Forum menu
Sounds to me like someone's never been fined for a cycling offence nevermind arrested.
Some here have. 😉
Pigface - Member
Didn't they make helmet wearing compulsory in Australia and kids cycling dropped dramatically? *
It certainly did. It was/is a bloody stupid law.
When it came in there were heaps of people, mainly working men riding to work. (If you ever watch 'Delinquents' with Kylie starring, you'll get the idea)
Overnight because of rigorous enforcement, they disappeared from the roads and started driving their cars to work instead.
I was one of them. Like most I used to wear a broad rimmed hat to keep the sun off me. There's a pretty high risk of skin cancer for fair skinned people, and there wasn't any Factor 50 around then. The greater risk was the cancer than a fall IMO.
I bought a helmet and tried to continue riding to work. It was bloody awful, I was sweating in it like a pig, my head was overheating and I was getting sunburned. I stopped riding to work.
It did mean I had to become a creature of the night to get my cycling fix, so I became very creative with my lighting setups - motorbike headlamps and huge lead acid batteries, but very limiting.
Helmets did improve with better venting, but in reality, they don't look like they offer any protective cover than my old hairnet racing helmet, and better sunscreen made daytime riding ok. But by that time the damage was done, and the only cyclists on the road in Oz were the enthusiasts, not the commuters.
Now my head is devoid of hair, I happily wear a helmet - it keeps the woodpeckers off.
But look at a cycle helmet from a non cyclists viewpoint. Can you imagine a more dorky looking thing to perch on your head? And then you have to pay "How much? !!! " for a decent one.
Helmets suck, basically.
I'm sure my neighbour would stop cycling to work if she had to wear a helmet. She does has a job that means her hair has to look good (yes, this is a sexist world). Helmet hair isn't an option for her.
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.
This, everything else is preaching to the converted IMHO.
Debating cycle helmets is a mug's game, and I'm not going there, but I think it's time we started talking about protective headgear for pedestrians and motorists. Many people die or suffer life changing injuries, and if they save one life, helmets for peds and motorists have to be a good idea.