To wonder why wearing a cycle helmet isn't made law?

[sensuallettuce]

I struggle to make my kids wear a cycle helmet as they perceive it to be very uncool ( and don't listen to me suggesting it may be more uncool to be dead or brain damaged .)

I lived in New Zealand for a while where it is law to wear one which seems to take away the "option" for school kids esp - everyone wears one - there is no debate.

Driving through town today I passed a lady on a push bike wearing a sam brown and loads of reflectors on her backpack but no helmet - so its our responsibility to see her rather than for her to protect herself.

AIBU to wonder what the reason is for it not being law to wear a helmet on a bicycle as it is on a motorcycle in this country? Even if not just for kids?

I am very sceptical about the idea that car drivers drive more safely around cyclists without helmets. My impression is that most car/bike accidents occur when the cyclist hasn't been noticed.

I agree that in countries where cycling is the norm (Holland), the number of cyclists provide more protection than cycle helmets do. However, we are nowhere near the level that would provide this kind of protection, cycle helmets or not.

My cycle commuting over the years has been the Greater London sections of the Olympic routes (Chelsea/Putney/Kingston/Hampton) and I can't think of any section where I would be safer not wearing a helmet. Perhaps if there were some very wide cycling lanes it might make a difference, but where would they go?

Not to do with cycling but when I was a solicitor I came across a number of cases over the years of deaths resulting from people falling over on ice and banging their heads, just falling over and also from one punch during a fight. Now I work in care and have encountered several cases of people with serious disability through head injury following falling off a horse. If there is a blow in particular areas, or if you are just unlucky ad have an "egg shell" skullit doesn't take much to kill you or leave you very seriously disabled. I would never cycle without a helmet, not because I'm afraid of lorries and idiot motorists but because I think of just topping off or going over the handle bars and that being the end of me.

Children up to the age of 16 have to wear horse riding hats on the road. I personally think it should be the same for bike riders.

Helmets are just a diversion, you can't have (untrained, unlicensed) humans sitting on flimsy pram wheels sharing the same road system as fast moving massive metal behemoths and expect no deaths.

I think car drivers should have to wear helmets.

Helmets are just a diversion, you can't have (untrained, unlicensed) humans sitting on flimsy pram wheels sharing the same road system as fast moving massive metal behemoths and expect no deaths.

The massive metal behemoths don't discriminate. They are trained and licensed (mostly), but kill themselves, kill each other, bicycles are not a special target. You can see motor-vehicle related violence everywhere - an uprooted beacon here, a twisted railing there, a bunch of flowers on the side of the road, the selfishness of car drivers knows no limit.

I'd argue far more for pushing training for cyclists than helmets. I don't like the idea of it being compulsary though.

Like I said upthread. Most cycling fatalities occur in similar circumstances - when a cyclist goes up the left hand side of a vehicle in its blind spot and turns left. A situation where a helmet would more often than not make little or no difference. A situation where cycle lanes can actually contribute to the problem, rather than protect a cyclist.

DH reliably informs me, that the stats show that women are FAR more likely to die as cyclists too. Its an odd statistic that really needs closer examination. His theory is about confidence on the road, and where you position yourself. If thats true, then education would really would benefit female cyclists.

Hmmm, difficult one to actually enforce apparently is the main issue.....

For what it's worth I would never get on a bike without one now and I think it is the one thing that would send me off the deep end with offspring....

Cycling through Notting Hill some years ago I saw a woman with a very nice hair do come off and crack her head on the pavement. Her two kids who were all helmeted up were terribly, terriblly distressed as Mummy would not wake up and they were there, on that main road, with lots of strangers calling ambulances and generally it all went horribly, horribly wrong for those poor little people. I don't know the outcome but it was a slow motion fall, she just lost her balance, wobbled, whatever, ironically I think trying to keep an eye out for her kids. I suspect, from what I write below, she'd at least have been conscious had she been wearing a helmet.

Two years ago riding home I turned a corner I've ridden hundreds of times to head up a hill. I hit gravel and then the deck, very hard, helmet was a total write off and although I was a bit bruised and had some interesting road rash I was fine. I was doing probably 8 - 10 mph, if that. I'd probably have been in hospital without the helmet looking at the state of it. Interestingly re the above, er, it was the side of my head that was saved.....

Finally I used to teach a lovely girl at riding for the disabled. She was very beautiful and very disabled. She fell of her bike outside her house just before her GCSE year at school while playing around with her friends. She would have got up and walked away had she been wearing a helmet, as it was her totally able and together mind was trapped in a body that didn't work any more. It was very sad to see and even harder for her.

Regardless of what the law is I think it's a no brainer to wear one. Apologies if this seems a rather impassioned post but I've just had so much contact (it doesn't end above) with relatively innocuous situations where helmets would have and have made all the difference.

Most cycling fatalities occur in similar circumstances - when a cyclist goes up the left hand side of a vehicle in its blind spot and turns left.

That is not true. It is a common thing, certainly, but it is certainly not the majority.

Thats the irony - from what I've read and evidence I've seen, helmets are best for accidents like that but don't do so much when a car is involved.

Given this thread was resurrected because of a tradegic accident and subsequent comments that Bradley Wiggins (may or may not have) said, I strongly feel its important to talk about and address a lot of surrounding issues and to point out the fact there is way more to this than helmets or cycle lanes. They are being touted as a magic solution when they are far from the case and cycle safety needs a lot more looking at.

Incidentally DH DOES wear a helmet.

Well the wider cycling situation is a bit of a wider thing and a whole different set of issues/ worries, but yes, I agree. If you get wrapped round the number 9 bus or squished by a speeding driver a helmet is probably unlikely to make a difference but if they can make a difference in the more mundane situations then I think they are seriously worthwhile.

curbs urge to have a little rant about some daft and inconsiderate cyclists giving the rest of us a bad name and pissing off drivers generally to the detriment of all and generally blah, rant, etc, etc, etc........

I agree with JR. The only experience I have is about what happened to a work collegue cyclist who was knocked off her bike by a car. She was unconcious in hospital for over a week due to the head trauma and all doctors etc all agreed that if she had been wearing a cycle helmet she would have not suffered the traumatic head injury that she did. I am not saying that they are a instant solution to the careless / inconsiderate drivers (and I might say some cyclists) but I myself use this example on my children when they moan about wearing cycle helmets and although I do not cycle much I would always wear one when on a bike.

one problem is the poor design of bike helmets.

if they were like motorbike helmets, maybe even worn with horse-riding style back protectors a law would make more sense. but who whould want that?

I live in Canada, in an area where they are compulsory. I actually prefer the British system. People are responsible for their own stupidity or lack thereof.

It is also illegal to jaywalk in Canada and I object to being considered too stupid to cross a road without lights when there is nothing coming.

It's quite simple, if you think are quite likely to have an accident then wear one, if you think it's very, very unlikey then don't.

Really?? I mean really? that has to be the most bonkers thing I've read on this thread!! Accidents are called accidents for a reason, to assume you wont have one because you have 'experience' is just pure stupidity imo.

I know what I'd rather do. Personal responsibilty/accountablity is the key for everyone using the roads. I don't wear headphones, stop at all lights, take care approaching 'keep clear' in traffic, I wear some highvis and I do wear a helmet. I do whatever I feel comfortable doing where my personal safety is concerned.

Why is that bonkers Justin?

You've just backed up what the poster said, you believe there's a high risk you'll come to harm cycling so you wear all the gear, I don't think I will so I don't.

I stop at lights but I wear headphones and don't wear highvis/helmet, because I'm doing what I feel comfortable where my personal safety is concerned.

Round here the chances of something happening on your bike are the same as a car mounting the kerb and ploughing into you, so very, very unlikely.

Where are you cycling AgentZigZag? The Isle of Sark?

No can't be there, you mentioned traffic lights. Must be that Legoland Driver Academy Place.

'Must be that Legoland Driver Academy Place.'

It was my legoman haircut that gave it away wasn't it?

Live next to a bird reserve so some roads, but not many.

Everyone cycles in Netherlands and there isn't this nonsense about wearing helmets.

Everyone cycles in Netherlands and there isn't this nonsense about wearing helmets.

Exactly. Also they just wear normal clothes and not all the lycra kit a lot of the time.

I actually do believe cars pass closer to you when you look more "professional" as a cyclist, rather than someone in normal clothes on a cheap bike.

Also I never go so fast that I would particularly hurt my head if I fell off. Going up hills I could get off and walk faster.

I do wear a helmet (when I can find it) but I don't feel any safer in it or that it affords me any protection. The only reason I would wear one is social pressure. And if I were riding off road on a track I certainly wouldn't bother.

^one problem is the poor design of bike helmets.

if they were like motorbike helmets, maybe even worn with horse-riding style back protectors a law would make more sense. but who whould want that?^

Exactly again. I fail to see what difference a bit of daft flimsy moulded plastic stuck on your head makes.

Yanbu, I think it should be law too, along with wearing hi-vis clothing.

I think the same should apply to horse riders too, although I've never seen someone on a horse not wearing a helmet, I rarely see correct use of hi-vis, and I don't think I've ever me anyone who gives proper thought to the colour of their clothing and how it could be used to stand out from their surroundings.

I've thought the same about mobility scooters standing out when they're on the road Queen, but it has to come down to motorists being aware of what's on the road and paying attention.

'I didn't see them' doesn't excuse mowing anyone down.

Yes, everyone has lapses in concentration, but that's up to the driver to make sure they're focused, and if they can't focus then not to drive.

I agree "I didn't see them" is no excuse, but when I turn into a lane near me at night, with headlights on, with no pavement, I really cannot see someone walking there in normal clothing until I'm very close to them, and I have very good eyesight. Also there are no street lights here and some zebras are pretty poorly lit. I don't go fast enough for it to be a problem, but I think pedestrians should be aware that drivers really cannot see you very well if it's dark! I wouldn't walk down there without hi-vis.