Article: Cyclists ignore safety measures

noxibox said:
After researching bicycle helmets I came to the conclusion they're at best a waste of money, at worst dangerous. If they were redesigned and tested in a correct manner they could potentially provide head protection. But then would anyone wear them anyway because at the very least they'd be hot?


A standard bicycle helmet isn't going to do you the slightest bit of good if you get hit by a car.
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I think when you get hit by a car wearing a good helmet would not guarantee you wouldn't get killed or injured.

One of my high school friends went driving on his motorcycle one weekend. On a corner the front wheel gave way, he came of the bike and hit his head against a car parked on the sidewalk and broke his neck, not one scratch on his body. It's was a very tragic accident, only17 years old.

I learned my lesson the hard way. Went riding with my mountain bike, came of the bike and hit the side if my head against the top of a brick wall, had to get four stitches on the side of my head. I would have been fine if I wore a helmet.

We all make stupid mistakes when we are young. Most of us tend to make the biggest mistake by thinking were invincible. Luckily with age comes experience and intelligence.
 
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This is a Darwin Award Situation.

Those cyclists who refuse to practice good safety measures won't be around much longer... or their children.
 
RPM trolling now? ;)

I really wonder who responded to this? Was it targeted at BMX parks or those that cruise on the beachfront? Baffles me a bit too that they state they questioned 4264 people of which only 1577 owned bicycles. It honestly seems like they were not really focusing on cyclists per se, which would be a far better representation of helmet use, but rather anyone who may at some point have hopped on a bicycle...

I ride mountain bikes. I also take part in the monthly Critical Mass rides in Durban. While mountain biking I am yet to see someone without a helmet riding. This includes stretches where I need to ride on the road and come across groups of cyclists. At the recent Critical Mass in Durban there were a good couple of hundred cyclists. I did not personally check out everyone but in all the photos I have seen everyone is wearing a helmet. And Critical Mass has a slightly rebellious aspect to it for some.

Any one who rides even slightly seriously wears a helmet. I have seen a few commuters, who clearly use their bikes to get around, not wearing them. But then their bikes look like inherited hand me downs too so they probably cannot afford them.



Just an aside, Burry was wearing a helmet. But when a driver who is not aware and focussing on what is happening around them pulls in front of you a helmet is unlikely to help...
 
ClintZA said:
Just an aside, Burry was wearing a helmet. But when a driver who is not aware and focussing on what is happening around them pulls in front of you a helmet is unlikely to help...
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Has the official accident report been released yet?
 
Fudzy said:
Has the official accident report been released yet?
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Firstly, I never stated that I was relating his incident, did I?

Secondly, you seem really keen to rehash this over again but unfortunately if we do some will start moaning about us having covered this already so I'll refrain from going there. You are welcome to read through the threads on the subject of his accident.
 
ClintZA said:
Firstly, I never stated that I was relating his incident, did I?

Secondly, you seem really keen to rehash this over again but unfortunately if we do some will start moaning about us having covered this already so I'll refrain from going there. You are welcome to read through the threads on the subject of his accident.
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You brought it up.
 
Garson007 said:
You brought it up.
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Actually the article did. But Fudzy seems keen to start the discussion relating to the circumstances of the accident all over again. We've been there.

Perhaps we should be asking why an article with a headline implying most cyclists are unsafe goes on to mention Burry's accident... for many that will create an implied link that he was to blame. I merely clarified that he was indeed wearing a helmet.
 
ClintZA said:
Actually the article did. But Fudzy seems keen to start the discussion relating to the circumstances of the accident all over again. We've been there.

Perhaps we should be asking why an article with a headline implying most cyclists are unsafe goes on to mention Burry's accident... for many that will create an implied link that he was to blame. I merely clarified that he was indeed wearing a helmet.
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No, my query came from you mentioning it reminding me that I haven't heard anything. Haven't been following the case that closely.
 
noxibox said:
After researching bicycle helmets I came to the conclusion they're at best a waste of money, at worst dangerous. If they were redesigned and tested in a correct manner they could potentially provide head protection. But then would anyone wear them anyway because at the very least they'd be hot?


A standard bicycle helmet isn't going to do you the slightest bit of good if you get hit by a car.
Click to expand...

it helps against sweating a lot though, that is the only reason why I wear one.

I also use a camel-back (I'm a lazy cyclist)
 
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What about getting the cardboard helmet?

Rather than remaining completely rigid, the helmet is designed to allow a degree of flexing in order to help absorb impact force, of which it can withstand up to three times as much as typical expanded polystyrene (EPS) helmets, while remaining 15 percent lighter. These figures derive from tests conducted by Ani and his collaborators, in addition to safety testing laboratories such as Germany’s Technischer Überwachungs-Verein and Head Protection Evaluations, based in the UK.
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http://www.gizmag.com/cardboard-helmet/25380/
 
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ClintZA said:
RPM trolling now? ;)

I really wonder who responded to this? Was it targeted at BMX parks or those that cruise on the beachfront? Baffles me a bit too that they state they questioned 4264 people of which only 1577 owned bicycles. It honestly seems like they were not really focusing on cyclists per se, which would be a far better representation of helmet use, but rather anyone who may at some point have hopped on a bicycle...

I ride mountain bikes. I also take part in the monthly Critical Mass rides in Durban. While mountain biking I am yet to see someone without a helmet riding. This includes stretches where I need to ride on the road and come across groups of cyclists. At the recent Critical Mass in Durban there were a good couple of hundred cyclists. I did not personally check out everyone but in all the photos I have seen everyone is wearing a helmet. And Critical Mass has a slightly rebellious aspect to it for some.

Any one who rides even slightly seriously wears a helmet. I have seen a few commuters, who clearly use their bikes to get around, not wearing them. But then their bikes look like inherited hand me downs too so they probably cannot afford them.



Just an aside, Burry was wearing a helmet. But when a driver who is not aware and focussing on what is happening around them pulls in front of you a helmet is unlikely to help...
Click to expand...


I think people forget how many people are riding bicycles "informally". They are not doing it for exercise or a hobby. Yes, mountain bikers and roadies who go out and do cycling for a sport tend to wear their helmets because it's mandatory in all races (and MTB parks).

Just a casual drive past some of these informal settlements next to the highways will soon enough show you someone riding a bike without a helmet. Hell, kids riding to school in the mornings, very few of them wear helmets. They got their bags on the back of their bicycles, ipod in their ears and weaving up and down curbs and pedestrian walkways. I see it every day, school kids don't wear helmets!

This is same as life jackets when it comes to water sports. The average family going for a swim at a dam with their inflatable play boat tend to not even have these things. But a serious kayaker got a top the range type of lifejacket/flotation device and naturally wear it because it's mandatory to do the sport. So ironically the people that are most likely to drown, don't own life jackets ;)

So why is anyone surprised with the helmet statistic?
 
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Fudzy said:
No, my query came from you mentioning it reminding me that I haven't heard anything. Haven't been following the case that closely.
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Ah, sorry, I thought it was a dig. I've had a few of those on this subject so difficult to differentiate genuine queries :) My understanding is that the chap was released and was due to reappear in March only once the investigation had been concluded.
 
diabolus said:
Just a casual drive past some of these informal settlements next to the highways will soon enough show you someone riding a bike without a helmet. Hell, kids riding to school in the mornings, very few of them wear helmets. They got their bags on the back of their bicycles, ipod in their ears and weaving up and down curbs and pedestrian walkways. I see it every day, school kids don't wear helmets!
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The parents should be fined or punished in some way! Insane. It must be the area specific though as the kids I see cycling here all tend to have helmets on.

This is same as life jackets when it comes to water sports. The average family going for a swim at a dam with their inflatable play boat tend to not even have these things. But a serious kayaker got a top the range type of lifejacket/flotation device and naturally wear it because it's mandatory to do the sport. So ironically the people that are most likely to drown, don't own life jackets ;)
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Extremely ironic. And much the same with cycling. Although even as a reasonably experienced cyclist I am fully aware of the dangers. I do not wear my helmet to save me when being hit by a car, however, but rather to prevent injury when crashing on mountain bike trails. A head on a rock or against a tree can be rather messy.

The controversial thing is that there seems to be a school of thought, which has some merit it must be said, that a helmet is not going to save you when you are hit by a car so why bother. When commuting on your bike this is always likely to be the biggest danger posed. You are not jumping over rocks or mounting tree roots like a mountain biker might, so your chances of randomly falling over are minimized. Related to this is an argument that the mandatory use of helmets discourages more people from riding bikes for transportation. Then, of course, there are those who think not wearing one adds to the cool factor. This is what I questioned about BMX parks as they seem to be more the rebellious kind.
 
ClintZA said:
The controversial thing is that there seems to be a school of thought, which has some merit it must be said, that a helmet is not going to save you when you are hit by a car so why bother. When commuting on your bike this is always likely to be the biggest danger posed. You are not jumping over rocks or mounting tree roots like a mountain biker might, so your chances of randomly falling over are minimized. Related to this is an argument that the mandatory use of helmets discourages more people from riding bikes for transportation. Then, of course, there are those who think not wearing one adds to the cool factor. This is what I questioned about BMX parks as they seem to be more the rebellious kind.
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I wouldn't write off helmets just like that, i know people that got clipped by cars , or went straight over cars that stopped in front of them. They broke bones and got out of alive, but without the helmet they would've been dead or brain damaged.

It's the same story with wearing your seatbelt . Just because your odds are very low of surviving a head-on collision with a truck at 120kmh, doesn't mean seatbelts are worthless.

So i don't quite understand why people argue against the point of helmets. Everyone just looks at the worst case scenario where a car literally drives straight over you at a high speed, i bet there's a ton more incidents where the cycler survived and the helmet turned a certain terminal disaster into just having a few broken bones....
 
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