We’re a pretty helmeted bunch around here. We always wear a lid when skiing, snowboarding, climbing, cycling, and, of course, roller derby, and, really, wouldn’t do it any other way. But not everyone does, and hey that’s cool, whatever. Still, having coming to the conclusion that the benefits of wearing a helmet far outweigh the hassles in most cases, we’re intrigued by the arguments against. Here are 11 of the most common ones.
1. There’s no helmet for all your other body parts
“I don’t wear a helmet because I take the view that the best helmet in the world won’t stop me getting my legs run over, or me breaking my arm or getting a handlebar punched in the chest.” LINK
2. Cars give you less room when you wear a helmet
“The problem is that wearing a helmet might actually lead to you getting hit. for instance, one study found that drivers got six inches closer to riders that were wearing helmets.” LINK
3. They make you look awful
“As a woman of a certain age, I have to admit that vain as it may sound, I simply refuse to wear a helmet because I look so awful!” LINK
4. They increase risk
“I don’t wear a helmet because it increases the risk of serious brain injury.” LINK
5. No proof that they help for the way you ride
“The point of view that I’ve come to on the issue, is that there is not enough proof (either from research or anecdotal experience) that the way I ride a bicycle is significantly dangerous for me to wear a helmet, given how much protection a helmet offers me, how much risk I believe is involved, and how much risk I am comfortable with. I know that equation is going to work out differently for every person, so I’m not bothered by someone who chooses to wear a helmet.” LINK
6. It’s impossible to hit your head when falling off your bike
“After riding a Tour Easy for over 15 years, probably approaching 100,000 miles, and having gone down a half-dozen times, always due to sliding on wet/dirty pavement, I am certain that it is virtually impossible to hit your head when coming off a bike like this.” LINK
7. You’re just sport climbing/there’s no loose rock
“I have to say, most of the time I’m sport climbing I don’t bother to wear one. Depends on the area and the quality of the rock, and the location of other climbers/tourons, but most of the time I opt not to wear one.” LINK
8. It interferes with your skiing experience
“Skiing is about the wind in your hair and the sun on your face as you personally describe the contours of snow-covered mountains at extraordinary speed. It is the closest many of us come to flight. It is my humble but deep belief that it should involve the maximum communion with nature, and that means no helmet for me.” LINK
9. It blocks your vision and hearing
“As a ski instructor, I do not wear a helmet because it affects my awareness, both visual and auditory. My periphery vision is limited, my hearing is impaired and awareness is paramount to my job.” LINK
10. It doesn’t protect you at high skiing speeds
“Put as simply as I can, the G force your brain is going to undergo in collision increases as a square of your speed. In other words, a helmet that definitely protects you at 10 mph needs four times the protecting at 20 mph and fully SIXTEEN times the protection if you’re going 40 mph (not an uncommon speed for good skiers).” LINK
11. It give you helmet hair
“Arriving with ‘helmet hair’ stopped 27 per cent of women from cycling, while 19 per cent said they wouldn’t want their work colleagues to see them without make-up.” LINK
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Photo by Sergey Mironov/Shutterstock
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Maybe #9 had it on backwards? I started wearing a helmet this year and the helmets are so light that I forget I’m wearing it until a tree branch reminds me.
i really dont get how it increases risk if i fell down a few minutes ago, im perfectly fine
I disproved # 6 a few weeks ago. There is still mud in my helmet, and my neck is still a little sore.
#11 – My hair isn’t ‘done’ until it’s been in a helmet for at least 15 minutes. My best hair days are helment hair days.
These arguments are weak and whiney. I second Tim and the authors!
I have a motto.. have fun, remember your name.
Don’t get me started on helmets. I’m not exactly sure how many I’ve broken and still have (some) functioning brain cells.
My personal tales of helmet destruction (not in any particular order):
#1- Got hit by my next door neighbor 300′ from my house on my way to work when she ran the stop sign. (Dented her hood with my head, crumpled the bike, walked away).
#2- Overcooked a corner in a mountain bike race and hit a jagged rock leaving a 3/4″ x 3″ gash in the styrofoam. (Placed 2nd).
#3- Low tree branch on the mountain bike. (Still had a fun ride).
#4- Crash in the front of the pack on the final corners of a road race, went flipping over the guy who crashed in front of me. Finished race.
#5- Got T-boned by a deer at 37mph on the road bike on a totally open and clear descent. Multiple helmet cracks from cartwheeling unconscious on the pavement and grass.
#6- Hit a hidden crack on a road I’d been riding for 20 years. Took out the front wheel faster than ai could react. Pavement skid marks on the helmet.
Oh, and then there’s my friend who woke up after three days in the ICU, with a hole drilled in his skull to relieve brain swelling, and his life savings burned up. Still no idea how he crashed. 90% chance the helmet would have taken the impact instead of his skull. Wears a helmet now.
Helmets work.
You have a lot of accidents – probably should either keep riding the same way and wear a helmet plus lots of other protective gear, or alternatively, don’t wear protective gear but ride in such a way that you don’t have accidents. For example, slow down on corners, always assume someone else might do something unexpected, look out for gravel, low hanging branches etc. It’s fine if you think that sounds boring – but many people want to ride like that, and to not wear a helmet – why do you want to force them?
“Moment of Regret” beats a lifetime of regret. You’ll never regret wearing a helmet.
What a rare and wonderful thing when all the comments on an article are correct, to the point and respectful. Well said.
A big issue for me with commuter cyclists wearing helmets is that it gives cycling the image of being dangerous. If the streets weren’t so constantly choked with dangerous drivers, biking to the store or work would be nearly as safe as walking. I think more people would be willing to ride bikes casually to get places if they were not under the impression that it’s somehow extreme or dangerous.
That being said, I still wear one. I started when I was delivering food on a bike for a restaurant I hated. I realized that at any moment I could get hit by a truck, and I was NOT about to die for that silly job.
Jake, wear a helmet if you like, but if you believe it protects you from death by truck, then please don’t wear a helmet – just keep away from trucks. Many people on bikes, wearing helmets, have been killed by trucks and car.s
Sandor I was just thinking of a video of a cyclist in Africa who got K.O.’d by a charging antelope. That’s crazy you got T-boned by a deer.
@#11: I’m sure some guys worry about their perfectly coiffed hair as well 😛 Just leave some hair product at the office and fix your hair upon arrival.
backroads, sidewalks, ride like someone is going to hit you…defensive
Education first, then let the people who want to wear helmets wear ’em
Do you wear a helmet when you drive a car? Same arguments apply.
Yes I do wear a “helmet” when I drive. Collectively the “helmet” includes a seatbelt, multiple airbags, and a steel frame with metal and composite panels between me and the environment. Also, to ensure context is not overlooked, at 4,500 pounds ( 2kt), my “helmet” gives me equality with all the other big fast things on the road. Oh, by the way, I wear a helmet when I ride my motorcycle and when I drive on the track.
When I ride a bike, I wear a helmet for the simple reason that a low speed accident that would cause brain injury without a helmet… becomes something I can walk away from if I’m wearing a helmet. Nobody ever said a helmet would protect you in a high speed accident and using that as an excuse not to wear one is stupid. If you have family and kids, it’s also selfish and irresponsible. A high speed accident will kill you. Simple enough.
As soon as you sign a waiver to deny yourself access to any government assistance with your health care resulting from a bike accident, and set up a trust to pay for therapy for anyone else involved in your low speed accident, and have sufficient resources set aside to meet the needs of your family…. then it’s Darwin at work, and feel free to ride without a helmet. Until then, be responsible.
Don’t worry about the high speed accidents. Those will kill you no matter what and they are part of the risk we all accept when we ride. It’s your responsibility to protect yourself from the consequences of low speed accidents. If all this is too difficult to grasp then we need to re-evaluate whether you should be on a bicycle at all.
*applause*
“It’s okay if you take the risk I approve of but not okay to the risk I don’t approve of.” Hypocrite.
No you don’t wear a helmet in your car do you. If you did, it might make the difference between life and death in an accident. Just like with riding a bike. It won’t stop the accident happening, but it might mean you are less injured. On the other hand it would be inconvenient. Hmm – do we want to inconvenience car drivers? Of course not – even though car driving contributes to climate change, makes our cities unlivable, and makes people fat and lazy.
Start of the year i fell of my longboard. I went one metre and flipped off landing head first.
I cracked my skull in three places, and had to have two parts of my skull removed because my brain was swelling so bad.
4 surgurys later i some how survived and are now facing years of recovery.
I wasnt wearing a helmet
But if i was wearing one none of this would have happened
I should be dead.
Your an idiot not to wear one.
I was on a 71 Schwinn supersport I had restored, sitting in a left turn lane, when some idiot woman came hauling ass around the corner trying to beat the light, went left of center, and hit me head on, I was knocked 15 feet in the air, came down, messed up my hip, and caused a burst fracture of T-12 , I hit the ground so hard, I dented my helmet, but no brain injury. Spent a year wearing a huge body brace.of course she wasn’t cited, even though she went left of center,and I was sitting still. All the cops wanted to know was if I was in the road, apparently because I was it was somehow ok she hit me.