to think Wiggins should be wearing a helmet?

[alphabite]

Set a good example to the kids Wiggins and put your helmet on!

Well done though, great race!

[MrsCampbellBlack]

And I am all for helmets but seriously - I don't think it mattered but I know people were snarky when his son did his little ride with Bradley after he won the tdf minus a helmet.

[mummymeister]

set a good example for the kids you said OP. Well that is exactly what he has done. issues with his father when he was a kid. obviously a shy and private man who has gone out there and won gold. thats the example i am showing my kids not a couple of minutes at snails pace waving to the crowds without his lid on. all this obsession about helmet wearing gives some people the feeling that if they are wearing one then they are invincible which of course they are not. My kids wear them for cycling and watersports and could well see why he wasnt wearing one at the end. surely thats the point - educating your kids so they know what is the appropriate thing and when.

[HmmThinkingAboutIt]

There is a theory called Risk Homeostasis.

Its been proven that the way people behave changes according to how they assess risk. So sometimes if you use a safety device, you think you can take more risks as you are under the mistaken notion you are safer - thus increasing your chances of having an accident rather than making you safer. So you are no more or less likely to be injured overall.

One of the things this has been studied on is cycle helmets. Drivers have been shown to behave less safely around cyclists with helmets than cyclists with helmets.

Its also been used to compare drivers with ABS and normal brakes and found comparable rates of accidents due to differences in driving style and risk assessment.

Its an interesting theory, and one that makes perfect sense whilst making you go "Wow really?" at the same time.

[CakeMeIAmYours]

hmmthinkingaboutit is spot on. I was seriously about this when DH first mentioned it, but was forced to eat my words when I looked at the evidence.

[spoonsspoonsspoons]

I know someone who was told by medics that his helmet saved his life. The fact that he wasn't wearing one had passed them by!

[HmmThinkingAboutIt]

less safely around cyclists with helmets than cyclists without helmets even!

[dexter73]

He was also cycling around with both his hands off the handlebars!! I think he had other things on his mind than being a good safety role model to children!

[RedHelenB]

I would say ALWAYS wear a hard hat on a horse cos they can be spooked by anything & you have further to fall. Pedalling slowly on a road without other traffic is safe, really unlikely to fall hard on your head.

[bumperella]

I wear a helmet kayaking. Capsized in brand new one, hit rock, helmet split apart. Typical, £40 down the drain.....

Am pro-helmet. But Olympic medal winner wearing one for a short pootle at v low speeds on a road with no traffic seems excessively risk-averse, even to me....

[pimmsgalore]

bumperella have done exactly the same thing myself but DH did point out that without the £40 of the helmet down the drain I would have been upside down with a large bump on my head, possibly blood pouring out, floating off to the big kayak in the sky

[HellonHeels]

He's just won Olympic gold! in the course of which he was wearing a helmet. Do bore off with this worthy setting an example business.

[DanniWeston]

I saw an excellent device called the "Thudguard" on "The Apprentice.

hey advise helmets for toddlers due to the high number of head injuries when children are at this vulnerable stage.

They are also endorsed by Doctors, A/E consultants and have stories of children who were saved from serious brain injury by these helmets.

How many of those advocating cycle helmets are going to use Thudguards ?

[DanniWeston]

... and will we be expecting parents to wear them and set a good example?

[IOutrunBoltInMySpareTime]

He did a press conference (last night? I saw it on BBC Breakfast) advocating the wearing of cycle helmets, and promoting safe cycling. OP, are you happy now?