Chris Boardman: "Helmets not even in top 10 of things that keep cycling safe"

British Cycling policy advisor Chris Boardman says it’s time for the cycling community to put the debate about mandatory cycle helmets to bed and get across the message that helmet use is one of the least important cycling safety measures.

Source: Road.cc

Wear Your Helmet

Awwww..elmo is so cute! ..See, even elmo wear his helmet.

Ok, maybe the helmet is a bit too small for his head but the message we need to send to all kids is to wear helmet when riding the bicycle, tricycle, etc. because helmet can save lives. So, Safety First!

Source: Sesame Street/ YouTube

Bike Helmets : Tips For Better & Safety Fit

Source : kval.com/YouTube

Proper Wearing of Bicycle Helmet

As late as the mid-1980s, individuals who wore helmets while riding their bicycles were often looked at as being a bit off the beaten path and strangely overprotective of their own health. That viewpoint has changed dramatically because most people know that going on a bicycle trip of any length without a helmet is risky behavior. The key to getting the benefit from the helmet is wearing it correctly. The Bicycle Safety Helmet Institute determined that the average bicyclist has one crash every 4,500 miles and that underscores the need for a helmet.

Snug Fit

It's one thing to put on a helmet and it's another thing to wear it correctly. The helmet should cover at least half of the forehead, fit snugly and be attached under the chin. The bicycle helmet should not move more than one inch in any direction.The sizing pads that come with the helmet should be applied for critical protection around the entire head.

Straps

Make sure the straps hang down around the side of the head and nowhere near the front of the face. If the straps are in front, they can interfere with your vision. Even if you just notice them in one corner, they are obscuring your peripheral vision. Make sure you buy a helmet that does not have extra long straps so it can fit snugly and nothing obscures your vision.

Wear It Flat

Make sure the helmet is flat on top of your head and not at an angle. Many bicyclists might think they can see better or think it's cooler to tilt the helmet back at an angle. That can be a critical mistake. Many crashes come quickly and the fall can be harsh and straight down. In that case the helmet needs to be flat on your head to protect your forehead and face.

Source: eHow-by Steve Silverman/ photo from kval.com

Like Pro Cyclists, Children Should Wear Helmets

It was easy to pick out Lance Armstrong at the Tour de France this year, especially from an aerial view, as his helmet was unique and stylish. But that is really not why he wears it. Fabio Casatelli’s fatal bicycle crash of the 1995 Tour de France is just an example of how helmets can save lives.

The UCI now mandates the professional rider wear helmets from the start to the finish of a race, yet there is no federal law-requiring cyclist to wear helmets. Many states require the use of bike helmets for children younger than 18 years old. Regrettably, this is rarely enforced. Although I make my kids wear bike helmets, I’m guilty of passing neighborhood children that are bicycling on the road without a helmet, and say nothing.

Swine flu is a major health concern as it has caused 76 child related deaths in the US since April of this year. However, is just one quarter of the yearly child related deaths to bicycle injuries of which most are due to head trauma. Yet look at the publicity the swine flu gets.

Apparently we cannot leave it up to the government or the parents to strictly enforce children wearing bike helmets. So I would like to commend the Professional Cycling agencies for leading this effort. Mostly, I would like to congratulate the Professional Cyclist for wearing their helmets with a flourish. Hopefully this will encourage the young riders to grab a helmet and “buckle up”. Thanks Guys!

Source: Team Radioshack Cycling News- by Rebecca Jackson, MD- staff writer

Folding Bike Helmet

Dahon Pango is a foldable bike helmet that can be folded into half of its original size and meets all the safety standards.

Source: Bike Radar / Eurobike

Second man dies in Wednesday bicycle crashes

A Lowell man died Thursday of head injuries he sustained in a bicycle accident Wednesday in that city, authorities said. He is the second Massachusetts man to die after being hit by a car while cycling that day.

Aaron B. Shickman, 41, was struck on his bike by a sport utility vehicle on Middlesex Street. He was not wearing a helmet, Lowell Police said.

An 18-year-old Lowell woman driving a 1999 Ford Explorer hit him near the intersection with Pawtucket Street at about 1:35 p.m.

About three hours earlier in Marshfield, a 69-year-old Marshfield man was killed when a sedan struck him while he was crossing Dyke Road on his bike. Authorities today identified the victim as Richard Campbell.

A woman in her 20s struck Campbell, who was not wearing a helmet, near Green Harbor Marina, police said.

Neither of the drivers' names in the two incidents has been released because police are still investigating. Charges have not been filed in either incident.

Source: The Boston Globe-MetroDesk by Jack Nicas/ photo from cyclelicio.us

Cool Ads

Source : YouTube

My cycling helmet saved my life

Have you ever watched those all-action police video clips, the ones where drug squad officers sprint up the garden path of some unsuspecting dealer's house and smash down the front door brandishing a sturdy, hand-held battering ram? Last year, I pioneered a new, if slightly unorthodox, "battering ram" technique of my own which may well be of interest to police training officers everywhere. The ram I employed was a tool that proved robust, powerful and effective: my head.

I wasn't on a police raid at the time, although my actions did prompt a 999 call to the emergency services. And my head didn't actually ram a door. Instead, I used it to butt the front wheel of a car, parked in a street near my home.

I feel extremely fortunate to have escaped serious injury, or even death. The precise circumstances of my tumble are now a little hazy, but one recollection remains crystal clear. The nurses and doctors who treated me each asked me the same simple question: "Were you wearing a helmet?"

If my ordeal, which left me nursing strained shoulder ligaments, torn muscles and a bruised ego, has convinced me of one fact alone, it is surely that my cycling helmet saved my life.

And yet many cyclists, free to choose whether or not to wear protective headgear, choose not to. According to the Bicycle Helmet Research Foundation, the average cyclist would have to pedal for more than 3,000 years to suffer a serious head injury – and yet some 150 cyclists a year die in accidents.

However, cyclists may soon be compelled to strap on a helmet before setting off. Last week, a High Court judge ruled that cyclists who fail to wear one should receive up to 15 per cent less compensation for injuries resulting from accidents in which the helmet could have made a difference.

The ruling, by Mr Justice Griffith Williams, came in a case brought by 29-year-old Robert Smith who sustained a serious brain injury when he was knocked off his bike by a speeding motorcyclist in Brightlingsea, Essex, in 2005. Because of the speed of this particular collision, however, the motorcyclist was held fully liable. But the judge ruled: "There can be no doubt that the failure to wear a helmet may expose the cyclist to risk of greater injury."

What continues to amaze me is how few cyclists wear a crash helmet. The day after my accident, my daughter, Rosie, who is 13, counted 50 cyclists on her way home from school: "I saw 26 not wearing helmets – that's crazy!"

Excuses not to wear a helmet range from youngsters who protest "It doesn't look cool", to one of my Telegraph colleagues who said: "I never wear one because I get cold ears if I do".

Last year, Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London and a renowned cyclist, wrote in this newspaper about his only serious cycling accident in almost a decade of pedalling around the city. He was "negotiating Knightsbridge with extreme caution when a French tourist walked across the road without looking (you could tell he was French by the noise he made on impact)"; Johnson sustained a sprained wrist. A helmet – or, an "undignified plastic hat", as he described it – would have made no difference. "If I'd had a foghorn, it might have come in handy, or possibly a cow-catcher fitted to the front of my bike. But a helmet?"

Helmet-dodgers are always quick with their excuses. They were even given a licence not to buckle up in 2006 when traffic research from the University of Bath suggested that wearing protective headgear could put cyclists at an advantage. In surveys, drivers tended to give those they perceived to be "unsafe" cyclists – those wearing helmets – a wider berth.

However, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents insists that, in an accident, helmets do help protect against injuries. Peter Hutchinson, honorary consultant neurosurgeon at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, who regularly operates on cyclists with brain injuries, said: "Helmets act as a cushion and protect the skull. Common sense would dictate therefore that it reduces the risk to the underlying brain. If you're not wearing a helmet, there's an increased chance of fracturing your skull and causing a brain injury. If you are wearing one, then the helmet will fracture and protect the skull. It's better to have a fractured helmet than a fractured skull."

Source: telegraph.co.uk/ health

Yes I've tried this before and it works!

Clean your helmet - "To make a stinky helmet fresh again wear it in the shower! Get a good shampoo lather going on your head, put your helmet on and massage your scalp with the helmet for a few minutes. Then, give it a good rinse." Tom Smith, NY

Source: Cycling Tips/ bikyle.com

Clean your helmet

"To make a stinky helmet fresh again wear it in the shower! Get a good shampoo lather going on your head, put your helmet on and massage your scalp with the helmet for a few minutes. Then, give it a good rinse."
Tom Smith, NY

Source: Bikyle.com, Cycling Tips.