My, aren't WE passionately opinionated!Rustyhöle said:if you live in a rural area with 'little' traffic, there's probably even less bicycles for what traffic there is to practice their avoidance techniques leading to the enevitable... as drivers are notorious for 'multi-tasking' while driving
Then you state that you ALWAYS wear a helmet in the following:
You are free to ride as you wish, but are, in my opinion, an accident statistic waiting to happen. I ALWAYS wear my helmet (since 1990 or so) and thankfully have never needed one. Anyone who doesn't is foolish to say the least. The above analogy by another poster likening not wearing a helmet to testing a burner to see if it's on was great. Yes, it's true that we all could conceive of situations where a helmet would do no good, but that's looking at the glass half empty and rather a defeatist outlook. I prefer to see the glass half full and would like to keep it that way if at all possible. I wear a helmet for those siuations where it'll do it's job and I come out no worse for wear in the hopes that I can ride another day!!
- whenever I'm in an event/paceline (meaning they let you race?)
- where there are a lot of people (sidewalks?)
- whenever I'm traveling, touring, or in an unfamiliar area (sound advice, but tell me... what's the difference between a rural road near you and one that's far away?)
- if I'm somewhere where there are big hills (why... do big hills scare you?)
- lots of traffic (??... traffic doesn't cause accidents... inattention does [both driver & cyclist] & generally only one car hits you at a time)
- hazards such as these (pretty much describes cycling in general, doesn't it?)
Well, shame on me, I guess. Shame on me for posting when I know better than to get into these conversations. But I'll say one more thing: I'm not new to bicycling. I've got a whole bunch of mileage in my legs, and I've been riding regularly for a long time. And I know several gentlemen who have been riding regularly for more than 50 years, and they seldom wear helmets. It is only recently that wearing helmets in the pro peleton became mandatory. Experience goes a long way towards avoiding accidents, and it's always better to NOT get into accidents, than to be prepared in case one occurs.
You feel better wearing a helmet? Fine, wear one. I won't mind. Don't run with scissors either. I probably won't be wearing one, don't let it bother you. I don't own a cell phone either. Maybe someday I'll catch up with the times.