Helmetless



T

Tony Raven

Guest
Since all the hullabaloo over helmets and coming to the
realisation that what I had always assumed to be self
evident wasn't, I have taken to riding on road sans helmet
(still wear one off-road). Today was my first big
helmetless excursion in London on the Brommie and I have to
say it felt most insecure. I spent much more time checking
traffic and being cautious. Maybe years of conditioning are
hard to get rid of or maybe that feeling of insecurity is
what makes it safer.

Tony
 
Tony Raven wrote:

> maybe that feeling of insecurity is what makes it safer.

That's it! Someone here called it a 're-calibration' of your
risk awareness.
 
Tony Raven wrote:

> Since all the hullabaloo over helmets and coming to the
> realisation that what I had always assumed to be self
> evident wasn't, I have taken to riding on road sans helmet
> (still wear one off-road). Today was my first big
> helmetless excursion in London on the Brommie and I have
> to say it felt most insecure. I spent much more time
> checking traffic and being cautious. Maybe years of
> conditioning are hard to get rid of or maybe that feeling
> of insecurity is what makes it safer.

That feeling of insecurity is good. If only motorists had
the same thing.
 
Tony Raven wrote:

>..... I spent much more time checking traffic and being
>cautious.

rather than, I'll be OK if I get hit, I'm wearing my helmet.
 
On Mon, 24 May 2004 18:10:10 +0100, "Tony Raven"
<[email protected]> wrote in message
<[email protected]>:

>Today was my first big helmetless excursion in London on
>the Brommie and I have to say it felt most insecure. I
>spent much more time checking traffic and being cautious.

And thus your nothelmet Saved Your Life[tm] ;-)

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University
 
Tony Raven wrote:
> I spent much more time checking traffic and being
> cautious. Maybe years of conditioning are hard to get
> rid of or maybe that feeling of insecurity is what makes
> it safer.

But will it last? Or will you gradually feel more secure as
you forget all about the helmet?

~PB
 
In message <[email protected]>, Simon Mason
<[email protected]> writes
>
>"Tony Raven" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:2heojsFcahefU2@uni-
>berlin.de... .
>> I spent much more time checking traffic and being
>> cautious.
>
> That's what us helmetless people do all the time.
>
Hmm, I sometimes ride with a helmet and sometimes, don't
(approx 50/50 ish) I can't say I've noticed any difference,
but then, maybe I'm just used to both.
--
Chris French, Leeds
 
"Zog The Undeniable" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:40b231c7.0@entanet...
> Tony Raven wrote:
>
> > Since all the hullabaloo over helmets and coming to the
> > realisation that
what
> > I had always assumed to be self evident wasn't, I have
> > taken to riding
on road
> > sans helmet (still wear one off-road). Today was my
> > first big
helmetless
> > excursion in London on the Brommie and I have to say it
> > felt most
insecure. I
> > spent much more time checking traffic and being
> > cautious. Maybe years
of
> > conditioning are hard to get rid of or maybe that
> > feeling of insecurity
is
> > what makes it safer.
>
> That feeling of insecurity is good. If only motorists had
> the same thing.

A very good point.

Too add to this, I work at a kart track, and I find it most
amusing (and slightly worrying) when the driver of the car
which happily did 50mph + on the road to the circuit (not
necessarily dangerously) is absolutely terrified of doing
25mph in the low-end karts we use at the circuit -
presumably partly because of the lower seating position
(which gives more of an impression of speed), and partly
because of the lack of car-style safety devices (seat belts,
crumple zones and so on).
 
"Trevor Barton" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Nathaniel Porter <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > "Zog The Undeniable" <[email protected]> wrote in
> > message news:40b231c7.0@entanet...
> >> Tony Raven wrote:
> >>
> >> > Since all the hullabaloo over helmets and coming to
> >> > the realisation
that
> > what
> >> > I had always assumed to be self evident wasn't, I
> >> > have taken to
riding
> > on road
> >> > sans helmet (still wear one off-road). Today was my
> >> > first big
> > helmetless
> >> > excursion in London on the Brommie and I have to say
> >> > it felt most
> > insecure. I
> >> > spent much more time checking traffic and being
> >> > cautious. Maybe
years
> > of
> >> > conditioning are hard to get rid of or maybe that
> >> > feeling of
insecurity
> > is
> >> > what makes it safer.
> >>
> >> That feeling of insecurity is good. If only motorists
> >> had the same
thing.
> >
> > A very good point.
> >
> > Too add to this, I work at a kart track, and I find it
> > most amusing (and slightly worrying) when the driver of
> > the car which happily did 50mph +
on
> > the road to the circuit (not necessarily dangerously) is
> > absolutely terrified of doing 25mph in the low-end karts
> > we use at the circuit - presumably partly because of the
> > lower seating position (which gives
more of
> > an impression of speed), and partly because of the lack
> > of car-style
safety
> > devices (seat belts, crumple zones and so on).
> >
> Oh, I dunno. I've been karting a couple of times (and I'd
> greatly reccommend it as great fun) and the lack of belts
> etc didn't worry me at all - I reasoned that it must be
> pretty safe without them otherwise they'd be fitted either
> by legislation of by the owner's fear of being sued. That,
> and the "Ah well, it's not my kart if I break it" led to
> me winning on one occasion!
>

Absolutely.

But some a surprising amount of people do seem genuinly
terrified when doing a speed in a kart in controlled
circumstances which they would consider a crawl if they were
doing it in their car on the public highway
 
Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:

> On Mon, 24 May 2004 18:10:10 +0100, "Tony Raven" <junk@raven-
> family.com> wrote in message <2heojsFcahefU2@uni-
> berlin.de>:
>
>>Today was my first big helmetless excursion in London on
>>the Brommie and I have to say it felt most insecure. I
>>spent much more time checking traffic and being cautious.
>
>
> And thus your nothelmet Saved Your Life[tm] ;-)

Just like this lady's notseatbelt saved hers:

http://www.topgear.com/content/my_topgear/prangs/05/03/

Natural selection must have been looking the other way.

Not that I am in any way advocating the non-wearing of
seatbelts - you won't catch me without mine!

--
Mark.
 
Pete Biggs wrote:

> But will it last? Or will you gradually feel more secure
> as you forget all about the helmet?

That's what's happened with me as I've been wearing mine
less and less. Of late I'll only wear it on the Muni, though
it would be on if I was MTBing too. My first big helmet free
excursion in years was the shakedown cruise of the
Streetmachine. Turned up at Ardrossan for the Arran ferry
with the bike in the back of the car, took out the bike,
luggage, and... damn! forgot my lid! Should I carry on?
Didn't come all this way to turn around, rode for years
without one, let's just get on with it... Quite odd at
first, as Tony reported, but going up 1000' of continuous
climb on a May day I ended up rather glad I'd forgotten it.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext.
33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital Fax 44 1382 640177
Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email protected]
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
 
"Tony Raven" <[email protected]> wrote:

| Since all the hullabaloo over helmets and coming to the
| realisation that what I had always assumed to be self
| evident wasn't, I have taken to riding on road sans helmet
| (still wear one off-road). Today was my first big
| helmetless excursion in London on the Brommie and I have
| to say it felt most insecure. I spent much more time
| checking traffic and being cautious. Maybe years of
| conditioning are hard to get rid of or maybe that feeling
| of insecurity is what makes it safer.

That's why I 'em FUD-caps.

BTW, the caution about other traffic doesn't wear off
with familiarity. It stays at exactly the right level
since there's nothing now in the way to skew the
reasoning process.

--
Patrick Herring, Sheffield, UK http://www.anweald.co.uk
 
Patrick Herring wrote:

> BTW, the caution about other traffic doesn't wear off with
> familiarity. It stays at exactly the right level since
> there's nothing now in the way to skew the reasoning
> process.

Neat theory but it's too simple, IMO.

There is *over*-caution immediately after giving up the
helmet because your head feels very different so you can't
stop thinking about how "vulnerable" you are. But, IME, that
does evaporate after you get used to the way your head feels
and behaviour then normalises.

But going back to how it is when wearing a helmet...........

I've always had some trouble with the risk compensation
theory with bicycle helmets (on-road at least) because, at
least with well-experienced or informed cyclists*, there are
plenty of fears to keep you in check *before* worrying about
hitting your head. I don't want to fall or crash because I'm
quite likely to badly graze my arms and legs, sprain a wrist
and wreck my bike. I don't want any of those things
happening at all! So I don't want to crash at all. Head
protection is very much a secondary consideration, in fact
so much so that I don't bother wearing one any more for
normal cycling**.

Actually I did once hit my head in a cycling accident
whilst not wearing a helmet, but the experience only
reinforces my view as the head injury didn't actually cause
me any problems (apart from forgetting the circumstances of
the crash). It was the damage to my back and bike that put
me out of action for a long time. Of course the head injury
could have been worse if the impact was worse, but as we
know, bicycle helmets can't actually provide much
protection anyway. The experience also made me modify my
behaviour, considerably, but I fear that I'm slowly
returning to my old ways.

Still, knowing my head is better protected wouldn't make me
want to risk busting my arms and legs and bike any more. But
perhaps this does not apply to people who regard those sort
of injuries as trivial, so Helmet Risk Compensation Theory
probably apply to them.

* people who know that other injuries are more common than
head injuries.

** I did for a year or so: got fed up with getting
overheated (vents only work when moving, and moving at a
good speed). I don't believe I took any more risks when I
wore one for regular cycling. However, I would wear one
again if I deliberately wanted to take more risks for more
special kinds of cycling, eg. for racing or chain gang type
riding or hard-core off-roading.

~PB
 
"Nathaniel Porter" <[email protected]> writes:

> But some a surprising amount of people do seem genuinly
> terrified when doing a speed in a kart in controlled
> circumstances which they would consider a crawl if they
> were doing it in their car on the public highway

Well, fair enough. I get scared at speeds on my inline
skates which wouldn't even get me off the ground if I were
in a commercial airliner.

Not that I (often) get off the ground on skates either,
admittedly.

-dan

--
"please make sure that the person is your friend before
you confirm"
 
Pete Biggs wrote:

> Tony Raven wrote:
>
>>I spent much more time checking traffic and being
>>cautious. Maybe years of conditioning are hard to get
>>rid of or maybe that feeling of insecurity is what makes
>>it safer.
>
>
> But will it last? Or will you gradually feel more secure
> as you forget all about the helmet?

Well, maybe he'll stop worrying about the helmet and start
feeling insecure if he doesn't check the traffic instead...

Roger
 
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