Cycle helmet saved my life!

Very good examples with strong reasons to wear a helmet. When I read about the statistics that helmets don't prevent serious head injury or death, these data are based on admissions to hospitals but the numbers are so low that the statistical variance is enormous=you can't make reliable conclusions concerning the benefits based on these data.

Most importantly, in my opinion, a helmet will in any instance lower the damage to the head. The impact to the head will be lower causing a lower 'spike' of force to the head than without a helmet. So you might avoid the serius head injury. Collecting data to show this is the case is, unfortunately, almost impossible to do. Much easier to count the dead at the hospital.....

I actually have a dent in my skull from a biking accident in my mid-teens. I was hit from behind by a car, the handlebars turned upside down and my skull hit the end of the handlebar. I got a concussion, woke up in the ambulence and got home 5 days later. Never had a problem later in life, recovery was 2-3 weeks but i have no doubt that a helmet would have limited the damages significantly.

My college daughter was unable to move or speak for 3 days after her accident 2 years ago. Going down an 8% gradient, a pedistrian started moving from the sidewalk to the bike lane, my daughter swerved but the handlebar hit the person. Her head hit the tarmac with probably 50-60 km/h or more. No doubt a helmet would have limited her injuries although it probably wouldn't have eliminated them. It has taken her 2½ years to recover 100%. She had no smelling sense for 8 months but it fortunately returned slowly.

A colleague of mine told me of an acquiantance, middle-age going slowly at 10-15 km/h. She went down, her head impacting a granite curb (about 15cm in height) with a sharp edge. She never recovered fully. A helmet would certainly have helped in this case.

So my conclusion is: the statistics from the hospitals don't tell the whole story. I now believe that helmets at least will limit the damage. That's enough for me to now use a helmet every time. I am aware that if I hit a rock bang on with 50 km/h or less, no helmet will save me and it probably wouldn't have saved Casartelli in the Tour either.

But would you have overlapped the wheel infront if you weren't wearing a helmer? 

Cool pics btw

I'm not sure anyone (or anyone in their right mind) would suggest a helmet wont save you from some level of injury in some situations.

It's the "wasn't wearing a helmet" when someone's torso has been crushed to death by a lorry and the putting helmets at the top of the lists when we all know tonnes of metal and piss poor infrastructure are the biggest problems...

Car door for me, knee, collarbone, neck badly mashed up, somersault, landed on my head, ended up in an ambulance. Helmet cracked and scuffed to pieces where it hit the door then skated along the road. Again, I couldn't quote the science, but anyone telling me it didn't save me from worse injury is in denial. 

A few bits of duct tape and it'll be right as rain.

Never fallen off whilst wearing a helmet and not banged my head hard enough to break the helmet. 

Never fallen off a bike without a helmet and hit my head hard enough to do any damage to my head. 

Not sure what that really means.

However, when doing 'riskier' activity, such as racing, MTBing, I'd not choose to test my luck without a lid.

Glad you are alright, welcome to the world of bunch crashing!