Re: Helmet efficacy test

Am Tue, 25 Mar 2025 21:50:41 -0400 schrieb Frank Krygowski
<frkrygow@sbcglobal.net>:

On 3/25/2025 11:48 AM, Zen Cycle wrote:

On 3/25/2025 10:12 AM, Frank Krygowski wrote:

On 3/25/2025 7:52 AM, John B. wrote:

>
As I've said many times before, I haven't been the U.S. for many
years ...

>
Perhaps you should come visit to refresh your knowledge.
>

But do people in other parts of the world avoid playing baseball or in
an English "colony", Cricket, because one must wear a helmet, or U.S.
football. or riding to the hounds or all the various activities that
require  a helmet".

>
John, I live two blocks from a Village football field - the old high
school field - and an adjacent flat grassy field. Both are used by
young guys and kids for a variety of "pick up" sports, including touch
football.
>
Guys playing touch football do not wear helmets. There is no mandate,
and apparently the guys judge that the risk of serious head injury is
low. I played touch football on an intramural team in college, and
none of us wore helmets.
>
Bicyclists volunteer to wear helmets mostly because of dishonest fear
mongering that convinces them that risk of brain injury is huge, far
worse than other normal activities. Here, I post data showing that's
false.

 
There may not be any greater risk than any other activity, but that
doesn't mean that wearing a helmet won't protect you when your head hits
the asphalt.

>
Which is also true when running (as Mark does), when walking (I've had
friends seriously injured while walking on concrete sidewalks) and when
doing other things with non-zero risk of brain injury.

According to an accademic textbook about neurology, published by de
Gruyter, the majority of accidental deaths are caused by a brain injury.
This is true for _all_ accidents, not just for cyclists, pedestrians or
people walking around at home.

According to that book, around 60% of all accidental deaths are due to
brain injuries. Looking specifically at deaths caused by traffic, in
Germany the figure is around 70% or about 7,000 people per year. Only a
tiny minority of these 70000 people are cyclists, most traffic deaths
are car drivers or pedestrians (run over by cars, I assume).

For reference:

de Gruyter Lehrbuch
W.Fröscher
Neurologie
mit Repetitorium
1990
ISBN 3-11-010767-8
Kapitel 12, W. Pöll: Traumen
12.1 Traumen des Gehirns und seiner Hüllen
12.1.1 Epidemiologie und allgemeine Angaben zur Pathogenese und
Einteilung der Schädel-Hirn-Verletzungen

I mentioned that in 1995 already,  rec.bicycles.soc,
<3rqeld$php@omega.gmd.de>. So it isn't really news. Percentages may have
changed a bit, but not enough to invalidate the conclusion: People who
fear to die from a head injury after an accident should start wearing a
helmet while walking, even inhouse, especially when using stairs. Same
for driving, using public transport, even while just sitting on an
office chair and staring at a screen.

>

I'm a helmet wearer. I've always counseled people riding on public
roadways or riding for performance to wear helmets. For going on a
casual, low-risk ride on a smooth recreational rail trail, not much of
an issue and I've even gone out for such rides without one (as recently
as our trip to Aruba last year). But any time I'm going out on the road
or any ride at a 'fitness' level or higher, I always wear one.

>
Of course you do. And you wear special shorts, shoes, jerseys, gloves,
jackets and all the rest. I'm not trying to talk you out of any of that
kit.

I am riding for recreation and for performance, or to be more precise,
for staying fit at my age.  I do wear special clothing, as I see fit.
Not for fashion, but when and because it serves a purpose. When I go
shopping or to the hairdresser for a haircut, I just wear my everyday
clothes.

>
But understand, until about 1980, "fitness" and competitive cyclists
wore all that stuff - but no helmets. It wasn't until the false
propaganda about unusual brain injury risk appeared that the foam hat
became part of the costume.
>
Did all those prior avid cyclists somehow not notice that their buddies
were getting brain injured? Nope, it was never a sizeable problem. Now
it's an "Omigosh!" serious risk.

Precisely. Surprisingly, this happened in Germany after the number of
fatal road accidents, including those involving cyclists, had been
falling steadily for decades.



--
Bicycle helmets are the Bach flower remedies of traffic