, choose to ride my bike."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090713170701.htm

Someone crunched the numbers before (not in this paper) and showed that the decreased health risks resulting from biking to work more than offset the increased danger from bike crashes. I feel bad about not being able to find it, but I don't think that the modification of taking a bus is on the same level of inconvenience as the modification of putting on a helmet.

Many motorcyclist associations have protested against helmet laws: http://www.bikersrights.com/states/pennsylvania/default.html

"She didn't happen to actually say you'd be sexier in a (full face) helmet, did she?"

Some of my motorcycle riding friends and I have a saying about helmets, "even the ugliest dude looks like a BAMF in a full face helmet."

Exhibit A:

For my first 4 years of riding in the city, I never wore a helmet. Last year, my girlfriend at the time convinced me to get one (ironically, she didn't wear one). Ever since I started wearing it, I feel completely naked without it.

It may make me sweaty and mess up my hair, but asphalt would probably mess my hair up more.

Plus, just like when I am somewhere carrying my motorcycle helmet, I feel kind of cool to be carrying a helmet. I would like to get a more open helmet though.

"Question though... Every time I see images of places like Copenhagen and Amsterdam I tend to see far fewer riders wearing helmets. I'm well aware of their incredible bike infrastructure, but does anyone know the data in terms of bike accidents in these places as compared to areas like Pittsburgh with relatively little devoted bike infrastructure?"

I told my Dutch coworkers that "only a fool rides without a helmet in my city", and I felt completely naked without one the first time I rode over there. If I'd worn one, I'd have been the only one out of many thousands. In the ten weeks I've spent there in the last year (mostly in Utrecht, with a couple of weekends in Amsterdam), I've not seen a single rider with a helmet. Only the kids (sometimes two or three to a bike...they even have handlebar bike seats for infants!) wear helmets...and only 50% of the time.

It's a different place, though. Bikes rule. Seriously. I witnessed an incident in Utrecht where a car 'bumped' a bike. The girl on the bike didn't even fall; she swore something in Dutch, and then rode on. The teenage driver was so disturbed about it that she parked and got out, sat down on the curb, put her head in her hands, and started crying. She might have gone to jail if the girl had fallen and actually gotten hurt.

My Dutch friends laugh at helmets. From their point of view, "You fall down, skin a knee, and get up and ride on!" Helmets are for toddlers and people afraid to bike. They've never ridden on our roads, though. I've tried to get them to bike through the city with me on weekends when they're in town, but they're scared. "There are no bike roads here!"

Bicycling in the Netherlands is great fun, but it's totally different from Pittsburgh. It's perfectly flat, for one, and there are dedicated bike lanes everywhere. There's no reason to ride on a road where cars go over 15 mph...and neither cyclists nor drivers would have a clue how to deal with that. There is as much bicycle traffic as there is car traffic...I've actually sat at a red light on a bicycle lane and not made it through because there were too many bicycles in front of me. There's no such thing as riding fast (and gears are almost unknown)...the people in front of you dictate the speed you can go.

Still, there's plenty we can learn from them. It costs more than $2000 in tests and classes to get a drivers license there. If you hurt a bicyclist while driving a car, you won't drive again for years (and might go to jail). Compare that to the crazy bitch who passed me on a double yellow going downhill on Brighton Road this morning while I was doing 35 (ten mph over the limit) and then slammed on the brakes. They let cyclists go the wrong way down one-way streets (the signs all say, "Do not enter, except bikes"). The entire city center of Utrecht is closed to cars during busy times...cyclists are welcome, though. They have bike racks galore (the "Pittsburgh Bike Rack" photo that Erok posted of a bike locked to a cinder block got a lot of laughs at work...the Dutch would just load the block onto the rack and ride away!). They have signs along all of their bike routes like we have road signs on our highways.

No one wears a helmet there because it's simply not necessary. They ride slow enough and mostly avoid cars (and when cars are in the mix, bikes rule, and everyone just accepts it)...and any crash is likely going to be nothing more than a skinned knee or a couple of minor bruises.

C'mon. Nobody wears a helmet in NL because people would point and laugh. Need, not need -- just not the point.

Flat? No such thing as riding fast? Yecch. Sounds like they've taken ALL the fun out of it.

I'll take my helmet and a good dice in traffic any day.

Bikes totally dominate NL, and helmets are probably not a bad idea for pedestrians! I remember wishing I had one for my dog when I took her out for a walk and a biker nearly ran the little lady down. She was on a very short leash after that. Hmm, she probably would have rocked the look and could have been quite a cute helmet advocacy mascot.

I do wish we had firmer drivers training laws and efforts in place in the states. There should be more emphasis on interacting with pedestrians and cyclists on the road. Growing up, I lived for Germany in 5 years and I remember my parents studying like mad to take their license tests. They also had to do several hours of training (locked in a small, tight car, windows down, with a chain-smoking companion). Not nearly as many people drive over there to begin with though because of their amazing public trans options.

When I bike toured through the netherlands, me and amy were literally the only people we saw with helmets. We saw moms with 3 kids on their bikes, none with helmets, riding around...

Does anybody here who chastise others for not wearing helmets wear them while driving? It would surely cut down the chances of brain damage in an accident, no?

I think saying "get a helmet" to another cyclist is kind of like telling them to get a better bike or whatever, it is a "im better than you" statement. Its kind of lamers. They are changing nothing in your life at all. 0.

I wear my helmet 100% of the time, and it has saved my life.... WHEN I WAS NOT ON MY BIKE BUT WEARING MY BIKE HELMET. Does that mean I should have it now typing on the computer...? I guess it does.

I never shout "Get a helmet" but I have shouted "Get Lights!" Lamers?

But yeah, when I had a 2d floor apartment I made absolutely certain my helmet was securely fastened before I carried my bike down the back stairs. I just figured.... Murphy, y'know.

Yesterday I was heading down the hill on Liberty and this guy passes me - on the right - flying down, with no helmet. Sigh. I was as far left in the bikelane as possible because of the combination of all the parked cars and my downhill velocity.

And wouldn't you know it, I caught right up to him on the northshore. All that hurry for what?

I'm not a shouter. My voice doesn't carry. I need a whistle. Maybe I'll also utilize it as a wolf whistle for those in helmets. The goal for me is to encourage people in a friendly manner to wear helmets because it's important. Shouting and yelling is no way to get a point across. The importance of helmets stands, regardless of the tone in which one expresses it.

I am going to make a habit of telling everybody who is eating meat that it can kill them.

Then I will tell everybody at the bar every time I am there that the alcohol is doing damage to their liver.

Occasionally I am going to stop people on the jail trail and inspect their saddle, if it does not have a cutout I am going to warn them of the dangers of prostate cancer.

I think it is good policy to let other know when they are doing something that you consider to not be right.

"hey man, i noticed that you are not wearing socks with those shoes... it might give you some blisters"

"Hey man, pull over so I can inspect your saddle."

EXCELLENT idea. You'll meet all sorts of interesting people that way.

Steevo:

http://www.copenhagenize.com/2009/05/motoring-helmets-for-real-high-risk.html

So I personally wear a helmet because I like riding jauntily and mountain biking and things, and with that comes a bit of increased risk that a helmet helps with. But I don't bother wearing it when I'm just riding slowly across campus, and only wear it out of habit when I'm going around slowly on my Dutch bike.

I think helmets are irrelevant when it comes to real risk mitigation. That comes from structural factors like better laws and better infrastructure design. Helmets mainly protect you from yourself (which isn't irrelevant).

best 11 second video for helmet use.

Sorry bad link above.

http://www.break.com/index/worst-female-cycling-start-ever1.html

I'd call it "best 11-second video for watching where you're riding".

That looked like a darn good way to break your neck, not just fracture your skull...

Helmets mainly protect you from yourself (which isn't irrelevant).

Way back in 2001-2002, I took two nasty spills on quiet residential streets, unaided by anything but my own incompetence. Once I just knocked myself over and landed on my back, but the second time, I very visibly cracked the helmet's foam. I've been a helmet believer and wearer ever since. That's not to say I've never been on a bike since then without a helmet, but not for any real distance and not with any regularity.

Also, when I'm driving my car at night, if I see another car with the lights off, I will flash my lights to encourage the other driver to turn his lights on. If that makes me a jerk, oh well.

Riding without a helmet threatens only yourself. Riding without lights threatens others.

I agree with some of the others that said wearing a helmet is a personal choice. I should wear mine all of the time, since I had a crash back home without a helmet on where I miraculously avoided hitting my head on a curb, but I don't.

Maybe this is stupid but I look at it distance-wise, if I'm going for a longer ride (i.e., on the riverfront trails), I almost always wear the helmet. However, if I'm making the quick ride to Pitt's campus I often don't, although I have started to wear it more often.

What angers me more is people who ride on sidewalks when it's completely unnecessary, switch from road to sidewalk at random, and don't stop at red lights or at least slow down for stop signs. That gives a bad rep to all of us who do follow traffic laws.

my father is a cyclist and he's had two nasty, nasty accidents. In both cases, a helmet saved his life.

I feel naked without it. Wear it every time I get on the bike. To each their own, but I've got precious cargo between the ears. I'm protecting my brain.

Riding without a helmet threatens only yourself. Riding without lights threatens others.

+1, exactly.

As an aside, I think the euros are much more strict about requiring lights front and rear, and a bell.

Observation, lights and bells attempt to reduce the likelihood of an accident, helmets address the result - i.e. cause vs. symptom.

Yeah. That's the sad part about all of this. Rather than make the streets safer with lower speed limits, traffic calming etc, we have to wear helmets and we have to wear seat belts in cars.

Im all for wearing a helmet 100% of the time.

Exhibit A: I was riding up the bus lane on 5th with traffic gridlocked to my right. I was going at full clip when another cyclist came right out in front of me from between the stopped cars. I hit her and was thrown from my bike. The first thing to hit was my helmet, which bounced off the ground. While i did bruise some ribs and get a golfball on my kee, my head was fine. I dont think skull bounces as nicely as plastic and foam.

Exhibit B: I was riding in the woods and going down a really steep grade. I hit a bump and the back end went way up and I flipped over the front of the bars. The bike seat came down, hit the back of my helmet and slipped off to one side directly in front of my face-planted eyes. I was uninjured and only because I was wearing my helmet.

Seriously, unless you're already out and you commandeer another bike, there is no reason to not wear a helmet. It takes .00005 seconds to put it on, and you can lock it to your bike wherever you're going. Only reason not to wear one is to look "cool". Yeah, I said it.

Since I have sort of been "devil's advocate" thru this thing (I am helmet believer), I can't not respond (please... take... keyboard...ahhh).

The camp advocating against helmets, especially mandatory helmets, would say that helmet use negatively impacts the perception of cycling by the non-cycling public as a dangerous, sporty, or extreme activity, and will cause some percentage to reject it as an activity for them to participate in.

If X percentage of middle aged, overweight, diabetes prone americans decides NOT to ride their hybrid bike 2 miles on a rail trail at 6 miles per hour because they should wear a helmet, then X percentage is too much, IMO.

It is a little bit more than not looking "cool".

reasons for wearing helmets: Saturday, April 24, 2010

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Police are searching for "several kids" who threw a brick at a bicycle-rider as a he drove under a trestle on the South Side on Thursday.

Albert Tripodi, 45, said he was riding down Josephine about 4 p.m. when he turned left under a trestle on 23rd Street and was hit with "something heavy."

"It knocked me off my bike," he said. "I could feel the blood running down the side of my face." He said he suffered a 7-inch gash on the side of his head that required both stitches and staples at UPMC Mercy's trauma unit.

"They told me you're pretty lucky," Mr. Tripodi said. "This is something that could have killed you."

He did not see the brick nor his attacker. Police said a woman approached Mr. Tripodi and told him she saw several "kids" behaving suspiciously on the trestle, but she could offer no further description.

Yeah Mark. Eff'ed up. Saw this last night on KDKA .

What the HELL is wrong with people?!?

Saltm, NOW you can blow your top.

The police need to find this/these persons, and they need to be tried for attempted murder.

seriously. see the smoke coming out my ears?? These folks definitely need to be caught and held accountable for their actions.

kids totally disconnected from their actions.

i do wonder if the guy was wearing a helmet or not... helmets have saved pgh cyclists in the past from falling bricks

I question whether someone who exhibits sociopathic behavior at a young age can _ever_ grow up to be civilized. Young and dumb is one thing, but young and cruel is another.

That's a serious question, btw. Anybody here have any good counterexamples? Know a kid who used to delight in torturing kittens but grew out of it?

people grow out of it... i know lots of people who grew up pretty mischievous/idiotically that are now wearing suits 9-5 for our favorite businesses

Well, Mark, there is no correlation between growing out of a sociopathy and doing 9 to 5 in a suit (Madoff, Goldman-Sachs, cough, cough).

No counterexample, but there is a very well known example: Jeffrey Dahmer, as seen by someone who knew him pretty well, John Backderf from the "Derf City" comic. [linky] (The animal connection gets started around page 6.)

AWWW STU! What a teaser! Growing up in NE Ohio the Dahmer thing was a big deal. He spent a good part of his sentence in my county's prison, I believe. I never knew of the Derf-Dahmer connection. I might have to check this book out.

helmets have saved pgh cyclists in the past from falling bricks

yeah, just ask steevo...

ya that "our favorite businesses" was the joke