This is less a question than a statement by a guy who’s a Facebook friend, who I see seldom in real life, though he lives in the area:
I see you walking around with your bike helmet, even when you’re not riding.
To be clear, I DO have my bike with me. I responded, “You never know when some space debris might fall.”
The TRUTH of the matter, though, is that, sometimes, I forget, occasionally, that the helmet’s on. More likely, though, is that I’m afraid I WILL forget the helmet.
This has happened THIS calendar year: I wait for a bus with my bike (because I’m going on that 1.5 mile stretch over I-90 since bikes aren’t allowed.) I get on the bus. Getting ready to get off the bus, I realize I don’t have the helmet. In this case, I called The Wife, as she was home from school, and she managed to retrieve it.
This ALSO happened several months ago: I get off the bus take my bike off the front of the bus, the bus drives off, and only then do I realize the helmet is not on my head. It was winter or early spring, so I had a knit hat on, which I wear UNDER my helmet. Feeling SOMETHING on my head fools me into believing that I had my helmet. Fortunately, this bus, at my work site, doubled back, and I got the helmet before it left the area.
A secondary reason for wearing the helmet is to protect me from the sun. The vitiligo is particularly bad on the top of my head, and the helmet offers a measure of protection when I’m sitting at a translucent bus stop.
There are a lot of adults who don’t wear bicycle helmets when driving in the city, since it is not mandated. I think they are CRAZY. I’ve discovered that, in general, people with bike helmets are more visible. Helmet use has been estimated to reduce head injury risk by 85 percent.
I’d rather look silly wearing a bike helmet than end up brain dead.
It doesn’t look that silly. And saving your neck would justify it even if it did.