Call for Helmet usage in the Netherlands

[fatandfast]

while I am trying not agree w barrus I will say this. I have been involved in dozens of crashes racing,riding and training a one super annoying thing said at the site or soon after "Look see the crack!.this thing really saved me". I don't know if that is true or not..what I do know is that current bicycle helmets can be ruined by dropping them off the car roof or shelf at your house. If the helmet slips off the handlebar end it can get damaged. I find the protective value of the helmet to be very small over a wide range of uses. The true test for the helmet industry will be the snow..when people go headlong into a tree w a repurposed cycling helmet the effects are going to be a disaster. Helmets need to be made of better more long lasting materials yes ventilation is great but come on a couple 100 grams on one end and a 200 pound body traveling at 10+mph simple physics says this is a crapp shoot. I wish I remembered the Australian word for ice chest. My friend that stayed w me used to say it was nice not to have one on his head. I for one think the helmet industry has done an overly fantastic job of convincing the public that pennies worth of polystyrean are superior protection

 

[the student]

If the helmet dont crack the bang will be just as hard as without a helmet... the helmets need to crack in order to absorb the energy en to stop it from travelling straight into your head...

 

[fatandfast]

If the helmet dont crack the bang will be just as hard as without a helmet... the helmets need to crack in order to absorb the energy en to stop it from travelling straight into your head...

you should contact the NFL and all the pro rugby leagues with your theory. Also Formula 1 probably also needs this same helmet design. Also there was a couple of inventors that wanted to encapsulate the polysty and if it cracked to un usefulness it would emit a foul odor. The idea that the entire head enclosure should break into chunks in order to absorb the impact is one of the super cool absolutely brilliant marketing angles that Bell and Giro have sold us on.. I hope motorcycle helmet makers take your theory one step further and add some kind of powder or dusk to that after a crash the guys head looks like a big smoke bomb..super cool. Kind of like those prank golf balls those things are really cool

 

[the student]

so why are those car manufacturors using thins like crumble zones... nowadays cars tear apart to absorb impacts... and motorcycle helmet do have a layer of foam inside of the which dents under impact. And yes they do crack.

 

[Sanitiser]

There are two aspects of a helmet. The first is impact, the second is sliding or grazing. The more you can get a helmet to slide the more energy is transferred into heat\friction on the helmet rather than straight impact onto the head.

 

[fatandfast]

There are two aspects of a helmet. The first is impact, the second is sliding or grazing. The more you can get a helmet to slide the more energy is transferred into heat\friction on the helmet rather than straight impact onto the head.

as the physics continue..there are many who posted that the fashion/cultural aspects of helmet use will not catch on. They may be right(?) I certainly don't know but my guess after living in Belgium and Germany and racing and training in Holland is that the.. no way.. widespread opinion is pretty accurate. The idea that a motorcycle going 30 and a bicycle doing the same speed..both guys falling off is wholesale different is where I have such a strong common sense disagreement. The materials, poorly fitting straps,padding in bicycle helmets are laughable. Looking at a Bell offerings for different disciplines from skiing/snowboarding,equestrian,bicycling and motor racing is just the kind of divide and master marketing that huge corps pay for. Bicycles and motorcycles share a similar surfaces and objects that smash,crush and squish into. Often motorcyclists wear more clothing than bicyclists. Why the head gear is in proportion to the clothing is totally wrong..bike helmet designs are based not on all..form,fit and function..they are designed for sales..people in Holland when confronted w head injury prevention dismiss the feather weight,completely disposable, ill-fitting,severely overpriced products that are offered to solve a problem. The diagram is telling..fall in a crit.slide for a few feet and hope that what ever you hit the silly strapped helmet is positioned on your head like the illustration depicts almost never in my experience

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Interesting article that has come out showing the statistics there and the expectations of reduction in death and injury if helmets were worn by riders.

http://www.bv.com.au/general/bikes-&-riding/42382/

There are other threads about the topic of helmets in general - this one is more about what likelihood there is of any change in a heavy bike use country compoared to lighter use countries. Does anyone think this will lead to any change there?

The statistics in the article would be enough for most people to choose to wear a helmet. From the article:

Each year about 26,000 children and adolescents are treated in hospital emergency departments in the Netherlands after bike crashes. About 2000 are hospitalised and 30 will die.

But all that may be difficult to overcome, and not just in the Netherlands, so people will make it a habit to wear a helmet. The article sums up why this may be true:

In some countries almost none of the children between the ages of 10 to 18 rides a bicycle, except for sports and recreation. Children in this age group were extremely opposed to using a helmet. “You look like a fool”, “It is not cool”, “It is awkward”, “No place to store it”, “Feels weird on my head”, “Ruins your hair”, were some of the arguments.

I can think of pretty good counters for most of those excuses, but "You look like a fool" and "It is not cool" are tougher to argue. Maybe we should start advertising helmet use by using hot babes wearing bike helmets.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

Helmets are simply very unpractical. Here in Belgium, we (youth) use our bike for everything, always have to bring a helmet will make this more complicated.

It will never happen. Never.

Each year about 26,000 children and adolescents are treated in hospital emergency departments in the Netherlands after bike crashes. About 2000 are hospitalised and 30 will die.

Do you realize how many people ride bikes in the Netherlands? How many of the 30 deads would have been prevented by a helmet? 10?
It's hard to say, but it's not worth it.

Like I said: I will never go on a ride with my race-bike without a helmet, nor will I ever use a helmet for non-sports rides. These are so much safer.

But i'm talking about youth here, so 14-28 or so. This are also the most intense bike users. For kids & maybe also for 'adults' this could be an other story.

 

[usedtobefast]

i realize the Netherlands is a great cycling country, but if you ask those
hypothetical 10 families,"would you like your loved one back?" what would the answer be? it is only common sense that a helmet is a good idea. otherwise they would not exist.

Fyi, my brother just traced my family history back to 1620 in the Netherlands.

 

[Polyarmour]

Seriously, how much do you know about helmet use and the effects of helmets in the Netherlands? Combined with the manner in which bikes are used over here? I do not state that helmets are completely useless, there are many instances when they are very usefull, however in the Netherlands most studies state, even by those that call for helmet use, that helmet use will not have any drastic effect on the general population, for childern, perhaps, yes, for others not so much. The amount of deaths and severe head trauma is not likely to change if such a policy is implemented. You do realize that if you folllowed common sense you would not ride a bike without all sorts of protective gear all over your body

You're absolutely right Barrus, in the rest of the world when people fall off their bikes and hit their heads, they need helmets to protect themselves from traumatic brain injury. But in the Netherlands for some reason the ground repels all heads approaching them at high velocity and gives them a soft landing.

And for the record I spent weeks riding my bike all over the Netherlands so while I may not be as familiar with the place as you, I'm not completely ignorant either. I had a helmet on the whole time... and yes right across the country.. the locals pointed and laughed at me.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

Everyone I know ride their bike several times a week, for all their life. I think I only know 1 person who was heavily injured by a bike crash, but that was caused by massive alcohol consumption, and a helmet wont prevent you breaking your jaw.
I know more people who were injured or even died in a car crash.

Because bikes are so commonly used in The Netherlands & Belgium, it's much safer to ride here: cars pay more attention for cyclist, a lot more bike lanes, ...
(I can only compare with other countries i've ridden in: France, Spain & Italy)

 

[kelvedon wonder]

I had a helmet on the whole time... and yes right across the country.. the locals pointed and laughed at me.

My Netherlands trip was arranged by a Dutch mate who assured me that would happen if I wore a helmet. No-one batted an eyelid at people in lycra on road bikes wearing helmets, but I never saw anyone else wearing one, even the baby about 9 months old sitting in a crate on the front of his mum's granny bike.

I appreciate that yes, you can fall off a bike at low speed without the influence of traffic, hit your head on a kerb and die, but you can say that about falling down the stairs, and no-one suggests that you need a helmet to wear around the house.

Incidentally, at home in the UK I just about always wear a helmet, largely because of the vast number of cars and general lack of respect for cyclists here. I'm not anti-helmet, I just can't imagine them catching on for general use in the Netherlands.