Cycling helmets can prevent serious head injuries. Sometimes the benefits are exaggerated, but, in some cases a good cycling helmet can make a significant reduction in the impact of a collision.
Due to the perceived safety benefits of Cycling helmets, they have now been made compulsory in UCI professional cycling races. The decision to make helmets compulsory was taken after Fabio Casartelli died during a stage of the Tour de France. He crashed into a wall on an alpine descent; many doctors suggested he might have lived, if he had been wearing a helmet.
It is difficult to know how many lives would be saved from compulsory helmet wearing. It would probably be very small, because the number of cycling deaths resulting from head injuries is quite small. Also there is no guarantee that wearing a helmet would prevent all head injuries.
Do cycling helmets cause overheating?
Not really. A modern well designed helmet has excellent designed ventilation. The weight of the helmet is quite low. They are worn in all stages of the Tour de France, even when temperatures reach upto 40 degrees.
4 comments ↓
Indeed the probabltity of a head injury is small but IF it does happen THEN the probability that a helmet will be a of tremendous benefit is very high. I fell off at a very low speed (e.g. 5mph), landed on my head and then on my elbow which broke. I examined my helmet afterwards, and the paint and some of the plastic had scraped off. That would have been my scalp and skull had I not bothered….
[...] I put this low down on the list, because I think the most important safety rules is prevention. If you get run over by a truck, a polystyrene helmet isn’t going to give you much protection. Nevertheless, helmets can be helpful for reducing the impact of some head injuries. But, if you do wear a helmet, I would stress that that you should feel you are now completely protected. You should still cycle with caution – in most accidents a helmet is not going to help that much. See: Reasons to wear a helmet [...]
[...] and I couldn’t stop reading because it seems to be aimed just at me! A beginner. Anyway Cyclinginfo.co.uk states in Reasons to Wear a Cycle Helmet that:- It is difficult to know how many lives would be [...]
Hello,
This is a question more than a comment. I cycle to work in Oxford through narrow hilly streets where cars are parked both sides. There isn’t enough room for both a cyclist and a car, and most drivers give the right of way to cyclists who ride uphill, but more rarely to cyclists who go downhill. Other drivers never give the right of way to cyclists, whatever the situation. Is there a British road rule for the right of way of cyclists versus drivers? What’s the best way to handle a driver who decides to force his way against a cyclist?
Any feedback wellcome. Cheers,
Olivier
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