I used to be a bit obsessive about wearing a helmet, until some inconvenient facts came out. The trouble with bike helmets is that the figures don't show that they work - helmet laws have stopped a lot of people cycling and have done nothing for head injury rates, see Robinson DL. No clear evidence from countries that have enforced the wearing of helmets. BMJ 2006;332: 722-5. http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/f.../332/7543/722- a. (Robinson's work is the best scientifically because she uses the best scientific methods, all available control groups and so on.) It appears that helmets break easily, but don't absorb the impact, see the engineers quoted at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bic.../ Bicycle_helmet. A broken helmet has simply failed, and the widespread anecdotes on the theme of "a helmet saved my life" seem to owe more to wishful thinking than to science. As for "a car ran over my head", see the pro-helmet site http://www.helmets.org/smush.htm; if a car goes over your head, I'm sorry to say you won't be sitting up and praising your helmet. The only known connection is that helmets have strangled a few young children who were wearing helmets while playing off their bicycles.

I no longer wear a helmet and haven't pressed them on my children. I do check that their brakes work and that they have a good idea of the rules of the road.

At my moderately advanced age it's far too dangerous not to cycle - regular cycling, Danish style, not too far, not too fast, nearly halves the death rate, see http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi...act/160/11/ 1621 All-Cause Mortality Associated With Physical Activity During Leisure Time, Work, Sports, and Cycling to Work. Andersen et al, Arch Intern Med. 2000;160:1621-1628. Bicycling is good for health, but helmets don't seem to be.
Richard Keatinge | Homepage | 07.15.09 - 2:45 pm | #

Thanks for the info. I've heard the various arguments, and don't disagree with you. The helmet is also nostalgic at this point, though.
BlondebutBright | Homepage | 07.16.09 - 4:58 am | #