# Bike helmets, yea or nay?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bike-helmets-yea-or-nay/405187
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [May 23, 2007, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bike-helmets-yea-or-nay/405187 "2007-05-23T05:57:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2007, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bike-helmets-yea-or-nay/405187/1 "2007-05-23T05:57:22Z")
I’m starting to ride my bike more: the weather’s good, I’ve got more time now that classes are done for the summer, and I have fewer friends around who own cars. I personally am in the no-helmet camp: it’s intolerably uncomfortable for me\*, I haven’t fallen off a bike since I was ten years old trying to ride down a flight of stairs\*\*, and I don’t generally ride in traffic.
I know there’s a decent number of dopers who ride to some extent, be you hardcore cyclists or casual commuters. So, discuss: do you wear a helmet? Why or why not?
\*Not only the heat thing, but having anything putting the slightest amount of pressure on my head/neck causes my skin to get red and irritated. Also, it does bad things to my hair.
\*\*An unfortunate incident of childhood stupidity. However, I wasn’t wearing a helmet, and aside from some bruises to my body and pride, I was absolutely fine.
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### Author:  [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2007, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bike-helmets-yea-or-nay/405187/2 "2007-05-23T06:04:04Z")
I always wear a helmet. To me it’s cheap insurance. One of the customers at my local bike shop suffered a head injury and severely damaged his motor skills. He was a experienced biker. He believes if he had been wearing a helmet at the time he would have avoided the injury.
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### Author:  [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2007, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bike-helmets-yea-or-nay/405187/3 "2007-05-23T06:10:09Z")
If one or more of the following conditions is met -\> wear a helmet
-Riding in areas where motorists aren’t used to bikes.
-Riding in city’s without dedicated bicicle-paths.
-High speeds (downhill),
-Bad roads.
-when riding less than 4x/week.
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### Author:  [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2007, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bike-helmets-yea-or-nay/405187/4 "2007-05-23T06:11:49Z")
Get a better fitting helmet.
Because as uncomfortable as a helmet is, it’s far, far more comfortable than the alternative in an accident. Not just bike v. car, but also bike v. pavement (there’s a saying that there are two types of cyclists, those who have fallen and those who haven’t fallen _yet_), and bike v. bike. Even if you’re not riding in automobile traffic, another bike going fast enough and stupid enough can do its share of damage to you.
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### Author:  [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2007, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bike-helmets-yea-or-nay/405187/5 "2007-05-23T06:17:12Z")
I was surprised at how much more comfortable a helmet was for me. The one I got channels the air over my head and keeps me cooler than a baseball cap.
Of course, I’ve almost given up all pretext to being ‘cool’.
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### Author:  [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2007, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bike-helmets-yea-or-nay/405187/6 "2007-05-23T06:48:54Z")
Most certainly yes.
If I hadn’t worn my helmet on May 1st 2004 I would have suffered a hellova lot more injuries than I did…more likely than not I wouldn’t be typing this
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### Author:  [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2007, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bike-helmets-yea-or-nay/405187/7 "2007-05-23T08:02:03Z")
Agree with the ‘helmet on’ crowd. My sainted father had his first wreck-caused-by-others, coincidentally, on the first day he wore a helmet.
His helmet was cracked.
His head was not.
Perhaps [this article](http://www.centredaily.com/news/weird_news/story/96101.html) might be of interest to you.
If it were me, I’d put aside the irritation of wearing a helmet so that I could protect my squishy brain parts. YMMV. 🙂 Remember that it’s not only your skills at test on the roadway; it’s all those other ya-hoos out there.
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### Author:  [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2007, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bike-helmets-yea-or-nay/405187/8 "2007-05-23T08:35:54Z")
Definitely a helmet wearer. If you’re going to ride a bike, you learn to live with helmet-hair.
If yours is so uncomfortable, go to your nearest reputable bike dealership and get a new one. Have it properly fitted, don’t just buy the cheapest one in the colour you like. It’s got to **protect** your head, it’s not a fashion accessory.
I know for a fact if I’d not been wearing one all those years ago, I would be typing this from The Other Side.
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### Author:  [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2007, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bike-helmets-yea-or-nay/405187/9 "2007-05-23T08:55:59Z")
[QUOTE=The Librarian]
If one or more of the following conditions is met -\> wear a helmet
-Riding in areas where motorists aren’t used to bikes.
-Riding in city’s without dedicated bicicle-paths.
-High speeds (downhill),
-Bad roads.
-when riding less than 4x/week.
[/QUOTE]
One more.
-If your head is not as hard as asphalt.
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### Author:  [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2007, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bike-helmets-yea-or-nay/405187/10 "2007-05-23T09:13:03Z")
Always do. My wife thought it looked silly (at first; she’s used to it now) and I get shit from my co-workers about it (more for the cycling pants now), but I’m still going to wear it.
I ride on city streets at night and during the morning rush hour at high speeds on a road bike that sits me with my head as just about the furthest point forward. Since I don’t find my intact braincase to be over-rated, there’s no way I’d ride like that without a helmet. I’ve never been in a major crash, but I’ve been in one minor wipe-out and a couple of non-events (i.e., I kept right on riding without stopping) that scratched my helmet, and could have meant a trip to the ER for stitches if I’d been bare-headed.
Quite honestly, although I can go along with **The Librarian** ’s guidelines (maybe replacing “less than 4x/week” with “less than 5km/week”), I consider helmet-wearing to be a litmus test of basic intelligence for cyclists on anything beyond a granny bike.
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### Author:  [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2007, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bike-helmets-yea-or-nay/405187/11 "2007-05-23T09:32:50Z")
I have never worn a helmet. I used to be a hard-core bike commuter, for years and many, many miles. I have shredded pantyhose, my knees, and my elbows. I have broken my coccyx. I have been hit by cars. (Well, one car, and one truck.) I have been t-boned by another cyclist who lost his brakes. I have never ever hit my head.
I made my kids wear helmets though.
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### Author:  [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2007, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bike-helmets-yea-or-nay/405187/12 "2007-05-23T10:12:13Z")
[QUOTE=ScareyFaerie]
Definitely a helmet wearer. If you’re going to ride a bike, you learn to live with helmet-hair.
If yours is so uncomfortable, go to your nearest reputable bike dealership and get a new one. Have it properly fitted, don’t just buy the cheapest one in the colour you like. It’s got to **protect** your head, it’s not a fashion accessory.
I know for a fact if I’d not been wearing one all those years ago, I would be typing this from The Other Side.
[/QUOTE]
I knew it, just knew it!!
We are kindred spirits 😛
**Hilary N Suze** Wear a helmet dammit, you may not be so lucky next time
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### Author:  [@pretend\_my\_name\_is\_witty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pretend_my_name_is_witty)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2007, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bike-helmets-yea-or-nay/405187/13 "2007-05-23T10:22:15Z")
I broke my first helmet in a spectacular manner doing going down a hill far too fast in the countryside where I used to live. I just remember waking up in a daze (can’t have been out cold, probably just in a stupor) and my helmet barely on my head. Took it off and it’d been split clean down the middle, only held together by the straps through it and had tire marks on it. Worked out that I’d managed to go over the bars and have the bike wheel land on my head. Glad that wasn’t my skull.
I ride very fast, in traffic, in a busy city. Wherever I go on my bike I have my helmet and if I’m going to Uni I just don’t do my hair until I get there! But then I guess being a guy I can try and pull off the messy hair look.
I _have_ fractured my skull in a non-bike accident before though, and was out cold for a few days. I find that I’m a little more careful about my cranium these days than some of my friends…but all it takes is once over the bars awkwardly (happens to the best of us) for it to be game over for you. I think it’s silly not to give yourself better odds and wear something to protect you in case it does happen.
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### Author:  [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2007, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bike-helmets-yea-or-nay/405187/14 "2007-05-23T10:29:54Z")
[QUOTE=chowder]
I knew it, just knew it!! We are kindred spirits
[/QUOTE]
I forgot to mention, I ride one of [these!](http://home.online.no/~rogtrae/images/motorsykler/Aprilia%20RSV%201000%20R.jpg) Except for the fact that mine’s black, of course.
Even if it was only a pushbike, I’d still be wearing a helmet though.
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### Author:  [@Chew\_Barker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chew_Barker)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2007, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bike-helmets-yea-or-nay/405187/15 "2007-05-23T10:33:11Z")
I always wear my helmet, I’m a sensible cyclist but it only takes one idot or old lady to not see me and SPLOOSH my brains spill onto the floor.
Interestingly I remember a study at Glasgow Uni (I think) that found motorists drive alot closer, pass faster, and pass in more stuipid places if you ARE wearing a helmet.
Anyway, helmets are cool now, if some one is seen without a helmet everyone is thinking “jeez what a muppet, I hope they face plant”
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2007, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bike-helmets-yea-or-nay/405187/16 "2007-05-23T10:49:50Z")
If you’re riding on sidewalks at a “sidewalk safe” speed, then you don’t need a helmet. If you’re driving on the street, regardless of anything, you should have on a helmet; the problem isn’t falling, it’s getting hit by a car.
If you’re driving on the sidewalk and going at a speed similar to what you would go on the street (as it appears American bicyclists have come into the habit of due to generally not being allowed to ride on the sidewalk), then the question is moot. Get off the sidewalk!
No matter what, you’re safer with a helmet. But from years of Tokyo biking, I can say that the amount of safety gained if you’re going at an easy pace on the sidewalk, isn’t worth the hassle.
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### Author:  [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2007, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bike-helmets-yea-or-nay/405187/17 "2007-05-23T10:51:46Z")
I’m a careful driver, don’t speed, no convictions for unsafe or reckless driving, car has airbags, should I wear a seat belt? Heck yes, only accident I was in was the fault of an unskilled driver from behind.
In the same way, no matter how safe you feel you are or actually are, never forget the unpredictable actions of idiots around you. Or even the little things you do accidently yourself.
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### Author:  [@pretend\_my\_name\_is\_witty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pretend_my_name_is_witty)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2007, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bike-helmets-yea-or-nay/405187/18 "2007-05-23T10:58:41Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat]
If you’re riding on sidewalks at a “sidewalk safe” speed, then you don’t need a helmet. If you’re driving on the street, regardless of anything, you should have on a helmet; the problem isn’t falling, it’s getting hit by a car.
[/QUOTE]
A man nearly knocked me off my feet the other day when he came around the corner on his bike _on the path_.
My kneejerk reaction was to semi-shout _“get off the path, you’re a grown man for f…'s sake.”_
I hate adults cycling on small paths thinking that pedestrians should get out of their way. If you’re an adult cycling on the path, get out of the way of people if you approach them. Or just cycle on the road and go at the speed you want.
But wear a helmet…
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### Author:  [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2007, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bike-helmets-yea-or-nay/405187/19 "2007-05-23T11:27:14Z")
I ride mountain bikes mainly, where everyone serious wears a helmet. It is extremely unusual to see someone on the trails without one. This attitude crosses over onto my commute on the road, so I tend to wear one.
You’ll find plenty of dissenting opinions from road cyclists though, its a common thread on cycling forums where many experienced roadies don’t favour helmets. I’m not quite sure of their arguments, I think they are similar to **Hilarity N. Suze** speaking about them not really being useful as you rarely hit that part of your head in a crash - maybe more non-helmet wearers can elaborate on this a bit.
Its an interesting question though, right now many mountain bikers are wearing full-face helmets (like a motorcycle helmet) and body armour as standard for the trails. This makes no sense to me, but if it makes you a more confident rider, then its probably a good thing.
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### Author:  [@DJ\_Motorbike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DJ_Motorbike)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2007, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bike-helmets-yea-or-nay/405187/20 "2007-05-23T12:03:00Z")
I’m in the no helmet camp for the same reason I don’t wear a helmet when I go for walk.
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