Mandatory bicycle helmets urged by Ontario coroner
- Thread starter GameBoy27
- Start date
I wear one when I'm doing 'exercise' cycling - some road sections and going faster and when riding with my kids (to set the right example).
I don't wear one when I am on the paved parkside trails etc near my place - only caution there is if an off-leash dog takes a run at you and you have an accident.
I don't wear one when I am on the paved parkside trails etc near my place - only caution there is if an off-leash dog takes a run at you and you have an accident.
It reall is a good idea. Aside from the potential for death there is always minor injuries that can be preventented. As a kid, i thought i could get away with not wearing a helmet when i was out of plain sight of my parents or the family home. I was riding a bike that was too big for me and fell over and struck my head on the curb of the street i was biking on. I was stuck between the bike and the pavement and needed help to get up. The person who found me had to walk me home and explain what happened. I was so disoriented. I had to go to the hospital and get checked out, and for weeks i had a bruise on my forhead, i still have a scar from it. All the pain and embarassment and scarring could have been prevented had i worn a damn helmet.
Helmets are manatory for children under 18 I believe. Of the 129 killed over the 5 year period, 35 were wearing helmets. Doesn't say how many deaths it estimates would have been prevented if the remaining 94 were wearing helmets.
Obviously you are safer wearing a helmet provided it is a good one but at what point must an adult take responsibility for himself and at what pointdo you admit that you simply cannot legislate away all risks. I think this can be put in the category of people wanting to think that they accomplished something that saved lives .....
Obviously you are safer wearing a helmet provided it is a good one but at what point must an adult take responsibility for himself and at what pointdo you admit that you simply cannot legislate away all risks. I think this can be put in the category of people wanting to think that they accomplished something that saved lives .....
screw helmet legislation... Create better bike lanes separated from vehicular traffic. I think most of the deaths occur from collusion with a vehicle. Millions more commute on bikes in European cities and they don't have any of this helmet legislation crap. Sure it saves lives but must adults are able to decide from themselves. If you'd ask me, there should be a legislation of no bicycles in Toronto.. The streets in Toronto are too dangerous and not really meant for bikes
We are cold, wet and/or snowbound for at least 50% of the year, so how can an extensive separated bike lane program be sane? Or do you also want them as climate controlled tunnels? All the bitching is going to do is bring on yet another wave of over regulation and taxation by politicians.
Who's up for a $200/yr license fee for cyclists? Motorists already pay licensing, registration and gas taxes, so lets level the playing field, shall we?
Perhaps mandatory insurance for cyclists? I was nearly killed by a bike flying down the sidewalk when I stepped from a hedge covered walkway onto the sidewalk. When I protested, the guy threatened to punch me out.
Who's up for a $200/yr license fee for cyclists? Motorists already pay licensing, registration and gas taxes, so lets level the playing field, shall we?
Perhaps mandatory insurance for cyclists? I was nearly killed by a bike flying down the sidewalk when I stepped from a hedge covered walkway onto the sidewalk. When I protested, the guy threatened to punch me out.
I know, don't you hate when they leave what I think is a pretty important fact out of the equation? Would it have really hurt to mention it?
I disagree and here's why...
As a kid I never wore a helmet unless I was riding a motorcycle. Mind you nobody did back in the day. Now I keep it on my handle bar and takes about 5 seconds to put on. The thing is we know a lot more about head injuries now and there's so many helmets available to choose from, for next to nothing.
What they didn't report is how many people suffered from minor to major head injuries that could have been prevented by simply wearing a helmet. Lots of people don't like big brother telling them what to do but it's the same as making seat belts mandatory. I don't see it as a bad thing especially when we, the taxpayers are on the hook for medical costs. I don't see this as a slippery slope issue either.
I was following a bike along the Lakeshore bike path at a good clip last year. As I did a quick random shoulder check, the guy in front of me for no apparent reason jammed on his brakes without signalling. I clipped his rear tire and flew over the handle bars striking my head and shoulder on the asphalt. I was down for a bit and someone called an ambulance. They wouldn't let me leave until I got checked out. EMS looked at my helmet and said had I not been wearing a helmet I would surely have suffered serious head injuries. The helmet was cracked but did its job. I had to have my shoulder and elbow x-rayed for fractures. Luckily all I ended up with was bruises and road rash. It made me think of my family and how it's as important to them as it it is to me to always wear a helmet. You never know where shit can happen.
Not all head injuries have to be as result of a collision with a car. See my experience above. Do you believe seat belt use should be optional?
I fucking hate those assholes on bikes who abuse the rules of the road. Oh wait, rules of the road to apply to cyclists? You wouldn't know it judging bu the lunacy I see every day.
"EMS looked at my helmet and said had I not been wearing a helmet I would surely have suffered serious head injuries. The helmet was cracked but did its job."
You likely already knew this, bike helmets are 'One-Use', one impact and you discard it and buy a new one. What's the big deal wearing a helmet anyway ? If you think you look silly wearing a helmet, think of how silly you'll look being fed with a tube.
You likely already knew this, bike helmets are 'One-Use', one impact and you discard it and buy a new one. What's the big deal wearing a helmet anyway ? If you think you look silly wearing a helmet, think of how silly you'll look being fed with a tube.
I'm torn.
On the one hand, I'm all in favour of letting people stupid enough to ride without helmets get their heads broken.
On the other hand, I don't want to pay their lifetime of health costs because they are injured and need care for life.
Perhaps the best law would be to that if you get a head injury while biking, and you didn't wear a helmet, OHIP does not apply. Make it the same for car seat-belts. That way, people get all the freedom they want but the rest of us don't have to pay for their idiotic choices.
On the one hand, I'm all in favour of letting people stupid enough to ride without helmets get their heads broken.
On the other hand, I don't want to pay their lifetime of health costs because they are injured and need care for life.
Perhaps the best law would be to that if you get a head injury while biking, and you didn't wear a helmet, OHIP does not apply. Make it the same for car seat-belts. That way, people get all the freedom they want but the rest of us don't have to pay for their idiotic choices.
I wasn't trying to be a wise-ass. It's good that you were wearing a helmet and escaped more serious injury. I'm all for helmets. I got one this year that I could take the padding out and wash. They do get sweaty and smelly.
Not a lot of people don't know that if a bike helmet has suffered an impact, its trash. There aren't re-usable.
There is some dispute as to whether a helmet is good over-all or just sometimes. and whether it accentuates injuries in certain situations. the knee-jerk is that any protection helps. that's not necessarily true. as for the coroner, he should know better. as a professional, unless he studied every bicycle related death, his statement is preposterous and relegates him to a cheer-leader status.
Pedestrians get killed by cars every year, we should make them wear helmets. The cost to maintain sidewalks just for them is outrageous, we should force them to pay licence fees, get registered and carry insurance to pay for their recklessness.
Yes bike should stay off the sidewalk. But there were only 2 or 3 days last winter that there was too much snow for bike commuting.
And you're not talking about helmets, just using this as an excuse for another inane rant.
So anyway..
last year I was riding up Cherry Street and a guy ahead of me fell over. He wasn't going fast at all but his head hit the road. He lost consciousness for a moment, and was unable to sit up for several minutes. Eventually he managed to sit up, blood dripping from his temple. A crowd had gathered to see if he was okay. An ambulance was called.
A few years ago, I was on a bike path and thought I could hop over a fallen log. I was wrong. Even though I was moving really slowly, I fell over and could not prevent my head from striking the ground. Not very hard, but without a helmet I would have been hurt badly.
To me, this isn't even worthy of debate. Anyone who rides without a helmet is taking a completely unnecessary risk, and gaining nothing. Also it's the wrong thing to be looking at. Of course helmets should be mandatory, what needs to end is the law that a bike must have a bell!
Drivers can't hear them, pedestrians don't know how to react, and usually the speed differential between cyclists makes a bell useless. Also I've found that by the time I think about moving hand to bell in order to use it, I've already gone past whatever I was going to use it for. Much much safer to shout or speak at other people.
Every motorist speeds, every motorist rolls through stop signs, and on a daily basis I see cars doing really wacky things like u-turns without signalling, driving with the 4 way flashers on...today I saw a guy slam on his brakes in the middle of the road because a squirrel ran out. If someone had been behind him there would have been a collision. But the squirrel lived. Two days ago while biking I saw a guy screech his tires making a left turn through an intersection as the light turned red. I had to laugh when a cop stepped out of an unmarked car and made him pull over while I rode past.Gameboy27 said:
What is the shelf life of a helmet? Is it like 2 years? Also, can I wear a hockey helmet while riding a bike?
BTW: I hate some of the buckles they have on helmets. Not user friendly at all.
BTW: I hate some of the buckles they have on helmets. Not user friendly at all.
Add obese people in that list too.
Also alcoholics who get liver cancer, "Xtreme" sports aficionados who get their bones broken and smokers who get lung/throat cancer.
If you buy a helmet with a visor, take the visor off. Basically if you fall, the helmet should slide smoothly along any surface and the visor prevents that.
