After the death outside the Olympic village yesterday, wiggo was interviewed and wheeled out the motorists old favourite that all cyclists should be made to wear helmets.
Pretty disappointing Wiggo. There's scant evidence they will avoid serious injury, and certainly, with the majority of deaths in London involving lorries or busses, I would expect them to do nothing.
More fundamental change in the way we all use the roads is what is needed, and an attitude change from both sides.
Pretty disappointing Wiggo
+1
Olympic medal winner in "Having a different opinion to yours" shocker.
Vive la difference!
(But yes, getting to the point of the OP's post, helmets alone are not the solution to making bikes and traffic play nicely. Wiggo didn't even mention RLJ's).
"There's scant evidence they will avoid serious injury, and certainly, with the majority of deaths in London involving lorries or busses, I would expect them to do nothing. "
i can think of several ways in which they would help.
I'm not sure he's right on helmets (I never get on a bike without one FWIW) but I'm sure he's just about my favourite human being alive.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/aug/01/bradley-wiggins-cycling-gold-reaction
But there is too much thrill in the air to worry about the view or the narrative – and nobody had to wonder who was winning because, obviously, Bradley Wiggins was. "The great thing about cycling", Wiggins said afterwards (brace yourself, he is about to become more likeable still) "is that anyone can watch it. We all know about the Olympic ticketing – inside here, it can all become a bit of a prawn sandwich fest. Ultimately, all the real fans are outside the gates."
I was hit by a lorry and the helmet saved my head for what its worth
You can't blame him for that can you. First his a dad, and I would bet a coffee that he makes his children ride with helmets.
Second he has probably crash quite a few of helmets himself and therefore save himself some injuries (small or big ones). Plus as far as I know they are compulsory for racing, so he may even use them quite a bit ;).
It's good to see a star take a stance on that. Whether it's towards your own opinion or not.
I don't see how wrapping your head in what is effectively a crumple zone can not be a good thing? Ok, it might not help in every situation, but it's simple physics that it's going to be a damn slight better than your bare head hitting a bus/pavement/whatever.
his supreme awesomeness should not be tainted just because he has an opinion on helmet wearing.
helmets might not stop you getting crushed under a tipper truck, but they will save you from a bazillion other injuries.
On his other note. Idiots wearing headphones in traffic - yes! Stop it.
You can't blame him for that can you. First his a dad, and I would bet a coffee that he makes his children ride with helmets.
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I'll have a double espresso please.
There was a study which showed motorists treat cyclists differently if they are wearing a helmet, they drive closer. Certainly they help, but they are definitely not the answer to road safety. Driving and cycling safely are the answer, helmets should not come into that equation and are the last line of defence.
I always wear a helmet and always will, that is my decision though and should not be enforced.
I think it's a bit rich to advocate compulsory helmet laws when he was filmed riding to his family just after the race without one.
I was hit by a lorry and the helmet saved my head for what its worth
It might have saved you from injury or lessened any injury you sustained, but it didn't save your life. If a truck is gonna kill you, a bit of polystyrene isn't going to stop it.
But he does have hold of him
Edit: referring to pic above
I went to amsterdam yesterday and only saw one person the entire day with a helmet and that was a little kid riding with parents. The cycle lanes were everywhere and motorists mostly respected them (although, ironically not the footpaths). I also never saw anyone on a bike in full on TdF sprint finish mode like you do in London so often. As such, in my well researched opinion, the problem is our cities are not catering too well for cyclists with lanes that vanish and put riders at risk, everyone is in too much of a rush, cars are ignoring people etc.
Generally then, the problem is people. If we get people out of cars, cities and cycling there will be fewer injuries, scratched cars and hissy fits.
But he does have hold of him
He's barging him so he can win. Competitive dad.
It might have saved you from injury or lessened any injury you sustained, but it didn't save your life. If a truck is gonna kill you, a bit of polystyrene isn't going to stop it.
Not true actually - people do die of isolated head injuries, extradural, subdural, subarachnoid haemorrhage etc. Seen it plenty of times. On the other hand some people do get run over in a way where nothing would have helped. Been unfortunate enough to see that too.
But how can you say it didn't Dave your life? If you are in a crash and come out alive then, in whatever way, your life was saved. You don't have to be hit hard to sustain a life threatening head injury - even having an 'SPD moment' could mean you hit your head hard on a kerb which could potentially cause massive injury. A helmet in that situation would probably do a massive amount to lessen that. Having the logic of "if it's going to kill you it will kill you', then why wear seatbelts in a car? Why have airbags.? Why give soldiers body armour? None of those things can guarantee to save your life, but they will damn well do a better job than not having them!
It's a marketing strategy.. have you not seen the new strapless Wiggo helmets held on by mutton chop velcro
well said speed12, it's common sense.
Deleted. Cba.
I think it's a bit rich to advocate compulsory helmet laws when he was filmed riding to his family just after the race without one.
On a closed road... I'd like to see him riding with his family on open road
This comes up every few weeks on here. The naysayers say that studies show they dont help, the rest of us bang on that you are a cretin not to war one, regardless of the evidence. Certainly the guy who left a fair portion of his scalp on The Stang descent in Arkengarthdale during the recent Richmond Sportive, and not wearing a helmet, would have [i]probably[/i] benefited from it, like all the other heroes who are too tough to wear one. I can tell you the Air Ambulance and land ambulance Paramedics who were called to him were not best impressed, nor were the 60 or so guys who couldnt get by when we shut the road so i could spend the best of an hour trying to stop the bleeding and keep him concious until the Paramedics arrived (the road was wide enough for one car only..or one guy sprawled across it, depending on how you want to measure it). Ive also had a few offs where a cracked helmet has been the result, not a cracked skull...my own personal study.
This will descend into the usual bitching blah blah, but thats my two pence spent...im off for a coffee.
More Peds killed by cars than cyclists but no-one advocates helmets/lights/highviz/headphones for them.
Wear a helmet by all means. Just don't claim it makes the roads safer. Infrastructure not victim blaming.
We did quite a bit of cycling in france on holiday without a helmet (always wear one over here) and they have such a lot of cycle paths it's so much safer than this country, even big cities seem to have safe ways around them for cyclists, and even when we were on the road which was rare drivers were a lot more courteous and gave lots of room. Perhaps attitudes to cyclists in this country need to change, stop people getting hit so often. Friend of mine got knocked off when someone swerved into her and she went over the bonet, silly bint in the car didn't even ask of she was ok, just started ranting about 'bloody cyclists' shouldn't be on the road. I'm not sure on whether people should wear helmets as compulsory but I do think we need more cycle paths and a better attitude to cyclists in this poxy country.
The memory of Bradley's big day may be tainted by the unnecessary death of a cyclist so close. But starting a thread critisising his comments on helmets is just ****ing retarded!
But how can you say it didn't Dave your life? If you are in a crash and come out alive then, in whatever way, your life was saved. You don't have to be hit hard to sustain a life threatening head injury - even having an 'SPD moment' could mean you hit your head hard on a kerb which could potentially cause massive injury. A helmet in that situation would probably do a massive amount to lessen that. Having the logic of "if it's going to kill you it will kill you', then why wear seatbelts in a car? Why have airbags.? Why give soldiers body armour? None of those things can guarantee to save your life, but they will damn well do a better job than not having them!
So, so many assumptions and half truths in that it's difficult to know where to start.
But basically, it can't be PROVEN that cycle helmets save lives and when someone trots out the old line 'if it saves one life it's worth it' you have to remember that is IS proveable that a healthy and active lifestyle does save lives and that forcing people to wear helmets stops them cycling to some extent.
Generally, I wear one. But I'd fight tooth and nail to keep them optional.
Impossible to police anyway, so it's a mute point.
And I seriously doubt it'll ever happen anyway.
don't get me wrong, there needs to be changes to car drivers attitudes, better PROPER cycle paths etc, but again, if a car driver was killed in a crash because they didn't wear a seatbelt, then I'm pretty sure the majority of anti-helmeters would be calling them a moron and not praising the fact they had the right to not wear a life saving device (which I realise they don't, but you know what I mean)Wear a helmet by all means. Just don't claim it makes the roads safer. Infrastructure not victim blaming.
lived in holland for 6 months with a bike last year
the roads are not safer - drivers are just as impatient
but it is very very very rare you need to use a road.
cycle paths are segregated from the road. If we had infrastructure like that id bet alot more folk would use the roads.
the ammount of folk in my office who have been put off cycling by having to negotiate the haudagain round about in aberdeen ....
Wot Emma said. Spot on. 🙂
well, yeah they are assumptions and I'm pret sure I said they were! You are absolute right, in each crash situation where a helmet is involved we don't know how much it helped. Likewise, in a situation where someone doesn't wear one we don't know if it would have helped or not. But, e chances are that strapping something round your head, which down to simple physics will lessen the force of the impact, will certainly help somewhat! Difference between life and death, who knows? Each crash is very different and the tiniest variation in where someone is hit an make a huge difference in the injuries they sustain - but again, doing everything in your power to protect yourself can only be a good thing!So, so many assumptions and half truths in that it's difficult to know where to start.
Impossible to police anyway, so it's a mute point.
If only it was.........3 threads on the front page at the moment 8)
Tell you what, wear a helmet if you want. Or hey, don't wear a helmet if you don't want to. I wear one for proper roadie-ing or mtb-ing but don't for a quick pootle into town. Don't ask me why, it's just what I do to make me feel better - all the googled & quoted research on here probably isn't going to make change what I do. Nor am I going to try and force someone else to do what I do either.
But let's all stand together in demanding that roads are made safer for cyclists. Arguing amongst ourselves will just distract from the real issues.
Shame many can't see beyond "what harm can compulsory helmet wearing do" and that old classic "bike helmet saved my live because I crashed with one on and lived".
I disagree with him, (given time to think he might disagree with himself, especially given the picture above) but the most retarded thing about this is the fact that the question was asked at all.
They don't ask the rowers and swimmers what they think about the latest child drowned at the beach, they don't ask F1 drivers about accidents on the A9 at post race interviews.
He looked ambushed and confused, and gave a poorly worded off the cuff answer. Sadly its now being played endlessly alongside news of this incident where a bus has killed someone.
If it transpires that the cyclist wasn't wearing a helmet people are going to start heaping blame on the victim.
Thats very unfair to Wiggins (based on an off the cuff remark), and more importantly enormously unfair to the victim.
He's not wrong about everything
Wiggins said afterwards "is that anyone can watch it. We all know about the Olympic ticketing – inside here, it can all become a bit of a prawn sandwich fest. Ultimately, all the real fans are outside the gates."
Just seen the interview and it looked like a clear example of a guy who's on the crest of a wave being pushed into the spotlight in front of the press to say something without preparation.
I'm not sure how much mileage we'll get out of the "legalise helmets" campaign, I believe they're already legal, no?
A little more time, a little more thought and a little more preparation and I'm sure we'll see his true feelings on the matter.
One hundred cyclists died on UK roads last year; if wearing helmets had been compulsory and had saved even five percent of them, that would have been five lives saved, five families not bereaved and five lots of cost to the country's services saved.
Drivers wear seatbelts; why shouldn't cyclists wear helmets?
I am pro wearing helmets but anti-compulsion. So do not agree with part of his comment, if OP is correct. But lets be realistic here, in the context of the good and bad that has happened here in the past 24 hours, it would be pretty silly for him to say, "nah, helmets are a waste of time because....cue stw BS on pros and cons. " Imaging the negative reaction and no, the general public and 24 media are unlikely to want a rational debate on the issue. We can't even have it here on a cycling forum!
Plus sensible comments on joy of watching cycling being free and without the rest of the Olympic vulgarity.
Special Olympic update!
A slight downward trend compared to last month, to dip below 300,000:
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But that could all be about to change:
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Let the games commence!
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/wiggo-on-helmets
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/how-do-you-deal-with-folk-not-wearing-a-helmet
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/bike-helmet-for-kids
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/the-helmet-debate-rumbles-on-in-the-mainstream-media
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/would-you-helmet-nazi-content#post-3139927
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/thank-god-for-helmets#post-3071801
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/so-i-decided-to-write-off-my-helmet-today#post-3015561
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/will-the-uk-every-be-like-this#post-3001646
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/no-helmet#post-2983986
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/helmets-2#post-2941835
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/this-really-makes-you-want-to-wear-a-lid#post-2919841
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/good-or-bad-advert#post-2894537
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/james-cracknell-wear-a-helmet-video#post-2783611
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/bmxers-idiots#post-2758996
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/wear-a-helmet-kids#post-2705179
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/psa-helmet-debate-on-radio-2-now#post-2584202
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/if-helmets-were-to-be-made-compulsory#post-2573922
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/helmet-on-your-child-always#post-2482018
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/some-very-sad-news#post-2476001
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/the-great-helmet-debate#post-2432920
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/compulsory-helmet-law-in-ni#post-2236497
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/how-smug-will-tj-be
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/helmets-possibly-the-last-word
So, the way I read it, Bradley has said that making helmets compulsory and passing laws restricting cyclists from listening to music would [b]enable cyclists to say that they had done as much as they could[/b] and therefore the responsibility must now rest with motorists.
#Bloodywelldonemate!
My point has been missed by some - forget the helmets or not, we need to make the roads safer, saying cyclists should wear helmets is putting all blame squarely on cyclists and missing the point completely that we need to design roads safer, not be completely car-centric, and use the roads and cycle lanes safely.
The fact that a cyclist suggested helmets were the answer angered me somewhat.
Yeah I agree with the thing about cyclists saying they had done as much as they could, but that is 100% their choice
