Cycle helmets don't reduce head injury risk as much as it's thought, claims new analysis

I have come off, a mates have come off, we were both wearing helmets, if we werent, I wouldnt be typing this now.

Simple as.

Learn to break fall. As martial arts instructor I can recommend it will help. lol

oh yes while i on one - take a motor bike - great way to learn road awareness, road position and better ability to read the road.

I wonder how the accident incidents would be improved more if there was better skills from those that get hit by cars.

Point is question - I have been taught that when turning left you look down tour left hand side to make sure nothing as come down the side and well as the other side to make sure nothing is coming round the outside.

In fact you should be aware of all around you and scanning to signs of possibly problems ahead.

Now while riding round London. Watch cyclists. There is really no awareness of what is going on a round you. Every single close scraps I have had was due to me taking my scanner off line for a second, maybe a nice pair of pins sauntering down the road. But I have never had an accident.

I am sure better riding practise is more practical and produce better results than just wearing a helmet. Me I can never concerntrate with one of this things plonked on my head. I would rather give up cycling if I had to wear a helmet.

Fine, I guess we shouldn't wear helmets. Screw it, we shouldn't have brakes on bikes either because the absolute majority of vehicles involved in fatal accidents have brakes. And while we're at it, why don't we stop breathing, because 100% of people injured also inhaled oxygen at some point.

in car crash testing you narrow down the infinite range of possible crash scenarios into something you can actually test, and the outcome is a set of standard tests that mimic the most common collisions. I don't see why you couldn't do that for helmets: no you can't test for everything, but that doesn't mean you can't test for anything. car manufacturers already test for collisions with pedestrians, where bodyweight and position at impact affect the outcome just as much as they would with a rider and bike.

Road CC, I'm impressed with your objectivity and willingness to publish corrections (and to defend and explain your postion when readers object).

I'm surprised that some of your readers are so opposed to wearing helmets. They seem willing enough to don tinfoil hats.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_foil_hat

Viro

Has anyone at road.cc actually read the paper (even the conclusions)? It's hard to understand how you could have come up with the headline you have if so.

For the benefit of those who won't even read a paper that you can access free online, there are four conclusions. None of them state that "wearing a helmet reduces the risk of head injury by 43%".

In fact, this figure is only mentioned in the Elvik paper you're reporting on in the introduction, where it is observed that the number is not reliable because of publication bias (amongst other issues).

The interesting conclusion of the paper is "no overall effect of bicycle helmets could be found when injuries to head, face or neck are considered as a whole."

Honestly guys, this is embarrassing. The paper is freely available and in plain English, you can just read it for yourself. Professor Woodward must have been leaping for joy that someone was asking him to comment on something as mundane as "only 40% effective" when the paper actually says "no overall effect"....

(Please feel free to email me if you need help with this, genuinely - I'm guessing you can see the address I registered with.)

Wellllll, the helmet worked for me when I fell off after the front wheel found a kerb edge in the dark and I was thrown down the road - I felt the foam crush as the helmet destroyed itself. The safety glasses seem to be good at keeping bugs out of my eyes and I know the little sods hurt like hell when they get IN my eyes. The reflective vest didn't stop me having to shave across the front bumper of a car in the dark in a typical SMIDSY in Switzerland, but to be fair the guy who nearly terminated me was dazzled by the lights of the line of cars on the road behind me (I was on the cycle lane in the RH gutter), and the gloves seem to keep my hands warm enough so they must help a bit. Basically, I'll do what I think works, why don't you lot just do the same and save yourselves a load of nervous energy?

Definitely the case its a St Christopher talisman for many children. Very few have their helmets secured properly, ready to strangle etc.... Also risk compensation will absorb some of benefits - riders will push it more if they're wearing.

I wear one when I ride in unpredictable conditions icy and when compelled to - triathlon. A visor is great to keep snow and rain out of the eyes!

Bike helmets are useful no matter where you ride. On road or off road. When 10 I was knocked off my bike by a lorry and hit my head on the kerb resulting in concussion and a stay in hospital. A helmet would definitely have prevented that injury.

More recently I have fell off my bike and again each time my helmet has prevented my head hitting the ground.

I've been cycling decades and don't remember the last crash where I hit my head or helmet - and that's not because of a head injury! Legs and arms seem much more at risk and most people don't armour those.

Nevertheless, I wear a helmet unless it's awkward to store at my destination. So if you want to increase helmet use, campaign for more lockers by bike racks.

As ever, news items like this ditrract attention from two key points:

1. unlike car seat belts and motorcycle helmets, there is no conclusive evidence that cycle helmets deliver material benefit at a macro level - the assertion that a helmet provides protection in "X"% of cases doesn't deal with the overall incidence of head-injury accidents (low) or the potential impact on take-up of cycling if helmets are compulsory
2. constant harping on about the dangers of cycling in order to talk up helmets gives an entirely false impression of how dangerous cycling is, which is not very, compared with DIY, walking, travelling in a car etc. Stats show that head injury per hour for cycling is slightly higher than walking, slightly lower than travelling in a car, and stats per kilometre show cycling a lot lower than walking, although higher than car travel (due to obvious speed differences)

You can all say you wear a helmet and think it is a good idea - I do too, off road or in icy winter conditions - but don't tell everyone else that they should.

Actually - and this is a bit of an epiphany - I've realised what's really wrong with the helmet debate: too many people don't even wear the bloody things right anyway.

Chap walked into the chemist with his daughter. She had a scooter, and a helmet which was too loose and tipped back. I politely suggested it wasn't fitted right, and he said 'yes, I know it's a bit loose - I need to sort it out'.

And I thought, why waste money on it if you're not going to then use it for its intended purpose?

TRL has already carried out research and conculuded a 10-16% reduction in fatalities would result from wearing a helmet.

http://www.trl.co.uk/online_store/reports_publications/trl_reports/cat_r...

However... "It does not include detailed consideration of whether wearing (or not wearing) a helmet influences the likelihood of being involved in an accident, either through behaviour changes in the rider or in other road users."

it also assume the helmets are worn properly.

Quote:

You just can't recreate an accident on a bicycle easily

there's no particular reason why you couldn't recreate bike accidents like car manufacturers recreate car accidents, so far as i can see. except the fact that it's a hugely involved and very, very expensive process. who's going to spend the money? car manufacturers do it because it's a high value product and safety is a major concern. if you're knocking out a million cars at twenty grand a pop then it's worth the outlay. you'd need to sell a *lot* of helmets to justify the kind of money proper crash reconstruction would cost.

and governments? well. much easier to hop down a&e and ask if anyone banged their head, and make a call on that

The truth is, most of these studies are a farce, be they 'pro' or 'anti' helmet.

You just can't recreate an accident on a bicycle easily. At least not the way that it's possible with cars. Any data taken from hospitals is only indicative as you can't ask the patient to go out and perform the exact same accident with/without helmet.

It's all pretty simple though. If it's law, then unless you like paying tickets, abide it. If it's optional then make your own choice- but be prepared with the potential consequences that not only you, but your family, friends and loved one will potentially have to deal with.

In other words, I'll happily strap a helmet on any day.

Here we go again

I would ***dearly*** love to see just one of these articles go by with a horde of people coming out the woodwork with the anecdotal evidence of why I should be forced to wear a helmet

For the record - while cycling on the roads I wear a lid, because it makes my wife relax a bit about my cycling - when on cycle paths I hang the lid on the bars.

So to make it 100% clear - I only feel unsafe while cycling around motor vehicles.

Can anyone else see the obvious safety improvement? Time to ban cars completely.

Gerard, do you wear full downhill-style body armour when you're cycling to the shops? Or wear a full race harness, fire-proof suit and helmet when driving in town?

The use of all of those things would also reduce your injuries, after all ...

What ever the rules / results I shall continue to wear
one ... a ride recently saw a rider go down and suffer
some fairly hefty head trauma that would, imo, have
been FAR worse had he not been wearing a lid.

Um, surely the idea - until disputed by the next academic - that head injuries are only reduced by nearly half instead of by nearly two-thirds shouldn't cloud the fact that the use of helmets reduces head injuries by a hell of a lot (that's just an engineer's pragmatism).

I've had 2 major falls here in New Zealand: one in the days before helmets, when I had concussion and remember crying every time I moved that night (& I was 21), the other 4 years ago, when I fell on top of the time triallist in front of me as he slid out on a corner. His presence made things worse, as my head accelerated more before it hit the road. Dear me, my helmet is cracked: I'll buy another.

My medical specialist (critical care) wife pointed out quite convincingly the consequences of not wearing a helmet. Mind you, I wear a parachute when I fly gliders - not expecting to use it, but I do have it if I need it.