Helmets

Should adults wear helmets?

I hadn't really thought that there was that much of a debate over helmets until I read the article above.  I thought that if you rode a bike you wore a helmet and it was that simple.  I did know that some people didn't wear helmets, hell my brother would not wear a helmet when we would ride together until we went to the Cycle Eastlake! ride and they wouldn't let him ride unless he had one.  But my brother rides a bike once in a blue moon.  That was always my impression of other non helmet wearers.

Now granted, the guy who wrote the article seems to be a casual cyclist, but some of the responders seem to be people who ride quite a bit.  I just don't get why people are so adamantly against doing something that protects them.  I wonder if these same people drive around in their cars without their seatbelts on?  Some of the responders question why people who are in favor of helmets think that they want people who don't wear helmets to get hurt.  I don't know that this is necessarily true but I do think that they won't feel sorry for someone who gets injured while riding without a helmet.

The only reason that I could see that people were giving for riding without helmets were "personal reasons".  I have to believe that this is because they feel that helmets look dorky.  Hey, I'll admit that there is no way to look cool while wearing a bike helmet but at least your dorky head will be protected.  Also, it's not like anybody is asking you to wear spandex bike shorts!  Although for some strange reason I have seen people wearing spandex bike shorts while not wearing a helmet!

This article also underlines a problem that I have with the media.  They use statistics to support their claim but they omit the statistics that conflict with their point.  The author of the article states:

"Context is important here. The most recent federal statistics on bicyclist accidents shows there were 716 bicyclists killed on roadways in the U.S. in 2008, or about 2 percent of all traffic fatalities. Certainly, helmets might have prevented some of those deaths, but from public health or statistical perspectives, this is a pretty low number"

Now if context was really as important as he claims he would have included all of the statistics that he was looking at.  He also would have realized that while 716 traffic deaths are 2% of all traffic fatalities, they are a much higher percentage of the Cycling population since there are significantly less Cyclists out there than motorists.

The following information can be found at:  http://www.helmets.org/stats.htm This is the same website that the author of the article linked to so he could show where he got his statistics from.


Bicycle Deaths by Helmet Use


1994-2006

Year   No Helmet  Helmet  Total*

1994  776 (97%)  19 (2%)  796

1995  783 (95%)  34 (4%)  828

1996  731 (96%)  27 (4%)  761

1997  785 (97%)  23 (3%)  811

1998  741 (98%)  16 (2%)  757

1999  698 (93%)  42 (6%)  750

2000  622 (90%)  50 (7%)  689

2001  616 (84%)  60 (8%)  729

2002  589 (89%)  54 (8%)  663

2003  535 (85%)  58 (9%)  626

2004  602 (83%)  87 (12%) 722

2005  676 (86%)  77 (10%) 784

2006  730 (95%)  37 (5%) 770

 
From these statistics you are almost assured to not die on your bike while wearing a helmet.  Think about that for a second, no matter how many total bicycling deaths there were in a given year, there were always less than 100 deaths from people who were wearing helmets.  In 7 out of the 12 years that the study took place there were less than 50 deaths among people riders wearing helmets. 
 
So, maybe those people who don't ride with helmets on aren't as smart as they think they are? 
 
At least they look cool.

Some other food for thought:

Bicyclist deaths in 2006 occurred most often during June-September and between the hours of 6pm and 9pm.


Twenty-four percent of bicyclists killed in 2006 had blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) at or above 0.08 percent. This percentage is one-third higher than in 1982.

One-third of bicyclist deaths in 2006 occurred at intersections.

Don't drink and ride, Use a lighting system on your bike especially at dusk, and be careful at those intersections!