Do cycle helmets prevent serious head injury? Cycling without helmets.

Do Cyclists Need Mandatory Helmets?

The issue of bicycle helmets is still controversial. Should all cyclists be compelled to wear a helmet, or should they be allowed to take their own responsible decision? In some countries, Spain among them, there is strong pressure to make bicycle helmets mandatory. Here, a cocktail of opinions, beliefs and numbers is administered to the unaware public who swallows it and mostly agrees that “th...

Cycle helmets: 25 years along the road

Cycle helmets--when is legislation justified?

The issue of mandatory cycle helmets is highly contentious. The aim of this paper is not to argue for or against legislation but to suggest criteria on which the debate should focus. This is done by attempting to answer the question: 'What criteria must be met before cycle helmet wearing is enforced?' Consideration is given to principles, precedents and consequences and four criteria are sugges...

Combat Helmets and Blast Traumatic Brain Injury

Background: The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and the prominence of traumatic brain injury (TBI), mostly from improvised explosive devices, have focused attention on the effectiveness of combat helmets. Purpose: This paper examines the importance of TBI, the role and history of the development of combat helmets, current helmet designs and effectiveness, helmet design methodology, helmet sen...

Safety helmets

helmet of the water flea (Daphnia spp.) does not make it invisible, but it does confer some protection against predators by making the fleas harder to catch. Water fleas do not necessarily begin life with a helmet but can form one as a morphological defence in response to chemicals released by their predators. The images above show three pairs of water fleas from different species; the non-helm...