the president is in the news today, catching flack (as presidents do) for riding his bicycle with his family, while not wearing a helmet. it made me think that we’ve never really delved into the subject here on the forum, merely bantered about it in jest, or preached. i preach all the time that people should wear helmets, despite NOT wearing one for the majority of my first 15 years of cycling. so i figured fuck it. let’s do this!

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much debate occurs over the use of bicycle helmets. both of the go-to cyclists on this forum (me and WR) wear them more or less religiously and also actively advocate their use to others. where we, and others, begin to differ is in whether or not the other side of the argument is valid.

personally, i think it all comes down to how you’re looking at it. what IS the debate? is the debate rooted in whether or not a helmet will help you survive a crash? i don’t think there’s much questioning that — a helmet is far more likely to protect your noggin when your noggin tries to make sweet sweet love to the street. i think you’ll even find most staunch ANTI-helmet endorsees to agree with that.

i think additionally, there’s the whole "you’ll be glad you have it when you need it" feeling. that also i think you’ll find damn near everyone to agree with. if you go down and suffer a concussion or other brain trauma cause you weren’t wearing a bucket on your egg, you’re probably gonna wish you had been.

and let’s not forget the "i have things to LIVE FOR!" side of it. there’s a memorable scene in the almost universally helmet-less "MASH" where an OG SF messenger talks a bit about how he didn’t wear a helmet for 15 years, but now he has a kid, so he’s riding helmeted the majority of the time. (not on camera though, of course, hahaha!!!)

ok, so we can all agree that in the instance of a crash where your head hits the ground, a helmet is going to help in one way or the other, even if it just keeps you from getting a strawberry under your sideburns.

but let’s move away from that for a minute and look at the other big part of the helmet debate. does wearing a helmet prevent ACCIDENTS? not INJURIES. accidents. well, see on this one is where most helmet advocates have their turn at letting go a bit. to me personally, i say definitively … NO. a helmet does not in any way prevent accidents. in fact, some would say … wait for it … helmets may actually CAUSE accidents.

madness, you say, and i agree that it sounds that way. but first let’s look at a good little factoid from an amazing 2001 NYT ARTICLE…

"The number of head injuries has increased 10 percent since 1991, even as bicycle helmet use has risen sharply, according to figures compiled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. But given that ridership has declined over the same period, the rate of head injuries per active cyclist has increased 51 percent just as bicycle helmets have become widespread."

wait, WHAT? between ’91 and ’01, ridership DEcreased, helmet use INcreased, and yet there were MORE cycling head injuries? how the fuck is that?

well, the possibility of selective percentages notwithstanding, i think that it comes down to PERCEIVED safety. consider the "superman complex." (i made that up — good shit, right?) some risk analysts would argue that when you feel safer, you try crazier shit. and when you try crazier shit, you get FUCKED UP. this i can even tell you from personal experience. in my BMX days, i tried WAY more insane-o shit when i was under a helmet than when i wasn’t. in fact, every significant cycling injury i’ve EVER sustained was while i was wearing a helmet. coincidence, probably, but still. personally, for me only, i feel safer when i wear a helmet, so i’m more likely to go fast, to drink and ride (not anymore), to squeak myself into positions that are FAR more dangerous, and to generally just not worry about injury so much. so i can see the validity there.

another random little factoid i found was this, which has nothing to do with either the cyclist OR the helmet…

"Drivers pass closer when overtaking cyclists wearing helmets than when overtaking bare-headed cyclists, increasing the risk of a collision…"

that comes from doctor ian walker, a traffic psychologist (???) from the university of bath, who in 2006 used a bicycle fitted with a computer and an ultrasonic distance sensor to record data from over 2,500 overtaking motorists in salisbury and bristol, UK. he found that drivers were as much as twice as likely to get particularly close to the bicycle when he was wearing a helmet. in fact, he was hit TWICE in the course of his EXPERIMENT, and each time was while wearing a helmet.

so that’s three different parts of the debate — helmets DO prevent injury, do NOT prevent accidents, and drivers are a factor as well. there’s also the sub-issue of people who don’t wear their helmet properly (not tight enough or not positioned on the head correctly), and extraneous random shit — what i like to call "the million dollar baby syndrome." in other words, sometimes no matter WHAT precautions you take — you’re fucked.

in the end, the only true measure of your safety on a bicycle is by practicing safe cycling techniques. staying visible, following the rules, and generally watching out for your own ass. THAT’S what’s gonna keep you intact. don’t be an idiot, learn to control your bike, and STAY AWARE.

look, in the end, whatever you choose to do is what’s right for you. don’t wanna wear a helmet? fuck if i care, don’t. wanna wear a helmet? do it, i do. but the debate’s starting point(s) and underpinnings are what’s really the issue here. there’s undeniable facts on either side of the argument, and different strokes work for different spokes. (nyuk, nyuk.)

discuss!

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