Bike helmets are killing bicycling! Unless you a commando rider in freeway/business district traffic, any competent rider really does not need one. The perception that you will die if you ride without a helmet (often put forth by salesmen looking for more commish) frightens many potential riders away. I have been riding for 50 years without a helmet. Haven’t wiped out in probably 40 years (it hurts, so I quit doing it), and often ride in moderately heavy traffic. I am courteous, and give autos and pedestrians the right of way. Maybe for kids they are a good idea, but sensible adults don’t really require them. ENJOY THE BREEZE!

And as far as “cool looking” goes I’d say the ‘board one looks much better than the glaring plastic one.

I’ve once ridden once or twice since my teens. My sense of balance is much more like a nonsense of balance.

Good for you, GS.

When I was 12, I fell off my bike. I was in a coma for about a week, which does not sound so significant, except that I was in the lowest stage of coma (Glasgow Scale 3) for at least 48 and possibly up to 72 hours. I had to relearn how to do everything—feed myself, walk, focus on a single point so that I could see.

There were no cars involved. I had just pulled away from the house so I was likely not going that fast. I was, as I said, twelve. Kids do shit, terribly risky irresponsible shit, which is why you stick a helmet on their head before they go out the door.

I cannot hear well out of my left ear, I have to translate everything I hear into English, and my body seems to respond to stimuli before my brain can catch up. For example, I startle incredibly easily, I frequently react before I have time to process, and I have an unfortunate and problematic lack of “poker face.” I experienced both retrograde amnesia and anterograde amnesia, which is to say that I could not remember large chunks of time before the accident, and could not store many new memories for a time after the accident. I still have some trouble storing memories—I nearly failed out of college for my inability to master a fill-in-the-blank exam. I have never been able to remember anything that happened in the four months or so preceding the crash. In general, my memory from the times before I was 12—it’s like if you dumped the contents of a filing cabinet out on the street. There are still papers, but I don’t always know where they go.

I am at a much higher risk than you of developing other brain disorders, such as mental disorders from depression to schizophrenia, and other brain-related disorders such as early-onset Alzheimers and Parkinsons.

For about ten years after the accident, I was best described as “adjusting.” I’m pretty good at it now, but this is what I want you to know: the accident that happened on my bike when i was 12 has affected me profoundly every single day. It impacts the people who interact with me, the people i work for and with, and the people who love me, like Spazmo.

But all in all, I’m doing pretty well.

This is beyond a best-case scenario. The word most often used is “miracle,” which I reject b/c of my lack of religious beliefs. I prefer to say that science has just not gotten there yet: the recovery rate for people with a similar scale of symptoms, even with all the advances in TBI treatment, is to this day 0%. I’m an anomaly.

About 90-95% of bicycle fatalities involve individuals not wearing helmets—and a lot more than 10% of people wear them. Helmet use reduces the risk of brain injury by a whopping margin. The cost of TBI is enormous. If you want to go easy-breezy and skip the helmet, that’s your problem. But for god’s sake, don’t be spreading false information to others about how unnecessary they are.

Oh, forgot to add: /stepping off soapbox.

Oh, one more thing: if you do get a helmet, go to the trouble of learning how to fit it properly.

Sorry, touchy subject. Whew! Pancake time.

I know pretty much what you went through LP. I believe I mentioned being hit by a small truck when I was 8. Landed on my head. That is why I can barely see out of my right eye.  That was in1961. My folks were told if I lived, I probably wouldn’t walk or talk. I was a pedestrian.

This short article explains my position on bike helmets in a more elegant fashion.

I’m not seeing the guy’s logic at all. Don’t wear a helmet because they frighten people? All it takes is a patch of loose gravel and a power pole and somebody’s got to change my diapers for the rest of my life. That scares me to pieces. I’m a big fan of seatbelts too.

I’m pretty excited about this custom fit idea too, cause I’m very hard to fit for a helmet.

Yeah, love ya GS, and i don’t mean this personally—I do not think YOU"RE dumb, but that article certainly is. This is what people ought to be doing: buying a helmet when they purchase a bike. If they’re not willing to do that then I don’t really care how they get to work, as long as its not on a bicycle.

Very idealistic (and convenient) to put all the responsibility on others for injury reduction: “if only drivers would be more responsible and drive slower!” Tell that to the teenage asshole douche who just got a Camaro. By the same logic, I could decide to never lock my door again in Manhattan, because it was the responsibility of others not to rob me. After all, it’s clearly illegal.

Helmets result in an almost 90% reduction of brain injury, as i said earlier. You know, if I get in an accident with a biker—maybe I’m following all the traffic laws, maybe the biker is following all the traffic laws, maybe everything’s going swimmingly until either the biker or I get distracted by a bird or squirrel in the road or some such, or any of the 8 gazillion other causes of wrecks that don’t involve irresponsibility on the part of either party—assuming the biker does not recover, my life is ruined too. My life is fucking ruined, b/c I will never forget that I killed or maimed a biker. Even if it wasn’t intentional, even if it was THEIR fault, it’s going to haunt me for the rest of my life. I would never get over that.

Bikers who ride in traffic without helmet? Selfish assholes.

Also, the notion that as long as you’re a responsible bicyclist/driver/etc, accidents will never happen—this defies the definition of the word. Accidents will happen. That’s why we call them accidents, not crimes. The point is to make it less traumatic for you, for those around you. I’m glad you’ve been lucky. Not everyone is.