I know it won’t protect me in event of a crash, but it could help to potentially lessen an injury. I have seen the difference of motorists when sans helmet and found I am given more room during passing, even in the evil bike lane (SR 436).

http://gorp.away.com/gorp/location/fl/biking/bik_code.htm interesting view on bike helmet use.

…and a helmet is a necessity, especially if you do any riding on hard surface roads. (Overhanging limbs can give you a good whack, too.)

If you use a helmet for nothing else…..I hate it when trees attack!

But do you wear a helmet in the car? Me, neither.

Based on head injury stats, we all should wear car helmets. It’s kind of mysterious that the helmet makers haven’t gone after this gigantic market.

I’m not for mandatory helmet laws at all however. Adults should be able to decide if they want to wear one or not.

I do not believe my helmet will save me if hit by a car.
Anecdotal stories are all I have.
Injury data and statistics will NEVER tell the full story.
I am not much for marketing (ala 80% reduction…)
I am not for the state forcing anyone to wear a helmet.
I simply do not understand the “I don’t want to wear a helmet” syndrome.
People think they are indestructible until they are not.

“ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR,
WE DON’T NEED NO HELMET WAR!!”

Five, six, seven, eight,
Don’t forget to thank the State!

My distilled argument is this: Bicycle helmets are good for cyclists. Bicycle Helmet Laws are bad for cycling.

I was an early adopter of bike helmets, first with a Bell Biker, then a Bell Biker II, and even a Skid-Lid (which I still have).

The anecdotal stories (“I’d be dead if it wasn’t for my helmet!”) remain unsupported by injury data, and I find that troubling.

But what I REALLY find troubling is the belief that bike helmets (with a design impact speed of about`14 mph) provide real protection from collisions with automobiles, a lie which public health and safety groups (flush with contributions from astroturf organizations funded by helmet manufacturers) have been promoting endlessly, along with the false “Bike Helmets Provide an 80% Reduction in Head Injuries” statement. This false information is then used as a substitute for bicycling education.

If bike helmets worked as described (because low-speed cycling is as dangerous as we would be led to believe), we would see wards full of closed head injury victims in Copenhagen and Amsterdam, not to mention Beijing.

The cause of US cyclists’ head injuries has more to do with poor cycling habits and education than with styrofoam buffers. Some studies of sports risks seem to imply tangentially that cyclists along (and below) the 35th parallel (especially children) are at far greater risk of brain injury due to heat stroke caused by cheap bike helmets than by falling off their bicycles.

I was just thinking about this just yesterday, in fact, as I was peddling in my Sunday clothes to my church a few blocks away. I just don’t want to feel like I’m engaging in a sport when I’m simply going from point A to point B in my neighborhood. I don’t want to feel like it’s that big a deal. As a bike commuter, I think I’ve long since given up on the need to look normal (especially in the winter with the hi-viz jacket and reflective leg straps), and I know that using a bicycle for transportation by choice is still somewhat counter-cultural to many, but darn it, I still *want* the activity to *feel* “normal”, like I’m just getting in my car to go to store, except my car is a bike.

Obviously I could just as easily fall and hit my head going 3 blocks to church as on my 5-mile commute, but it’s a risk evaluation, and in some cases, I decide the risk is not worth doing something I just don’t feel like doing. As Keri says, I believe that how I behave is MUCH MUCH more important to my safety than wearing a helmet, and I know I behave fairly well, although we can all make mistakes and there is always room for improvement. However, there is also the role model factor to consider, for both kids and adults who are not yet adept at handling their bikes or riding in traffic. This is even more important being that I am now an LCI and on the board of the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, meaning I don’t have quite as much luxury to decide not to wear one than if I weren’t those things.

People who are anti-helmet are welcome to make their case. I know what the arguments are, a google search will reveal them. I have no dog in that fight. I’m not anti-helmet.

I’m anti- propaganda, nanny-states, and misguided busy-bodies. And I get irked at the insidious hyper-focus on passive safety in this culture — that includes everything from helmets to airbags.