Do You Wear A Helmet While Riding?

Yes, absolutely. Years ago working retail had to supervise a poor devil who had been a white collar professional then was in an auto accident with a near fatal head injury - he was physically, mentally and emotionally destroyed - could no longer do what he had done, was reduced to doing pretty "menial" labor in a retail setting as part of a "employ the disabled" program, and knew what he had lost in life.

I just don't get it when people won't take such a simple and obvious precaution that has virtually no "real world" downside - "it looks stupid" is only perception after all.

Yeah Buddy! I've always worn one. ONE TIME I figured I would ride without a helmet. But had a change o heart and that was the one time I crashed hard on a mountain bike ride. I had planned to ride easy but turned out crashing on the descent. Good thing or that would have been my head split in 3 places. :o

My wife never wanted to wear a helmet till I pointed out that a helmet does more than just protect from crashes. Also protects from the sun and helps keep her from heat exhaustion. 😉

Good thing because she ended up crashing a few years ago.

I don't wear a helmet and I don't think I will unless I do some really rough mountain biking.

I know it's a little dangerous but I just don't like the feel of wearing one. I just don't get on with them.

Something like 40+% of all bicycle accidents known to society are single falls, for whatever reasons.
They CAN, and DO happen at ANY time.
To ALL kinds of riders.
Just the kind of thing where a helmet can do a lot of good.

If you're in a car, would you then only use the safety belt when speeding or when driving in poor conditions?

Trying to figure out WHEN you're gonna need a certain safety feature beforehand is NOT likely to be a successful, long-term method.

I don't need a helmet to save my life to use it.
I'd consider it money, comfort, and style well spent if all a life of helmet use would save me from is one split eyebrow with the associated trip to the ER, stitches, shots and all that.

If a helmet would prove even more beneficial, well, that would be a nice bonus.

I can't say I actively LIKE wearing a helmet. It's not like it gives me a buzz or something.
But the actual "cost", in money and comfort is so low, and the possible payout is so big, that it makes sense to me to use one anyhow.

By golly, you are courting danger if you are riding without a helmet. Although I also do that sometimes but my ride is just inside our village and my riding is on leisurely pace only. But going outside the village to meet the traffic, it is foolish to ride with no helmet. There are countless of accidents that riders died just because of their not wearing a helmet. Although bike riders are not compulsory to wear helmets here unlike motorcycle riders, cyclist groups are advocating the helmet when riding.

I never ride with a helmet on. I just don't like them and never quite got used to wearing one. However, I don't advise other cyclists to follow my bad example. Especially those that are new too cycling, it's a lot better that they wear a helmet for that extra safety precaution.

I don't wear a helmet if I am going to school or commuting since those places aren't really far. However when going for a longer ride I always wear a helmet. I know that it is a safety equipment but sometimes I am just too lazy to still use it.

I always wear a helmet. Commuting to work, long rides or when I go to the store (the helmet then doubles as basket 😄).

Better to be safe than sorry, IMHO.

Always. While I can't honestly say with certainty that it has saved my life, I'm reasonably sure that one crash in particular would have at least left me drinking from a dribble cup in my wheelchair. What a helmet has definitely saved me is several lumps, and patches of missing hair, on my noggin.

I always wear my helmet. I live by the belief "better safe, than sorry." In my opinion, everyone should wear a helmet, because accidents happen unexpectedly. Helmets are a good precautionary measure and helps to protect our lives. A close family member passed away a few years ago from a bicycle accident. He was not wearing a helmet, and I still think that if he had chosen to wear a helmet then he would still be alive today. To have a long life, we must all try and be safe.

I think that riding wearing an helmet is becoming more and more common these days and it wouldn't surprise me if it becomes law sooner rather than later, that if your riding on the road you will have to wear one.

Susimi said:

I don't wear a helmet and I don't think I will unless I do some really rough mountain biking.

I know it's a little dangerous but I just don't like the feel of wearing one. I just don't get on with them.

If you think you only need it for mountain biking, you must've already suffered a head injury. That is probably one of the most ridiculous statements I've seen on here. If you continue to bike without a helmet I guess you deserve what you get.

Not that I wish that on anyone but yeah, people think they need a helmet for hardcore riding. Not true! I once say a 70'ish year old lady laid out on the road. Her and her hubby looked as if they were out for a pleasure cruise on their innocent looking townie cruiser bikes. She was laying there holding the back of her head with her hubby kneeling at her side waiting for the paramedics to arrive. You can smash your head falling for a pretty bike doing 3 mph. 🙁

The thing is though, until it becomes law, people are free to choose if they want to wear one or not. At the end of the day it's their own life they're risking so its up to them if they think it's worth it or not. I do understand were people are coming from when they say they're uncomfortable, and probably less importantly, they're not the most fashionable item to wear either, but for the protection they give far outweighs them arguments in my opinion.

I learned to ride a bike in 1959 or thereabouts. No helmet. Lots of hard and soft falls.Must have had a hard head. I lived, no slobbering today.

Started training and racing seriously in 1972 before skulls were considered worth protecting. ! trained with a bare head and was required to wear a hairnet when racing. Lots of hard and soft falls. I lived. No slobbering today.

Sometime in 1980-something I transitioned to a hard shell helmet with no Styrofoam, then to the Styrofoam lids with a cloth cover and later to the hard shell Styrofoam lids. Lots of hard and soft falls. I lived. No slobbering today.

Another cracked helmet pic...because that Tuck & Roll [censored] seldom works like on the intarwebz.

Moral of the story? Wear a helmet if you think your brain's worth protecting or don't wear one if that's how you roll. And always remember that choices do have consequences.

Ride safely.

The tuck and roll technique is certainly hard to master, and even when you do it doesn't always work, depending on what angle and how fast you come off.

As I've got older aswell, reaction time plays a big part on landing safely as well and at my age now, I'm flat on my back sometimes before I even know I've come off!

Of course I wear one. Bob the slobbering should kick in any day now along with diapers and hospice care. You can ride in a Shimano wheelchair and call it a recumbent. No one in the home will know the difference. (:

True...true...

I slap it on every time I ride out. Had to use it once in about 2 years. I was riding on a flat dirt trail which had a short but steep drop into a blind left corner. The area was full of bushes and trees and when I was going the other way I thought this could be a tricky descent as you couldn't see around the corner. "Careful you don't fall", I said to myself.

Sure enough, fall I did. I started gathering speed, turned left and the front wheel bumped into a tree root that was sticking out of the ground. I remember hurtling through the air into the grass on the side. It's funny how time really seems to slow down then. I actually thought about sticking my helmeted head out to break the fall. Luckily the ground was soft and I ended up with just a couple of bruises and scratches, nothing major. My handlebars were turned completely to one side, but I straightened them out before going on.