We do our best to be educational and to not rant about bike issues. We wear helmets, always. When our kids lived at home not wearing a helmet was a capital offense that resulted in loss of bike privileges and being grounded. I still tell them “I already did diaper duty with you and don’t desire to do it again”
This past Sunday a section of our ride took us on the local MUP, referred to as the Greenbelt. Being a Sunday we saw several bike riders, adults, kids, families with bike trailers and tag-a-longs. For the most part they all had helmets HOWEVER, the way the helmets were attached to the noggin was downright scary.
A helmet set way back on the head isn’t going to provide much protection if you pitch forward in a crash. A helmet that is so low on the forehead that the rider can barely see isn’t safe either.
Then there are the chin straps – they do need to be strapped and the do need to be in the vicinity of the area underneath the chin, not on your chin, not dangling 4 inches below the chin, securely under the chin, no they don’t have to strangle but the idea is to have the strap help keep the helmet on if you crash.
There are some great step by step informational websites about proper helmet fit. Helmets do not have to be expensive, granted a nice feature is the adjustable locking system that allows for a snug fit but even simple helmets using padding to adjust the fit provide great coverage. This simple guide on NHTSA is a good one.
Here are two photos, one of me after a crash, going very slow (maybe 5 mph) in town wearing my helmet, the other I found on Flickr. Finally here is a link you may chose to look at fair warning it is a nasty looking photo so I opted to do the link instead of posting.
