[kqr]

I don't think any "anti helmet crowd" would claim that helmets never ever help. Just that it's rare enough that it may not be worth the inconvenience.

After all, are you strapping on a helmet while you're out walking, or driving a car? Sometimes, very rarely, that could be what saves your life.

[fsckboy]

> After all, are you strapping on a helmet while you're out walking, or driving a car?

you are much more likely to fall from a bicycle than while walking or getting in or out of a car. For people who are at risk from falling while walking, yes, precautions are taken that they not fall or hit their heads (or hips), it's quite dangerous.

I'm not advocating helmet use. But nor do I advocate for me to pay for patching you up if you don't.

[kqr]

Your argument is that the additional protection of a helmet is not worth the additional inconvenience for you when you are walking or driving.

That's the exact same argument the anti-helmet crowd is making of cycling.

In order for your argument to work, you have to either provide a quantitative basis for why your tradeoff totally is worth it and the other is not, or you have to come up with a qualitatively different argument.

[fsckboy]

I'm not making an argument, neither about helmets for pedestrians nor cyclists. I'm pointing out that others are not focusing on the right metrics to make their arguments, or are providing spurious commentary.

> the additional protection of a helmet is not worth the additional inconvenience

I actually pointed out that protection of a helmet for pedestrians is called for as standard practice (by others, not by me)

[midoridensha]

I don't know about you, but I can't walk at 15kph+, so the amount of crash energy my head would experience while walking is quite low.

[kqr]

The helmet protects you from other things moving at you, not just you moving at other things.

[prmoustache]

They may help but they aren't really designed for that.

Helmets are designed to limit head injuries when you bang your head on the ground mostly. If you get mauled by a truck or a suv it is unlikely to help much although it will still help if you bang and rebound on it.

[SECProto]

15-20 km/h is a fairly common pace in running races (2:05 to 2:50 marathon pace), no helmets are worn there.

[midoridensha]

When you fall while running, you don't have a mechanical contraption limiting your movement. The nature of riding a bicycle (or motorcycle) makes it much more likely you'll hit your head. People also don't fall as much while running as they do when riding: it's easy to hit a crack in the pavement and lose control on a bike.

[haspok]

> People also don't fall as much while running as they do when riding

Says who?

Just a couple of days ago I had a runner get past me while I was walking on the street, 2 seconds later she hit a bump on the pavement with her foot and fell down hard (she even made a loud splash sound as she hit the ground). No, she didn't have a helmet. Should she have?

At the end of the day, people should be walking around in full steel plate armour, for protection and safety. Or even better, not walking around at all. Bicycles should be banned!

> it's easy to hit a crack in the pavement and lose control on a bike.

No, its not. The person who says this probably hadn't ridden a bicycle in their life, or if they have, not often and not recently.

Bicycle wheels are EXCELLENT at getting over cracks, bumps, ditches, holes, whatever - as long as the attack angle is as close to 90 degrees as possible. It is the riders responsibility to make sure that is the case. Wider tires also help, lower pressures too... and high speeds, counterintuitively.

Of course, if you are afraid of falling or uncertain of your skills on the bike, wear a helmet by all means. Just don't think that it is "normal" and all riders are like that.

[midoridensha]

>2 seconds later she hit a bump on the pavement with her foot and fell down hard (she even made a loud splash sound as she hit the ground). No, she didn't have a helmet. Should she have?

Did she hit her head? Humans are hardwired by millions of years of evolution to protect themselves in falls using their arms and hands; they generally handle falls very well. Humans have not evolved to handle riding bikes, and using your hands to protect your head in falls isn't instinctive there like it is while running or walking.

>No, its not. The person who says this probably hadn't ridden a bicycle in their life, or if they have, not often and not recently.

This is just stupid and argumentative. Road surfaces are frequently bad and people make mistakes.

>Of course, if you are afraid of falling or uncertain of your skills on the bike, wear a helmet by all means.

Yes, because I'm sure you're such a perfect rider who never makes a mistake.