Have you noticed a lot of people riding bicycles without helmets?

[rockymountaindem]

When I was a kid, everybody had to wear a helmet because their parents forced them to. So, to me, it seemed like a natural thing: get on a bike, put on a helmet. Everybody was doing it! Now that I'm a little older (20) and living out in the city etc. I notice that most people I see on bikes aren't wearing helmets. My question is: why not? As someone who was possibly saved from death, or at the very least a serious brain injury by a bike helmet one fateful day when I was 11, this is something that bothers me.

So, how about it. Do you wear a helmet when you ride your bike? Have you noticed more/less people using helmets?

[Tyler Durden]

1. I am an idiot.

Coming from the pre-helmet age, I have no excuse for not wearing a helmet. I could list slow speed, bike paths, infrequent riding, any number of excuses: they do not excuse plain old garden variety stupid.

[rockymountaindem]

5. Well, that's okay

I was raised skiing without a helmet. I know it would be a better idea to wear one, but I don't because it just doesn't seem like the thing to do when skiing. And I can't list anything like slow speed or infrequent skiing to justify it :(

[triguy46]

2. Since 1992 I've ridden over 30,000 miles. Each one with a helmet.

Cannot imagine climbing on the bike without it. People tell me, "Well, you ride fast, far, we just go around the block." Does not make a difference, if you fall and hit your head, nothing good will happen.

[SmokingJacket]

3. Yes! I thought it was just here.

What's up with that? I know two people personally who'd be brain-damaged if it weren't for their helmets -- as it is they got pretty banged up, concussion, etc.

I always wear a helmet. Why the hell not?

[The2ndWheel]

4. I don't

Not sure if I ever did. Maybe once or twice when I first learned how to ride a bike. It's not because I don't want to, I just don't. I'm almost 29, no kids, no girlfriend. Who's going to miss me? I would say that most other people I see riding a bike do wear helmets though. Although, to be fair, I haven't been on a bike since last December. I was getting sick of the flat tires(damn back tire). So, now I walk to work(7 miles total to and from), and anywhere else I need to go. Probably why I don't have a girlfriend. Live and learn my friend, live and learn.

[Droopy]

6. Hell people don't even wear helmets when the ride motorcycles around here

I live in Ohio and I think after you've been riding for a year you are no longer required to wear a helmet when you ride a motorcycle.

[TheMightyFavog]

16. Unlike Britian...

In London EVERYONE on motorcycles and scooters were wearing helmets. EVERYONE.

Everyone was also in proper clothing, even when it was over 80 degrees out.

Hell, even some of the people on scooters were in leathers.

It was quite a culture shock on the ride back from O'Hare, seeing guys riding by on their harleys with no Helmet, and in T-Shirts and Shorts.

[TreasonousBastard]

7. I see a lot of helmets, but...

most of them are on the weekend profilers who also spent a bundle on their Speedos and shoes. The helmet seems to be something they read in a magazine goes with their bicycle drag. None of these would ever dare consider usingn that $2,000 bike to go to the store or work, though.

Helmetless are a lot of the kids who don't belong to the above set of metrosexual profilers and the local Mexicans who bike to work on their $69 K-Mart Huffys.

Me? I hate helmets with an exitential passion. Sure, I understand the usefulness of spending the rest of my life with a complete brain, but one of the points of bicycle riding, like hiking, is the beautiful communion of me, whatever natural surroundings are out there, and the minimal mechanical complicatins to get me around.

Bike helmets are not an absolute, but a risk/reward calculation, and my calculation is that with a helmet there is much less point to riding.

[rockymountaindem]

8. That nature aspect is one thing

I'm talking mostly about urban riding which involves the unglamorous transit between A and B, usually through heavy car traffic.

[TreasonousBastard]

10. Yeah, been there, and...

my biggest worry was someone opening a car door right in fromt of me. If I ever rode a bike in NYC again, I'd wear full body armor.

[taterguy]

24. Do you do all your hikes barefoot?

Different strokes for different folks I guess. I've never noticed a helmet interfering with my ability to commune with nature. When I hike I wear a hat to keep the sun and insects off me.

The only reason I care about your risk/reward calculation is that if you're wrong you're gonna end up with some very expensive medical bills.

[NewJeffCT]

9. In my 20s, I rode my bike a good 100 miles a week

weather permitting.

I'm 40 now and hardly ever get to ride...

But, back in the day, I never used a helmet, even though I sometimes rode on somewhat busy rodes. I never felt the need for one.

I had a few biking accidents as well, over the years - the last one was in Dec of 1999 in Florida when I wiped out and fell off my bike and broke a bone in my left wrist. Other times while riding, I've cracked a rib and also got a big gash near my left elbow where I still have a quarter-sized scar.

[skygazer]

11. The majority of people around here wear helmets

In fact, the other day, I saw a woman pushing a toddler in one of those strollers that is like a tricycle - it has the handle coming off the back and the kid sits on it and pretends they're really riding.

And the kid had a helmet on!

It made me chuckle at first but then I realized it was good grounding for the kid - get in the habit.

I'm not a bike rider but every time I get on a horse, my helmet goes on.

[Shine]

12. Yes, and this is one of my biggest pet peeves. I ALWAYS wear a helmet.

They don't call 'em "brain buckets" for nothing! :eyes:

Like you, my helmet saved my life in a cycling fall one day.

I live in a college town and am always seeing young kids your age riding fast without a helmet on busy streets. It seems so idiotic to me.

edit: spelling

[Connonym]

13. raised in pre-helmet era and I've never worn one

I don't remember the last time I actually rode my bike but I've never worn a bike helmet. My kids wear them and I think it would be prudent if I ever rode again to wear one.

[Bennyboy]

14. I don't wear one, neither did my kids....

Pre 90's there was no movement to encase ourselves or children in styrofoam.

My bike is my primary form of transpo and I tell ya, it is the IDIOT SELFISH drivers that scare me. One dy one of them is gonna take me out and there ain't no helmet gonna save me from someone driving on the sidewalk (which almost happeend yesterday).

[GoneOffShore]

15. Cars drive closer to people who wear helmets

According to a recent study, cars drive closer to bicyclists who wear helmets because helmet wearers are perceived as being less likely to drive in an erratic manner. (Sorry, no link but I think it was in the NYT.)

I wear one, most of the time but really hate it, especially on hot days.

[skygazer]

18. I remember seeing a recent article

That said MORE people who wear helmets are injured while riding because they feel so much safer they take more chances.

I don't remember where I saw that, though.

[SacredCow]

20. But did it specify...

"injury" vs "head injury?"

I do feel safer when I wear a helmet, and consequently might take some singletrack that is a bit beyond my abilities. Ultimately, I will crash and bang myself up a bit but won't be making a trip to the hospital.

[skygazer]

22. I honestly don't remember

And while I'm not a bike rider, if I was I would wear a helmet. I am a horseback rider and I always wear one then - I've had some close calls and though I've broken my back in a fall from a horse and have a very interesting area of scar tissue on one thigh muscle from another fall, I'd rather deal with issues like that than a traumatic head injury.

I came off a horse one time going over a jump when he rapped it hard and fell - when he landed, he rolled and smacked my head with one metal-shod hoof HARD. Even with the helmet, it left me a little dizzy. Without the helmet, it probably would have left me with a cracked skull.

[SacredCow]

23. I've crashed on my head with and without a helmet....

both times hitting a tree on a fast downhill descent. The first time convinced me to start wearing one, the second time re-affirmed my decision.

More often that I'd like to admit, I will jump on without one if I'm just running down the street. However, I know it's not the best decision...

[KG]

17. no helmet for me.

not now, not ever, NEVER! :hi:

[SacredCow]

19. I wear mine 90% of the time....

I shoot for 100% but hey- I'm not perfect....

I insist on my son wearing his.

[grace0418]

21. That's just for STARTERS in Chicago...

For every person I see wearing a helmet and obeying the traffic laws while riding a bike in Chicago, I would estimate I see at least 25 who are wearing no helmet, riding around in flip-flops, and completely ignoring every traffic law. I'm a huge proponent of bicycles and rode one myself until it got stolen (I'll get a new one when we move). But people really need to use common sense.

You know what I've heard several bikers say about this? "Well, Chicago drivers ignore traffic laws all the time!" I agree with this of course, but that's PRECISELY why people on bikes need to take extra precautions. If you're riding the wrong way down a one-way street at night, in black clothes and flip-flops, with no helmet, and you blow through a stop sign, what chance are you giving yourself if some idiot driver on a cell phone is speeding and not paying attention? Who's going to be the one to die or be seriously injured, no matter who's at fault? Yeah, you, on the bike.

And even a careful driver who *is* paying attention is going to be hard-pressed to see a person coming out of nowhere with no reflective clothing. The other night we were coming home from the gym at about 10:30. We were driving down a narrow, dark, tree-lined street made darker because recent storms had knocked out a few street lights. Suddenly a woman turned onto the street riding an old bike and wearing all black with no helmet or reflective anything. She was easily well over 300 lbs. Now I'm not getting on her for being large, in fact, bless her heart for getting some cardio exercise. But it was very difficult getting around her on that narrow street, and she didn't make it any easier with what she was wearing. If we had been less careful or driving a bit too fast, we could've easily knocked her down before we even saw her.

[Brigid]

25. And what's worse . . .

people riding motorcycles without helmets. Just a disaster waiting to happen. :scared: