odd helmet disagreement

FatherBob

I'm a helmet wearer, but my best friend (also a life-long cyclist) vocally disagrees with the wisdom of helmet use.

In brief, he says it's a waste of money and a source of additional danger.

More specific comments he's made are that helmets provide no protection at speeds greater than 10 MPH, and that they add additional risk by causing people to cycle recklessly due to a false sense of security. When I recently took a minor tumble in which the back of my helmeted head bounced on the pavement, he immediately suggested that I throw away the helmet on the basis that any value it might have had before has now been used up.

He insists that he's thoroughly researched these and vaguely related points, but it seems like so much nonsense to me. Is anyone aware of even so much as urban myths that might have led him to these conclusions?

Walrus

I suggest you do a search through the forums for this topic. It's been done to death.

aa9t8

sounds like your friend took a tumble without a helmet

FatherBob

He has taken a few. heh

It's just his personality, though, to stubbornly disagree about something like this.

Mine too, I guess, but it helps that I'm always right.

FatherBob

Called myself doing so before posting yesterday evening, but will give it a more thorough look. Gracias.

rule62

This immediately comes to mind from the second stage of the Giro.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2...s/may05/ldm.jpg

Just when things seem to be looking up for the Euskadi gang after David Herrero's brave win in Alcobendas last Sunday, everything just suddenly fell flat in an instance when Alberto Lopez de Munain touched the wheel in front of him during the final 50 km of yesterday's second stage of the Giro d'Italia. Cyclingnews caught up with manager Miguel Madariaga on the direct orange line this morning to see how Alberto was getting along.
"When I saw him on the ground I thought the worst, the first thing I thought was that he was dead or that he was dying," Miguel Madariaga told us. "He was unconscious with his eyes open... It was very painful to see him in this position with his face all destroyed."

"The doctor arrived a minute or so later and he told me to move away because he said Alberto didn't look very good. He put Alberto on his side, on the asphalt and he put his fingers in his mouth and freed his tongue and he yelled to the ambulance that he needed a Guedel tube so that he didn't choke... When they put the tube in a whole lot of blood flowed out of his mouth and he started to breathe and then they put him on oxygen."

A deeply affected Madariaga continued that "I got into the ambulance with him, at the start he was still unconscious. After a little while he began to see things. I asked him 'Alberto do you know me?' and he replied 'Where am I?' I told him 'be calm, you are in the Giro d'Italia and you have fallen, we are going to the hospital and everything will be OK'. He told me 'I am in a lot of pain... don't leave me alone.' That was all he said until we arrived at the hospital - it only took 8 minutes."

There is no doubt, Madariaga said, that "the helmet and the tube the doctor inserted saved his life. We arrived at the hospital at 4.30pm. At 8.30pm he went into surgery to reduce the hydropneumothorax [fluid and air in the pleural space - ed.] which was the most worrying thing for the doctors. He had a small haematoma in the lung and they were trying to reduce it. He spent the night in intensive care. Today there will be more medicals and he will stay in hospital a few days and I will stay with him. The Giro is finished for me. With what has happened I will not move from his side ... when I said good night to him he was conscious and speaking a little, but he can't move much, he is in too much pain. His face is all cut and bruised, his left eyebrow is cut and swollen, his nose has lost all its skin".


Your nimrod friend is right about one thing though. Every collision or impact to your helmet weakens it. Most helmet manufacturers offer some sort of crash-replacement policy for this reason. If you have any doubts, by all means replace it.

FatherBob

Good to know. I'm not even slightly worried about that last little bump, though, as this was a case of losing balance on some slick gravel in a low-speed turn. Don't even think I put a scratch on the helmet, although I did scratch up my leg a bit.

chephy

Well, my boyfriend claims that biking in a helmet is so distracting to him that he is actually more likely to make mistakes on the road. One could argue that a helmet just takes a little bit of getting used to, but he's been using it for a while and then at some point just stop. For one thing, he produces more sweat when biking than anyone else I ever knew - and doesn't appreciate all those pads in the helmet getting yucky and wet from his sweat and having a hot head he can't even wipe the sweat off.

Ever since he stopped I've been insisting that he put it back on. He did today - and after seeing what it does to him I decided not to bother him about this any more. Helmets just don't work for him, too bad...

Cheesy

Well, I had a head on accident with a truck a few months ago, destroyed the windscreen with my head (as well as a lot of other damage to the truck). I walked away with scratches & bruises (and a broken kneecap). If I hadn't been wearing a helmet the story would probably have been a LOT different (and you might not be hearing about it).

I was an ardent helmet wearer before that, but now am 100 times more sure that helmets are good.