I read a paper a few months ago that said bicycle helmets were essentially useless for all but one type of impact, the least common one where you would land directly on top of your head. It also went on to state that wearing helmets led to more neck and facial injuries that could be directly linked to the helmet. I believe it was an Australuan publication.

I have bike helmets for my kids, but only because it's a law here that those under a certain age (16 I think) have to wear them. They don't like them and whine about needing them. If it weren't a requirement I would only buy a helmet if they asked for one.

My Aunt died from a head injury on her bike. She was a half nlock from home, went over her handlebars, boom, braindead.

2 years later, my little brother was found unconscious in the road by his bike-they aren't sure to this day whether he was hit and run by a car, or if he wrecked and hit his head. He spent several days at Ben Taub with a brain bleed.

We wear helmets. Period. Skateboards, bikes, horseback riding, I don't care what-you wear a helmet or you don't do it. None of my kids have chosen to not do an activity because of them. None of them hate their helmets. Probably because mom and dad aren't standing around talking about how stupid the helmet is. My kids brains are too precious to not protect, and I love my kids way too much to let them be rolling organ donors.

The Law of Unintended Consequences, the socio-political equivalent of Newton's First Law of Motion - for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Or of Bastiat's principle of What is Seen and What is Not Seen.

This is just another example of a half-a-hundred 'safety' measures which end up having little or no overall effect, and often at vast expense. Doesn't stop lawmakers from mandating them, of course.

llater,

llamas

My favorite one is the 'A sharp knife is safer than a dull knife' safety story. It is certainly true in context, but the advice is rarely given in context.

I bet the safety measure is poisoned by parental disapproval.

I see copious amounts of spooge regarding motorcycle helmets, which is emitted because people want to not be bothered by a law (I hate The Man! That's why I ride (a financed) Harley!) and want the wind in their face. They will later squeal about injuries when they get road in their face, instead...

...but that does not change the fact that motorcycling is always safer when wearing an effective helmet. Yes, that word is "always", because even as there are exceptional injuries (and these exceptions are cited in desperation to justify all sorts of stupid behavior), the helmet protects against the overwhelming majority of injuries.

:shrug: the first time you see someone headfirst into the pavement, you might become a true believer...

But then it depends on what kind of and how you ride.

When I got my first bike with toe-clips, a terrible long count of years ago, I realized that they strapped me to the bike in many situations. That means you don't fly off the bike, but rotate around it's center.

So... say you go wheel-first into a cattle guard gap, or a ginormous pothole -
your front wheel stops, and you rotate around that point of impact -
and the first thing to hit the ground is the top of your head, most likely.

Even now with much newer pedal systems, you likely won't crash with enough force to eject you from the pedal, moving in the axis of the bike.

All that said... a kid riding a kid's bike, doesn't use toe-clips... but anything the keeps a concussion from happening is a good thing.

The last time I had one, the doc told me, the next time might kill me.

So. I wear protection, and so I explained to my kids WHY, and they wear headgear too, without complaint.

I dunno if there is a law and I don't care. For the same reason that I wear a seatbelt, and have long before there was a law on that one.

I can see a situation, deduce risks and consequences, and come to a conclusion.

I don't think it's the helmet that keeps kids from bikes, skates, and other things...

It's just much easier to play indoor games, much easier to stay off streets... Maybe their parents even think it's safer thus.
I myself tend to go where there are some kind of offstreet trails, because I've had one to many close calls with drivers distracted by their electronics, who then yell at me to get on the sidewalk... as if that was legal, or something.

Also, my kids [one is now adult] live a long ways from their friends... too far to just ride on up there, and that was a lot of the riding I did as a kid.

All you helmet-wearers are forgetting The Law of Freedom.

Man.