Man escapes fine for no helmet due to religious turban.

[tonza]

I dont care if he wears a helmet or not. I hate wearing the things too. But why should he not get fined, and i will? That sounds like discrimination on the grounds of religion.
Or am i missing something?

 

[monkeys437]

i wouldnt say that is 100% true but its pretty fair.
lets be honest its a smart idea to wear a helmet, because they can save you. as ive said many a time before ive had many accidents/stacks.
One of these accidents was at home. riding around. thought id finished passing the pergola, stood up, straight into the beams at the edge. massive red mark on the helmet.
this would have been at no faster then probably 2kph in rolling speed, standing up and hitting the beam head on. i would say without the headgear probably a few stitches and a broken skull, especially with the markings left on the helmet.
had other crashes where the helmet has come apart in 2 pieces, again slow speeds.
then ive worn proper Full Face Helmets at some fast speeds and no injury whatsoever, just a sore head from big impacts

put it this way. wearing a helmet is the better option.
its basically like having insurance for your head when you're riding.
change the laws so it doesnt stop people from riding, and youll find out alot more people will take up the sport
that way there arent 2 seperate laws as such
just change the rulings so without wearing the helmet you have no insurance/comeback in the form of a crash

But you could extend that thinking and make all drivers in cars wear helmets too. It would certainly reduce head injuries in accidents. Elderly people who are prone to fall related injuries could be made to wear helmets in public and that would reduce the risk of injuries as well. I've hit my head on floorboards playing basketball which nearly knocked me out and I couldn't drive home, so maybe everyone playing indoor sports should wear helmets too.

Where do you draw the line? It's all about risk management, and the risk of head injuries to MOST cyclists is so small that it doesn't warrant the
need for a helmet unless you're doing some serious riding. Motorbikes are a different story because it's a statistically very risky mode of transport (look at the over representation in the road toll). Cyclist are at a similar risk to pedestrians and I don't see many pedestrians wearing helmets

 

[Drawnnite]

Monkey.
im all for them changing the law to you not needing to wear a helmet.
but i know i will always wear one when riding.
im kinda confused at either you're having a go at me, or if ive written something saying everyone should wear one :s

but think about it. drivers do wear helmet in competition

 

[c2105026]

Monkey.
im all for them changing the law to you not needing to wear a helmet.
but i know i will always wear one when riding.
im kinda confused at either you're having a go at me, or if ive written something saying everyone should wear one :s

but think about it. drivers do wear helmet in competition

Monash accident research centre (MUARC, source of the steaming piles of **** we see masquarading as 'road safety research') once suggested-to governments-that motorists wear foam headband things to cut down on head injuries. The idea looked a bit silly and was never formally endorsed by govt...

 

[Cheap6]

Monash accident research centre (MUARC, source of the steaming piles of **** we see masquarading as 'road safety research') once suggested-to governments-that motorists wear foam headband things to cut down on head injuries. The idea looked a bit silly and was never formally endorsed by govt...

Rendered redundant by airbags maybe? The visor design (pretty sure that a couple of designs were looked at - cardboard, foam and Al.?) is lighter and cheaper if it was anywhere near as effective.

My understanding is the argument made against bicycle helmets is that in a glancing blow the extra radius of the helmet increases the angular acceleration of the skull, making the likelihood of brain injury greater than might be the case without the helmet. In a direct impact the helmet will be better. (I will always wear a helmet when riding - even a low speed fall could hurt.)

 

[AlexVSII]

Personally I always wear a helmet if I'm on a bike, and I think regardless of what evidence there is or is not about if it is beneficial or not it has saved me at least once. I say this because I once fell off a bike, my head took the full force of the impact. The helmet was split into 3 pieces but I was, while very sore, more or less alright, although I did spend most of the day in bed feeling pretty bad.

If the force of the impact was enough to smash a helmet into 3 pieces, I'd hate to see what would have happened if I didn't have the helmet to absorb some of the impact.

Having said that I don't think it should be a requirement for everyone to wear a helmet. All of my recent falls from bikes have been when doing something fundamentally dangerous. People don't fall off bikes just riding to the shops, they fall off if they're doing stunts or jumping gutters or simply being hoons and going too fast.

 

[hi_ryder]

when i was an apprentice i got caught riding with no helmet. while the cop was writing the ticket he asked me why i wasnt wearing my helmet. i said "my body my rules"... lol he didnt think that was funny...

 

[Jonah 101]

You know, that turban is kinda like a big helmet anyway.