Safe Riding

Paul, I really appreciate you sharing this. The straight forward way that you've written this is very effective.

Paul, I appreciate the message you are trying to communicate: that we must be safe and take precautions, but pushing the helmet issue and chastising the injured rider almost comes across as evangelistic pounding of the pulpit.

In thirty years of riding, I have had only one accident (twenty-eight years ago) where I was side-swiped by a car that pushed my fork into my front spokes stopping the wheel instantly and while I went over the handlebars a good thirty feet, as I was flying down a steep hill at the time, I landed on my chin, hands and elbows. I still bear the scar on my chin, in fact, after it was stitched up at the hospital (once again, thanks to the public health nurse who stopped and attended to me on the sidewalk that afternoon).

In the ensuing years, I learned a great deal and one of the things I learned is never to allow yourself to be doored: Don't ride on certain North York streets---the motor traffic is almost always well in excess of the 60km/h zone; ride at a reasonable speed on downtown streets that have many parked cars, (ie: Bloor, College, etc.), keeping a full meter out from the side of cars; chose routes carefully; keep your eyes open and your thumb on your horn (make it a loud one like my AirZound).

Collisions can be avoided with basic techniques. Being doored is not the cyclists fault, but the cyclist could have prevented injury by being alert---cabs are among the worst hazards a cyclist faces and one has to anticipate everything from a taxi slicing over in front of you abruptly to a blind u-turn to right-hooks and being doored on either side. Rather than give the guy grief over a helmet, I might have imparted wisdom based upon experience, such as the observations you listed above and left it at that.

It's a matter of choice. Non-hemet-wearing cyclists don't go around telling helmet-heads to take theirs off, so why do helmet-heads feel the need to convert helmetless cyclists like Latter-day Saints 'elders' who encounter an atheist?

Enigmaniac, the religious zealism is on your part, in the belief that you can ride your bike carefree without a helmet without risk of a brain damaging accident, from something as simple as falling over while stopped (happens to the best of us) and whacking your mellon on the curb. I can't think of the name, but many years ago one of our country's cycling stars was out for a ride in the city, had an altercation with a truck, and fell, hitting his head on the pavement. The coroner's report stated that a helmet would likely have saved his life. Now, if you want to flaunt safety and ride without a helmet, be my guest; it is not against the law as long as you are 18 yrs old or older (at least, not yet). But, enigmaniac (boy, that name says it all) you have not seen the aftermath of head trauma. It does not take getting a head squashed under the wheels of a dump truck. It just takes a sudden change in momentum of the brain. The skull is a closed compartment, except for little holes for the optic nerves, and a larger one for the brain stem, leading to the spinal cord. When your head stops suddenly, your brain keeps moving, squashing and bruising itself on the side of impact, then rebounds and hits the opposite side with the same result, what is called a cou - contre- cou (sp?) injury. When there is bruising, there is bleeding, and if you are really unlucky, you might tear a cranial artery. Slow bleeding will result in your brain being jammed down the formen magnem, the hole for your brainstem and spinal cord. It doesn't fit, so it crushed the brainstem - the part of the brain that controls incidental things like heartbeat and breathing. And so, you die. To make matters worse, if you ever look at the inside of a skull, look at the bottom of the brain pan. There are rows of rather sharp bone - just the thing to start a serious bleed with any motion of the brain within the skull.

I myself was VERY luck when I wrecked my first helmet - paceline riding in the dark on a 24 hour road event. The rider in front slowed without signalling, my front wheel touched, then climbed his (or hers) and then the bike snapped violently to the right. My head hit the ground so hard that all I could see was a flash of light. The fellows who helped me up were amazed when I caught up to them a kilometre later. My helmet deformed so significantly during the impact that the plasic on the other side was fractured as well. I didn't know this in the dark, and I had no headache, no visual problems, no neural deficits at all. Without a helmet, I wouldn't be sitting here typing this.

If you belong to a club that operates with the Ontario Cyling Association, when you go on a ride, you wear a helmet, or you are not riding with the club, no ifs, ands or buts.

Riding without a helmet reminds me of smoking - we all know what happens when you smoke, but unless you have an older relative or friend suffering the long term results, it doesn't seem to be a big deal to take a puff a few times a day. But, seeing someone who needs 15 litres of 100% oxygen added to their regular inhalation just to tolerate sitting upright in a chair certainly brings a different aspect to those cigarettes (and I can't belief the number of paramedics who smoke).

Motorcyclists used to ride without helmets, and now they can't. It isn't the speed, it is the sudden stop that injures the brain. I think that having an extra layer of protection for my brain is a good idea. I can't remember what it feels like to ride without a helmet - I know I did as a kid, but that was over 3 decades ago, and I used a helmet after the age of 24, when I started doing time trials with the Brampton Cycling Club, and I had to wear one. It seemed like a good idea, and so I do. It is not religious zealism - it is common sense. We all fall down. Sometimes it is a broken collar bone, or broken wrist (done that) or broken forearm (done that), or a trashed brain. We usually do not get to choose which injury to have, but the protection exists for the one injury that usually shows no improvement. I had one accident where my face took a 30 kph impact, saving the helmet from damage. It took 6 weeks for major concussion symptoms to recede enough to even think about riding and working.

So, enigmaniac, I am stating the facts, not preaching. I have had crashes and killed helmets. I have seen the injured, the dying and the dead. If you want to enjoy the wind in your hair, at least do it with the knowledge of the possible consequences. If everyone could see the future consequences of present actions, the world would be a different place.

Enjoy your rides, Paul Dicks

Don't try and turn the tables on me, Paul; that tactic is transparent and lame and rather eerily similar to what Jehova's Witnesses try to do when they scour the street looking for converts. I'm not the one posting a thread encouraging the use of helmets. You are. Nor am I posting threads telling riders to not wear helmets. I allow folks the choice that is theirs. Wear one or not, it matters not to me. Why does it concern you or anyone else whether I wear a helmet or not? I'm sure you're not kept awake at nights hoping I don't injure myself. So, really, it's no concern of anyone's but mine.

If, in the course of your duties as a paramedic, you encounter such injuries, I can understand why you would sigh and think that person might have been spared had they been wearing a helmet. But, if pedestrians wore full football equipment, they too might be protected from injury in the hundreds of motor vehicle-pedestrian incidents that occur every year. Or, if I wrap my son in thick foam when he's playing soccer, he might not get hurt. Incidentally, I insist thathe wears a helmet both to be in compliance with the law AND because he neither has the skill nor experience that other adult riders have yet.

Where you may cite coroner's reports that conclude a helmet would have prevented injury in that ONE case, other studies, including those cited by the City of Toronto on their own website concluded, after studying THOUSANDS of cases, that helmets do not necessarily offer a greater measure of protection. There have been a number of other coroner's reports that concluded that a helmet would NOT have saved a victim from serious or fatal injuries as well. That is the reason, in part, why mandatory helmet use by adults has yet to be enacted: they only provide protection in a very small number of uncommon incidents. Helmets really only address falling from a bike, not collisions and considering that falling, for most adult riders, is pretty rare, they may be a negligible safety accesory.

I suppose if someone is accident-prone or has a frequent habit of colliding with objects, a helmet might be a good idea. It also might help if they learned effective, safe techniques for riding a bicycle in urban traffic. However, if someone engages in more dangerous forms of cycling such as pacelining or mountain biking, racing or even fairly fast touring, a helmet is appropriate. The average commuter---the vast majority of cyclists---don't, in my humble opinion.

I hardly flaunt safety, my friend. In thirty years of fall-free riding, I have learned techniques that avoid accidents. I stop at red lights---all of them, ride at reasonable speeds for both weather and traffic conditions, use full lighting systems, position myself correctly, behave predictably and yield, in some cases, to other vehicles, among many other little things I do to keep myself safe. And while I have tried helmets twice, wearing them daily for more than a month each time, I found them extremely uncomfortable, distracting and detrimental to my enjoyment of riding. So, I might suggest not chastising me for not observing a suggestion that is not law (didn't you get enough sermonizing to the accident victim?) or proven to offer a tangible measure of protection.

I'll enjoy my rides, thanks for the thoughts, and I hope you do too. Keep wearing your helmet. :)

Fortunately for all of us who rides bikes for utility, events causing signifigant injury and death, are very, very rare. This is mearly one of the reasons why I disagree that wearing of helmets should be manditory.

I don't, however, disagree that it's still a good idea. I am more often than not seen wearing one.

You are better off riding a bike for utility -- without a helmet -- than to not ride at all. There are far more benefits than risk.

Riding for sport, however, is a different matter. There the risks are much higher, and wearing a helmet is one good way to mitigate a risk. That's why every club ride, group ride, race, and any ride that needs insurance of any kind, demands that all riders wear helmets. Anything resembling stunts or racing is what I would call 'sport'. That wearing a helmet is mandetory, in these circumstances, is very reasonable.

Paul is only suggesting that wearing one, based on his experience, is a very good idea. Perhaps he's doing it strongly, but he's not holding a gun to your head, nor is he going to refuse you first aid because you chose not wear one.

Me, I'd rather see more people ride; that's what I advocate. Helmet or not, as long as more people ride. There's safety in numbers, and with more of us riding the safer it is for us all. I also advocate against a mandetory helmet law for adults. But I don't want to be known as advocating against helmets. For many people wearing a helmet is like their lucky charm, or talisman; they need it to ride. That's fine by me too.

And if people like Paul want to advocate wearing helmets, that's OK by me too. Where he and I will butt heads is if he wants to make it law.

Sometimes, like while I am in a cycling instructor role, I have to both teach, and enforce, the wearing of helmets. I'm OK with that. I never said, and nor do I think, that wearing a helmet is a bad idea. They have their place, and they work best when worn on the head. But if it means that more people won't ride if they have to wear a helmet, well, that's at odds with what I'm advocating.

The EnigManiac, ride your bike. Wear a helmet, or don't. Most of us really don't care, as long as you ride. Some, like Paul, will want to remind you that's it's a good idea. He has his reasons. He might even seem like he's trying to 'convert the congregation' with his scary stories of the hell he's seen. Please, just ignore it, if it's not your 'thing'.

The EnigManiac, you are welcome to advocate for the change(s) you feel will suit you, and the cycling community, best. There are lots of other cyclists doing their own bit here or somewhere else for something else. Unless you're directly butting heads on an issue with them, it usually best to leave 'em be.

And I didn't see him trying to force a helmet on your head, he's just letting you know that wearing one often helps in those really rare occurances I mentioned above. Because of Paul's work, and because of the kind of riding he does, he has seen these occurances first hand more often than the rest of us ever will. And if I were him, I'd probably be scared into advocating for helemts too.

Another cyclist/car event this morning while at work - a cyclist doored at King W east of Tecumseth. Luckily, nothing was suffered beyond the wind being knocked out of him, and a red spot on the ribs - no bruising or fractures noted on assessment. The driver was very apologetic, and had looked; I think the rider must have been behind the car when the driver looked. And EnigManiac, you would be soooo proud of me - I held my tongue and did not comment on his lack of helmet beyond the inquiry if he had hit his head when he went down. I guess he was okay, because he got up and took off on his bike. Without evidence - no bike, no rider, there wasn't much point in the driver waiting for the police. I had to cut that conversation with the driver off because I was given another call to attend.

On a happier note - not that the rider being okay isn't happy - I had a wonderful ride to work this morning, the first in a long time that I had to wear tights. I guess I was working hard, as my light jacket left me soaked, even though the air felt cold. Did 40.000 km - what are the odds of that; I was trying to do around 40 km, and couldn't see the computer in the dark. I didn't have a single close call, and the Mississauga transit driver with the articulated double length bus left me at least half a lane and sometimes an entire one as we leapfrogged one another across Dundas until I got two greens in a row. I didn't have the incredible west tail wind I had on Wednesday, but it was a good ride.

Take care, Paul Dicks, CKAP 1206

p.s. Thanks to Anthony for doing my profile, and including both pictures. The number 172 is hard to make out, so, if the hair on the face doesn't give it away, I am the rider on the right.

Hi Paul,

We ride in opposite directions. I ride 20km from Toronto to Mississauga. If our commute times ever overlapped, I'm sure we'd pass each other.

I was still wearing shorts and sandals today, but I only left the house after 9:00. Had my jacket off by the time I was half-way to work. Would have taken it off sooner if I had a long enough red light.

I love riding at this time of year!

As for Mississauga Transit... I finally got a letter back from them recently after this incident:
http://www.ibiketo.ca/node/461

I have noticed that since this happened to me, the Mississauga Transit drivers have been extra careful around me.

I wonder Paul if when you come across a pedestrian or car driver with a head injury if you chastise them for not wearing helmets? Statistically both, at a minimum, have incidents of head injuries six times greater than cyclists. While on numbers, of the three cyclists that were killed this year in Toronto, two wore helmets. All three of them died from injuries other than head trauma. I cannot tell you how many times I have across a cyclist with an injured wrist/elbow/skinned knees to hear someone blame them for the collision because they were not wearing a helmet, although they suffered no head injury.

I get wearing a helmet but I just do not get this obsession with attaching blame to cyclists not wearing helmets involved in collisions. And this is what this is. I have yet to hear a politician spend as much time concerned about safety issues affecting cyclists as they do on the helmet issue.

I hold the medical profession in one level lower of contempt than politicians. Mostly because of their hypocrisy with respect to other road users use of helmets. Then for, something that is not so relevant to this issue, the use of giving away cars in hospital lotteries.

I am under no disillusion that I somehow become a safer rider simply because I wear a helmet or that my chances of death when in collision with a car change.

Study after study has shown that wearing a helmet or protective headgear while in a crash in car improves your survivability
Here's one almost ten years old:
http://www.dotars.gov.au/department/media/1998/dt2_1998.aspx

Or from last year:
http://www.abc.net.au/sydney/stories/s1542361.htm

Ironically, car crashes occur more frequently than bike crashes, and more drivers and passengers die each year than cyclists from head injuries.

We should be wearing these helmets or headbands whenever we are in a motor vehicle in order to save our lives in the event of a crash or collision.

It should be just as popular as bicycle helmets, and for the same reasons!

Sometimes near death is not our fault, as we all well know. You can be the law abiding, stop at the stop sign, don't jump the traffic light change, never on the sidewalk etc rider, and still get wiped out.

Yesterday on my ride to work from Mississauga to Keele and Wilson, I had two VERY close calls within 2 km or so. Riding up Keele, just south of the 401, a tractor-trailer passed me. The tractor part left me enough room, but cut back toward the curb too soon (is it my fault that because I am riding fast the driver misjudged when to return to his original lane position) and I quickly saw myself having an intiment encounter with the rear wheels of the trailer. Thank the Lord there was a driveway right ahead, and I escaped certain maiming or worse by going up the driveway and along the sidewalk until the trailer had passed me, then back down the next driveway and back on the road. The driver of the tractor-trailer following the first one gave me 3/4 of a lane, for which I am grateful.

Turning east onto Wilson, I am looking over my left shoulder for an opportunity to cut across 2 lanes of traffic to make my left turn, keeping close to the curb until it was safe to make the first lane change, and a TTC bus blows by me at well over the speed limit, missing my handlebar by 3 inches. Unfortunately, I only got the route number, and now that escapes me as well. It is best I was borderline late for work, because if I had followed the driver to the station, I would have been charged with assault.

Too many idiots out there that don't have a clue about the metre of space on the left a cyclist needs.

Take care, and safe riding, Paul Dicks CKAP 1206

How Paul do you figure it is your fault that the driver did not see you? Had he no mirrors?

I must have not made my thought clear with that sentence. I find that drivers sometimes misjudge passing me, and I assume it is because I ride around 27-30 kph when commuting, which, while certainly not fast by avid club riders and racing standards, is certainly faster than the average person riding on the road. Several times tractor-trailer combos have swung back into my space too soon, and I assume (the ass is me in this case) that the driver has made an automatic, reflexive calculation in his/her head about where he'll be when the back of the trailer is past me, and then pulls in without checking the mirrors. If you like excitement on the bike, that is the place to be. It is not my fault for riding fast, it is the truck driver's fault for not checking where I am. It is not the same thing as pulling up on the ridght of a vehicle which is signalling to turn right - that is a choice on the cyclist's behalf. I can't control what the truck does, other than to take the lane, and while it is my legal right, if I tried to ride up Keele St. in the middle of the lane today, this would be the last post I would ever make.

And hey, I've never been injured when trucks do this; it just aquires some fancy bike handling and darn good fortune, and I presume some serious interaction by my guardian angel.

Take care, Paul CKAP 1206

Completely agree with you, Paul. Why not just wear a helmet? I only started commuting by bike this past summer, and I wore a helmet from day one. Sure, I felt a little silly-looking at first, but I won't ride without one. I'm pretty certain that helmets are mandatory in my home town, St. John's, NL--and I think it's a good idea to enforce that here.

I had my first crash yesterday and came pretty close to whacking my head on the pavement. I'd rather not take chances--it's as simple as that.

Football/Rugby, Baseball and Hockey.

In times passed, players in each of these sports have played without helmets. Today, most people would consider any player NOT using a helmet to be cavalier at least. Most people are right.

just curious to know if its mandatory to wear helmet if your an adult. or is it your choice??

If you under the legal age limit you must wear a helmet. For an adult it is optional.

I always thought it was optional for an adult too, but someone pointed out this to me.
Check out 2.1 - maybe someone here knows for sure?

http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_st...

While the law reads that all must wear helmets, and that is the "intent," an exemption exists within in the regulations for those over 18 years of age.

This wording swap was done sometime last year.

I don't like it because the caucus can (quickly and quietly) change the regulation (at anytime) without the need of the whole legislature.

For some reason I'm remided of the story of the frog in the slowly warming pot of water that is not aware that it's about to get cooked...

While we're at it, why not make helmets mandatory for showers and baths. More people get head injuries every year taking a shower than riding a bike. When one of the helmet jihadis upbraids me for not wearing one, I tell them I'm riding a bike not getting shot out of a cannon.

During the police escorted Critical Mass last Friday, one of the young officers was polite but curious about why an old fella like me didn't wear a helmet.
I thanked him for his concern, then told him that most people didn't wear them in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands or other countries where cycling is popular and safe.
He seemed surprised at this.