Thread: I've got to ask, to helmet or not?

In my many years of riding quiet roads and tracks I've never had a car related prang, but had a few falls where a helmet definitely saved me from a bigger hurt. I've seen friends come off too, and a lot of them have been pretty glad their brains had some protection. But on the mandatory thing, I'm not 100% sure.

as a kid I rode to school, primary and secondary. We had no helmets then. I now ride off road and will never ride without a helmet..... the last big off the Dr in emergency said that I was soooo close to a wheelchair it wasn't funny. A slow fall from any bike could end you in hospital with a serious head injury. Your brain, your call but not your kids...

If these laws are so good why haven’t they been adopted by more countries other than here and New Zealand ?
I can legally drink or smoke myself to death , so why can’t I have a helmetless trundle like those elsewhere on our planet ?

Because Nanny is concerned about you and knows better.

😂

Hi,
I hated the helmet law, and held out as long as possible.
Then one day, riding to work, down hill, a small rivet holding the wire stay at the back of the front plastic mudguard decided to drop out.
At the time, all I remember was some sod belting me over the head with a bat and instant "good-night".
I woke up, glasses askew, looking down a storm water grate thinking "I'm glad that isn't a double white line".
An ambulance picked me up on a striker frame and it was off to A & for assessment.
Nothing broken, just torn and bruised, so was sent home.

A few days later I dragged my sorry self downstairs to check out the bike and found my helmet.
Cloth covered and a foam shell, it was cracked in half across the top. Under the cover, above my forehead was a perfect indentation of the coarse bitumen gravel of the road.
The realisation of what I had just survived made my knees wobbly and nearly I fainted.
Further examination of the bike and gear revealed the following.

When the rivet let go, the wire stay dropped on to the tyre and was carried up to the front forks, jamming the front wheel solid and bending the forks back so the tyre hit the frame.
This rotated the bike over the front wheel, slamming me head first into the road, rolling over onto my back (spine protected by the rucksack containing rain coat etc) and over again on to my stomach looking down the grate.

Apart from bruising and a tear on my jacket shoulder, I escaped serious injury. The impact of the road on my forehead destroyed the helmet which saved my scull from colapsing.

I sent the helmet back to the Australian manufacturers who were grateful for a real test of their product, and organised a new one for me.

Would I ride without one? Maybe, but not for commuting in traffic.

Cheers

We only get one brain in life, and once damaged it can rarely be repaired. I only had to meet people with serious brain injuries to realise how easy it was to be permanently damaged. Wearing a helmet is a trivial inconvenience compared with the danger of suffering brain injury. It's not just us that suffer either, it's our families and friends who are stuck with having to care for us.

I can say that in the past I have had some pretty nasty accidents on my bikes.
Not one of them would have been aided by a helmet unless full face, at least time has faded the facial scars. I think I must have damaged most every finger in crashes , mates broke fingers up to shoulders .
We can all come up with individual cases for and against, I still think it should be an individual choice , like previously stated smoking and drinking , just to name two. It is nice to be able to hop on a bike in other lands for a ride and sight see , without the lid.