Bike Pixels

Just wear a helmet

05/28/2021

Even more important than a good bicycle light (eg. a Bike Pixel 😉 ) a cycling helmet should be the basic security measure to wear when we are riding on bike. This is especially true in urban, leisure or commuting trips. In such cases speeds are lower (including ours and the other vehicles that surround us). Therefore, in the event of an accident, the impact energy is much lower. On the other side, helmet may be less useful on the road, where a running over vehicle (cars, trucks or trains) goes at higher speeds than 90 km/h. In any case wearing helmets always reduce mortality and morbidity of cyclist trauma.

May the helmet be with you. Photo by Daniel Cheung.

Helmets save lives

I’m not just saying that. There are plenty of facts and figures to back this up. Several studies show that helmets are a key factor in death and injury statistics for cycling accidents. One study, carried out after studying the autopsies of more than a hundred cyclists, concluded that 37% of them would have survived if they had been wearing helmets. This figure rises to just over 62.3% in cases where the damage was concentrated on the head. On the other hand, the location of the accident also influences the chances of survival. When a collision occurs at intersections, helmets could have prevented the cyclist’s fatal outcome in more than 51.5% of cases. In contrast, on straight or curved stretches of road, helmets would have saved only 24% of cyclists. Anyhow, if we wear a helmet we are up to 10 times more likely to survive in the event of an accident involving a single car.

Wear a helmet can change your life.

All these cases are related only with accidents where the final result was the death of the cyclist. These statistics also include cases such as drowning after falling into a river or being crushed by a passing vehicle. This worst-case scenario aside, the helmet is even more useful. For example, another study showed that helmets reduced the likelihood of significant head injuries by 66%, and more importantly, the consequences of those injuries (ranging from memory loss to a vegetative state).

So just wear a helmet

Even if it doesn’t fit too well, your ears stick out, you’re hot, your hair gets dishevelled and a long list of other excuses we tend to make to not wearing a helmet, just wear a helmet. Not doing it can change your whole live.