I could even ask, Does wearing a helmet really make you a safer rider? (or less safe?)
I just finished a series of trainings for safety professionals, called a professional development workshop (PDW) and during the course of that training I noticed a certain attitude about how some feel about those who do not wear helmets. Just to be clear I wear a helmet about 98% of the time I ride a bike, I could be more diligent, but to be truthful sometimes when I'm moving a bike around I don't. I'm well aware of the risk and I am diligent to be aware of that risk. (I'll get into this a bit more in a minute.)
The topic came about because of a discussion about what should be used (gear-wise) when riding demos. It is an industry standard that regular jeans, a long sleeved T-shirt, gloves, over the ankle shoes and a 3/4 helmet is sufficient. (But if we want all the gear all the time, does hat really support that?)
Over my few years of street riding (9) I've had uncomfortable situations with both riders that do and don't wear helmets and I can say with 100% certainty that those situations with people not wearing helmets have always occurred under the speed limit and with people wearing helmets have happened both under and over the speed limit (mostly over.)
I've had 2 riders that I've personally ridden with die on bikes and both were wearing helmets at the time of their death and did so for every ride I've know them to ride.
It is undeniable that you are safer in a crash if you are wearing a helmet, that's not even a question here. The question is, what happens when a helmet gets put on your head? Do you lose some of your safety, because you feel more comfortable.
Back to my non-helmet riding times. Someone blasted me the other day for a Bike Week photo in which I rode by a photographer without a helmet, to get a photo. I've seen the same person make triple digit passes on double yellows and thought it funny he was chastising me, but whatever.
The comment came back at me "Well, you did ride differently without your helmet, right?" I kinda took a pause and said, um....Yes and No. No, because I ride exactly the same without a helmet, I just will not ride in certain places or the distance I'll ride with a helmet. True, I could die falling off of my bike at 5 MPH without a helmet, but I could die just as quickly falling from a run out of my garage and into my kitchen. Life is a risk.
During the PDW I noticed 2 distinctive camps that stood out when it came to helmet wearing. (They are not the only 2 viewpoints, just the most noticeable.) The first regarded helmet wearing as some statement of intelligence, they basically regard people that do not wear a helmet as stupid and uninformed. The second group basically wanted others to wear helmets and didn't outwardly judge helmet wearers, but then made the statement that they would not ride with those that do not wear helmets because they didn't feel safe around them.....
I reflected back to my experience and when asked I had to truthfully state that the only times I've ever felt my safety in danger was around an entire group of helmet wearing people. That's not because I've not been in a group of non-helmet rider either, I've got thousands of miles of experience with both types and I've never had a personal safety scare with a group of non-helmet wearing riders.
If I'd have to say why, my answer would be Attitude.
The attitude of non-helmet wearing rider seems to be that motorcycling in dangerous, but worth the risk for fun.
The attitude of helmet wearing riders seems to be that motorcycling is dangerous, but less dangerous because they wear a helmet. (I've even heard riders explain that wearing gear makes them "safer.")
When I looked at the reality of the matter I realized that wearing a helmet (or any gear) does not make you safer at all. It just makes crashes more survivable. It does not make a crash less likely to happen at all.
However, if your attitude is one that wearing a helmet does make you "safer" it could indeed make you more likely to have a crash.
Simply for the fact that you'll be more likely to take more risk.
For me, I put a helmet on and then ride as if I don't have one at all.
With that as the background to the subject, here is my issue and concern.
I believe that gear gives (or can give) riders a false level of confidence that is inherently dangerous. Safe riding occurs in a riders head, not how it is covered. Therefore to be truly safe a rider should have the skills and mental decisions that keep them safe riding a bike in flip-flops, shorts and that's it. (No, I'm not advocating that type of riding.)
I believe we should concentrate on the safe habits of riding first and then gear second.
After all the goal is to eliminate crashes, not make them more survivable.
So I'll ask the question again. "Does Wearing a Helmet Make You a Better Rider?"
Added Later
A couple forums made a valid point that a helmet does increase a riders safety in the calm of protection from bugs, rocks, wind and thus reduced fatigue as well. This is a valid safety point and actually why I wear my helmets all the time.
