Few topics in cycling inspire as much controversy as helmets. Some people insist they’re essential, calling non-wearers reckless and invoking harsh and violent imagery: “enjoy your traumatic brain ...

crosspostato da: https://piefed.social/post/741601

Few topics in cycling inspire as much controversy as helmets. Some people insist they’re essential, calling non-wearers reckless and invoking harsh and violent imagery: “enjoy your traumatic brain injury”. “You’ll regret it when you’re in a hospital with a feeding tube”. You hear suggestions of denying access to public healthcare. On the opposite end, helmet skeptics argue that they’re a distraction. I’ve actually heard people call them “magic hats” that “don’t offer significant protection (if any at all)”. Helmets dehumanize cyclists and send the wrong message. They’re dorky and uncool, rather than fashionable and European.

So what’s the truth about helmets?

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References:

  1. Protection provided

Bicycle helmets – To wear or not to wear? A meta-analyses of the effects of bicycle helmets on injuries (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0001457518301301)

  1. Risk compensation

Drivers overtaking bicyclists: Objective data on the effects of riding

position, helmet use, vehicle type and apparent gender (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0001457506001540)

Bicycle helmet wearing is associated with closer overtaking by drivers: A response to Olivier and Walter, 2013 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0001457518309928)

Emotional reactions to cycle helmet use (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0001457512001169)

Risk compensation theory and bicycle helmets – Results

from an experiment of cycling speed and short-term effects

of habituation (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1369847816305666)

Risk compensation? – The relationship between helmet use and cycling

speed under naturalistic conditions (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022437517307302)

Bicycle helmets and risky behaviour: A systematic review (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369847818305941)

  1. Level of risk

Sport-related major trauma incidence in young people and adults in England and Wales: a national

registry-based study (https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/injuryprev/30/1/60.full.pdf)

Active Living and Injury Risk (https://www.thieme-connect.de/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/s-2004-819935)

Epidemiology of injury in professional cyclists (https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/44/Suppl_1/i4.2)

  1. Discouraging cycling

Do the Health Benefits of Cycling Outweigh the Risks? (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2920084/)

Bicycle helmet research [CARRS-Q Monograph Series - Monograph 5] (https://eprints.qut.edu.au/41798/)

The effects of provincial bicycle helmet legislation on

helmet use and bicycle ridership in Canada (https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/16/4/219)

Recommend or mandate? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the

effects of mandatory bicycle helmet legislation (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S000145751830397X)

Helmet law makes nonsense of bike hire scheme

(https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/helmet-law-makes-nonsense-of-bike-hire-scheme-20100722-10my2.html)

  1. Dehumanization

The effect of safety attire on perceptions of cyclist dehumanisation (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369847823001018#b0200)

  1. Claims bike helmets don’t help

https://www.cnet.com/science/brain-surgeon-theres-no-point-wearing-cycle-helmets/

https://www.rwcpulse.com/blogs/peeking-at-plans/2023/09/25/bike-helmets-01/

  1. Dutch statistics

https://swov.nl/en/fact-sheet/cyclists

https://www.veiligheid.nl/sites/default/files/2022-06/Rapportage (Snor- en brom)fietsongevallen in Nederland.pdf (English summary included)

  • Showroom7561@lemmy.caEnglish
    23·
    1 day ago

    We’ve been debating this shit for 40 years

    And yet the belief that people chose to wear helmets because they “feel” safer is still a thing?

    Helmets objectively protect your head and a good part of your face in minor and moderate impact situations… Like the type of crashes affecting most cyclists (i.e. falling do due to poor or slippery surfaces).

    In a catastrophic crash, they likely won’t save you, since the rest of your body is likely meat soup.

    Over the last 40 years, there has been clear evidence to support helmets, and the tech is only getting better.

    The evidence is so strong that even doctors in the Netherlands are rallying in support of their use.