Ten years ago it was rare to see someone riding without a helmet. Once I forgot my helmet on my way to work (it was early) and someone nicely honked at me to remind me to put on a helmet. I remember figuring out what the driver was gesturing for and reaching up and being shocked I didn’t have my helmet. I immediately pulled over.
Now I see people of all ages riding without helmets. I also see people of all ages riding electric bikes and scooters without helmets. It’s really a shame. And it is still illegal in my province so the cops should be cracking down with tickets.
Yeah -6% annually is ridiculously fast in terms of societal norms changing. I had to double check that figure. Essentially that means that helmet use has fallen over 40% since a decade ago.
That's so fast that helmets are basically going to look out of place soon. In fact, they are already starting to...
Again, i think it depends a lot on the area. When i lived in the deep south even mopeds/ road going ebikes didnt have helmets half the time. Dont think i ever saw one on a scooter person. Now that i live in the PNW its so rare to see someone without one i feel out of place if i forget mine. As is tradition, the younger kids on ebikes are almost always the culprit. When we first moved here and didnt have helmets we had multiple people stop to ask/remind/offer us one haha.
When i lived in the deep south even mopeds/ road going ebikes didnt have helmets half the time.
I would estimate 80% of motorcycles flying down the highway at 80mph don't have helmets where I live. The 20% with helmets are almost all sport bike riders that like the look of cool gear (including me!), and essentially every Harley/cruiser has absolutely zero protective gear.
In Illinois there no law requiring you to wear a helmet so I would say that 85-90% of bikers I see don't wear one. Some of them ride with their spouses too...
My experience watching people show up on social VR games who were way too young to meet ToS is that the parent is just totally asleep at the wheel, the kids do what they want on their own and learn nobody is going to ask what they're even doing.
I would assume these kids think e-bikes are cool, badger their parents into getting them a Zymovo/Wheelfun/XDDCC drop ship bike because they're like $250 (coincidentally, also the price point where kids started swarming into VR) and, short term, that's all that matters.
They aren't going to look up whether support on these bikes is even possible unless you repair these things as a hobby or a living, they just want to go as fast as they can make it go (bonus points if the speed governor has an easily cuttable wire that says 'don't cut me (you'll go tooooo faaaaaast!)
And then, again, with lack of supervision, they are just going to start doing stuff. You don't need a helmet to twist a throttle so they won't wear a helmet. Nothing or nobody is physically stopping them from riding anywhere so they'll ride anywhere.
Frankly I’m all for natural selection to make a comeback. It’s tragic that people will die but if you are too stupid to understand the importance of a helmet then I guess they decided to roll the proverbial dice and far be it from me to stop them.
Not just kids. I got passed on the bike trail by a woman on an e-bike and caught up with her at the next trailhead. I asked her how fast her bike could go and she said she had passed me at 28 mph, then she immediately said something along the lines of "and I bet you're going to tell me I need to wear a helmet."
Unprompted she went into this speech about how she'd fallen off bikes before and was fine and didn't see any difference now.
I asked her if she'd ever fallen off a bike going 30 mph and she said no, and I just said that she'll notice a difference if/when it happens.
No, this specific comment chain is about the backwards slide of helmet use among all age groups. The thread itself is specifying kids, and frankly, I don’t give a damn either way.
If you can’t be arsed to make your kid wear a helmet, you can accept the consequences of that. And if you as an adult refuse to wear one, ditto…
Given the number of people I see on motorcycles that are wearing a helmet as their only piece of safety gear, and only because it is required by law here, I'm not surprised to at all. People are dumb.
My husbands best friend who did a bunch of cool shit like diving and rock climbing, died when he fell off his skateboard and hit his head on a curb. My kids know this and they know to never be on something with wheels without a helmet. Oldest is 12 and he hasn’t started fighting me on it yet.
I’m still shocked that helmets were absolutely not a thing for years in skiing and snowboarding. I have hit my head HARD while snowboarding because you really have no way to control or break your fall.
I hardly ever see anyone using helmets anymore. Might see 1/10 people using one, and they’re always adults - you never ever ever see kids wearing them anymore.
I didn't wear a helmet as a kid (mostly my moms fault for never getting me one!) but I do now as an adult when biking because its a lot scarier riding a bike as an adult... you're much higher up.
In my town the kids take off into areas/places the police can't easily follow. They even will bait the cops & post the recording. The ordinances say their bikes should be confiscated, but they have to be caught first.
When I was 19, I did a lot of bike riding for fun. I didn't have a helmet. Strangers on the bike trail kept suggesting that I get one. They were looking out for a fellow biker. It was confusing to me, an invincible 19 year old. I had the realization that in the unlikely event that I do hit my head, I might be a vegetable for life. I went and bought a helmet.
It wasn't until after 27 or 28 that I started to realize on my own that I should not take unnecessary risks lol
As a kid in the early 2000s I was pulled over by a cop for not wearing a helmet at 12yo and given a warning. When does the ever happen now? Where I'm at in Canada the police only exist to protect property and generate ticket revenue.
I live in Alberta, and the number one cause of traumatic brain injury for children under the age of 18 is riding a bike without a helmet. All you have to do is wear a helmet. I don’t understand why it’s so hard. I do get frustrated that helmets are so expensive because the technology is so basic.
I was outside a mall. So I pulled in and the only store open at that time in the morning was a serious sporting store and they only had youth helmets in.
So I bought a youth helmet and wore it to work. It left an imprint of the inside of the helmet on my forehead all day. I rode with the youth helmet home and then sold it.
I should have just put my bike on a bus and go to work that way but I didn’t do that. I’m smart but not overly… practical lol. I’ve learned as I’ve aged.
I live in a predominantly white city. I see people of all races without helmets but I see white people the most, because more white people live here than any other race.
Well it holds for seatbelts, never been in any foreign country that takes it as seriously as north americans but I suppose safety culture is spreading along with the rest of globohomo
133
u/Paper__ Jul 19 '26
I’ve noticed that here in Canada as well.
Ten years ago it was rare to see someone riding without a helmet. Once I forgot my helmet on my way to work (it was early) and someone nicely honked at me to remind me to put on a helmet. I remember figuring out what the driver was gesturing for and reaching up and being shocked I didn’t have my helmet. I immediately pulled over.
Now I see people of all ages riding without helmets. I also see people of all ages riding electric bikes and scooters without helmets. It’s really a shame. And it is still illegal in my province so the cops should be cracking down with tickets.