Apparently, helmets are a barrier to people starting cycling so we shouldn’t wear them.

Link

He’s probably right

Well he’s clearly a professional journalist so his opinion must be worthy of consideration.

all the old school lads i ride out with –fellas with racing experience ,greta handling skills–on social rides none of us wear helmets—i am not arguing that you should not , but one of the reasons i like cycling is the freedom to go where you want, wearing whatever you wish, not being forced to wear equipment for ‘your’ own safety– no doubt there willl be tales of woe -how a helmet saved so and so –ever had a wasp stuck in it ??

Didn’t they make helmet wearing compulsory in Australia and kids cycling dropped dramatically? *

* could be miles out with this one

They dissuade people from taking up cycling by making them wrongly think it’s dangerous.

could say the same thing about seat belts 😕

But driving is dangerous! Cycling down a path in the woods at 5mph isn’t much different to walking!

could say the same thing about seat belts

People don’t drive as a leisure activity much, and we’re not trying to persuade more people to drive to work.

But driving is dangerous!

is it ? 4.3 deaths per billion vehicle-km in the UK

Yeah I’d much rather have nothing between my head and the road/car/lamp post/rocks etc than worry about a little sweat or hypothetical wasp situation! You can have all the mad bike handling skills in the world, doesnt stop some tosser in a car running you off the road!

If it stops kids from cycling then it’s up to the parents to educate them.

If the guy in the story was wearing a helmet with a flashing light on the back the lorry would probably seen him.
*I’m a big fan of flashing helmets

I’ve actually told my kids it’s okay not to wear them on a few occasions.

There are parents over here who won’t even let their kids pootle around on their scooters without one….far too safety bonkers.

Time and place.
If the kids are just pootling around in the play area then I don’t make them where one, would I make them wear a helmet on the swings, or climbing frame? But if we are going on a bigger ride where things might get a bit busier, they are whizzing down hills or playing over the skate park, then makes sense.

Same for me. If I’m popping down the shops via the cycle paths (These are separated from the cars). Then I probably won’t bother. If I’m on a proper ride, or commuting to work, with cars, busy streets, I’m generally reaching higher speeds, or I’m on the MTB, then I wear one.

The biggest danger to cyclist (completely un-scientific, just my years of experience) are people just not paying attention whilst driving, or just assuming bikes go slowly and completely mis-judging the speeds.

As a cyclist, your biggest protection is assuming every driver is an idiot and prepare for it.

With all that said, I’ve had a couple of big off’s, at speed, smashed helmets and I’m pretty sure I’ve come out of them a lot less bashed up for the lid.

Thing is, it’s not about you lot. You’re all mad keen cyclists, wearing a plastic hat isn’t going to put you off – and like with funny padded shorts, wearing a helmet is all part of the “getting dressed up to ride a bike” thing which lots of people enjoy.

It’s about the reluctant cyclists. The tubby bloke who really should go for a cycle along the canal instead of sitting in front of the telly. The commuter who thinks she should cycle for the sake of the environment, but the car is easier.

For them, wearing a plastic hat is a turn off. It turns them from a normal person into a cyclist, and we all know what normal people think of cyclists. You don’t want to be one of them. Your mates will laugh at your silly hat, and real cyclists will sneer because you’re too slow.

I know it’s a hard attitude to understand if you’re a keen cyclist, but we don’t really need more keen cyclists, we really need more normal people on bikes.

could say the same thing about seat belts

If the seatbelt law puts some off driving then that is a GOOD thing in terms of overall public health (less sedentary travel, less fumes, less accidents).

Conversely if helmets put someone off cycling then that is BAD for overall public health (less activity and regular exercise, more cars).

Evidence from other countries strongly suggests that mandatory helmet laws have a large negative effect on the numbers cycling. Meanwhile obesity-related deaths are the number one killer in the UK.

So even if helmets were 100% effective at preventing head injuries in every accident, making them mandatory would do far more harm than good.

(Note: none of that means I am against wearing a helmet!)

could say the same thing about seat belts

You could well argue that although you would have to also consider the fact that stopping people from driving is on balance probably a good thing (reduced greenhouse gas emissions, congestion exercise) whereas stopping people from cycling will have a negative effect on those things.

I completely agree with Chris Boardman, the helmet debate is an irrelevant distraction that causes in-fighting.
Helmets aren’t even in the top ten of measures that would improve cycle safety.

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/article/20141103-campaigning-news-Boardman–Why-I-didn-t-wear-a-helmet-on-BBC-Breakfast-0

but we don’t really need more keen cyclists, we really need more normal people on bikes.

^^ This.

Go to Denmark, 1000’s of bikes. Most of those people won’t say they are cyclists, they just use a bike to get around. The infrastructure, laws and drivers attitudes are in place that it just makes ‘sense’ to use a bike.

All the benefits that come with being more active and the decrease in environmental damage are the bonuses.

Holland and Denmark have the some of the worlds lowest rates of death/serious injury per cyclist mile, and no-one in either of those countries would dream of wearing a helmet for cycling around town. They have very high levels of cycling participation.

Australia made helmets compulsary, it made no appreciable difference to deaths/injury rates, but participation has dropped markedly.

The only factor that can be constantly shown to correlate with reducing cyclist injury rates is increasing participation.

He’s right.

I wonder if drivers would act differently around cyclists if they did look more like people? Cycling itself (gnaar excepted) is very safe and doesn’t need any safety gear, it’s just those other idiots

Big difference in typical Dutch and UK commuting. Option 1 must be more appealing but needs a critical mass or a change on attitude to make it happen here.

bet the girls in picture 1 never had a juggernaut pass them by inches doing 60.

Now check out the cyclist deaths per km for those two countries and the rest of Europe. On empirical evidence from cycling around Europe there’s an inverse relationship between helmet wearing and the death rate. It doesn’t matter what you’ve got on your head when driver mentality is anti-cyclist and town planners have been anti-cyclist since WWII.

Cycling down a path in the woods at 5mph isn’t much different to walking!

With a bit more fitness work I reckon I could hit 5mph at times.

Thing is, it’s not about you lot. You’re all mad keen cyclists, wearing a plastic hat isn’t going to put you off – and like with funny padded shorts, wearing a helmet is all part of the “getting dressed up to ride a bike” thing which lots of people enjoy.

It’s about the reluctant cyclists. The tubby bloke who really should go for a cycle along the canal instead of sitting in front of the telly. The commuter who thinks she should cycle for the sake of the environment, but the car is easier.

For them, wearing a plastic hat is a turn off. It turns them from a normal person into a cyclist, and we all know what normal people think of cyclists. You don’t want to be one of them. Your mates will laugh at your silly hat, and real cyclists will sneer because you’re too slow.

I know it’s a hard attitude to understand if you’re a keen cyclist, but we don’t really need more keen cyclists, we really need more normal people on bikes.

I’d agree with that. But I also wouldn’t say don’t wear a helmet for the same reason. I know casual cyclists for who over invest in helmets as a safety feature. These people would be put off if pressured not to wear a helmet.

So where the article is wrong is that it tells people what to do.

Myself I normally where a helmet. If I forget it then no worries I just get on with it. But even TJ accepted that a helmet once saved me from a more serious brain injury

name the biggest difference between cycling in denmark and holland and the uk.

its not the helmets – its something else !

what ben said

At low speeds and on pootles cycling is as safe as running.

Local flat off road river loop and the looks me and my kids get when we dont wear helmets- largely from folk on a squeaky BSO out for its one trip a year- is amusing and I have been challenged a number of times by non cyclists [ but bike owners] on the dangers and how irresponsible I am . We wont get more folk on roads if they think cycling is dangerous. Its as safe as walking.

Bacon?

But driving is dangerous!

is it ? 4.3 deaths per billion vehicle-km in the UK
[/quote]

The problem with quoting death rates in deaths/km is that people do a lot of km in vehicles.

As a ball park figure, suppose you do 20,000km/year (12,500miles/year) every year from birth to age 65. That’s 1.3m km in your life, or a 0.56% (1 in 179) chance of being killed in a car accident. If you consider KSI not just killed, that’s 96/billion km that’s a 12.5% chance or 1 in 8 chance of being killed or seriously injured.

I’d say that’s quite dangerous.

bencooper – Member

Thing is, it’s not about you lot. You’re all mad keen cyclists, wearing a plastic hat isn’t going to put you off – and like with funny padded shorts, wearing a helmet is all part of the “getting dressed up to ride a bike” thing which lots of people enjoy.

It’s about the reluctant cyclists. The tubby bloke who really should go for a cycle along the canal instead of sitting in front of the telly. The commuter who thinks she should cycle for the sake of the environment, but the car is easier.

For them, wearing a plastic hat is a turn off. It turns them from a normal person into a cyclist, and we all know what normal people think of cyclists. You don’t want to be one of them. Your mates will laugh at your silly hat, and real cyclists will sneer because you’re too slow.

I know it’s a hard attitude to understand if you’re a keen cyclist, but we don’t really need more keen cyclists, we really need more normal people on bikes.

That being said Mr. Fat Sofa, occasional reluctant cyclist will be much less confident and proficient on a bike. He’ll be your typical wibbly wobbly panic stricken gutter clinger who stalls or falls at the first obstacle.

That being said Mr. Fat Sofa, occasional reluctant cyclist will be much less confident and proficient on a bike.

So much less likely to take risks, be cocky, and hit a tree at 30mph 😉

As a ball park figure, suppose you do 20,000km/year (12,500miles/year) every year from birth to age 65.

You could use that figure, if you wished to grossly over-estimate how far people travel by car.

bencooper

So much less likely to take risks, be cocky, and hit a tree at 30mph

Aye, or much more likely to have a low speed tumble and ding his dome off the pavement.

I agree with you Ben, it’s not really us who need to be concerned about wearing or not wearing a helmet. It’s not going to sway us one way or the other. But the issue of random joe public adopting cycling, wearing or not wearing lids, is far from black and white.

If 20% of commuters who usually drive went out tomorrow and bought a new bike, then cycled to work for the first time on Monday morning I think you would see some serious carnage, helmets or not.

Denmark is similar to the UK once you leave the cycle paths, Trail Rat. Danish drivers are just as impatient, inconsiderate and selfish IME.

You have countries with good cycle infrastructure and generally considerate drivers: much of West Germany.

Countries with lousy infrastructure but generally considerate drivers: France.

Countries with lousy infrastructure and more than a minority of impatient, inconsiderate drivers: UK and parts of Spain.

Edit: two minutes with Google gives 10-15 000 miles per car per year in the UK. Given the number of cars and the average occupancy that not an overestimate above.

hat being said Mr. Fat Sofa, occasional reluctant cyclist will be much less confident and proficient on a bike.

But conversely Mr Fat Sofa’s pootle along the canal will be unlikely to involve much speed and probably has a risk factor roughly equivalent to jogging the same route.

But driving is dangerous! Cycling down a path in the woods at 5mph isn’t much different to walking!

I drive nearly every day and have never suffered injury or contact with another car, I cycle maybe twice a week but only over the last 4 years and I have fell off and suffered injury a few times.

But it’s all bollocks, it’s not compulsory to wear a helmet so if it’s putting people off then they are too stupid to operate a bike in the first place.

GrahamS – Member

hat being said Mr. Fat Sofa, occasional reluctant cyclist will be much less confident and proficient on a bike.

But conversely Mr Fat Sofa’s pootle along the canal will be unlikely to involve much speed and probably has a risk factor roughly equivalent to jogging the same route.

And if Mr Sofa doesn’t have a canal or cycle lane? What if he has to mix it with city centre traffic? I’m just being devils advocate here.

If 20% of commuters who usually drive went out tomorrow and bought a new bike, then cycled to work for the first time on Monday morning I think you would see some serious carnage, helmets or not.

and the bso left in the garden on tuesday to rust.

And if Mr Sofa doesn’t have a canal or cycle lane?

That’s not the scenario in the article, but then I would hope he’d make his own risk assessment on where he is safe to ride and what protective gear he might need.

Ultimately his obesity is still a greater risk to his health than cycling with or without a helmet.

I hope someone links this to TJ. His work here was not in vain.

Safer to use what’s in your head – than what’s on your head.

A lot of new cyclists think that a helmet makes them pretty indestructible. And ride accordingly!
Worth remembering that a helmet is only designed for impacts up to 15mph. And majority of fatalities involving bike v vehicles are due to being crushed.

I will do and he persuaded me on this issue and i had the pleasure of riding with him sans helmet on a STW ride