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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Aibu to think the school is bang out of order

67 replies

Fishwife1949 · 10/10/2012 10:47

Saw a load of school children from our local school doing cycle training whats the issue you

Well there not wearing cycle helmets nor the instructor and this is not the first lot i have seen i am actually very shocked when my son did his 2 years ago they insited that they have helmets and their bike had a 10 point check to make sure it was road worthey

Surly if your teaching children road safty first lesson wear a frigging helmet and i cant belive the school are allowing this

OP posts:
GoldShip · 10/10/2012 11:01

I don't think YABU

but you'll get someone who will refer you to the study that states helmets don't really help or something or other...

greenbananas · 10/10/2012 11:02

DIfficult one. In principle I agree completely - all cyclists should be wearing helmets. On the other hand, helmets are an expense, and maybe some parents won't buy them. Some children really don't want to wear them.

It's probably better that all children get the chance to learn about road safety, regardless of whether or not they already own a helmet. But I'm surprised that the school don't have spare helmets they can make the children wear during training.

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 10/10/2012 11:06

YANBU!!! My sons schood did Bikeability - all the kids need to have roadworthy bikes and have to wear helmets! Like you say, it's a basic safety point and I can't believe any school wouldn't enforce that, seems like madness to me.

Some children really don't want to wear them - I won't let DS ride his bike if he doesn't want to put his helmet on.

Original poster
Fishwife1949 · 10/10/2012 11:07

You can get helmets in wilko for £10 but i do understand your point but nt even the trainer had no helmet

OP posts:
imnotmymum · 10/10/2012 11:08

At our school no helmet, no bikeability and this is how it should be fundamental safety issue. YASNBU.

Original poster
Fishwife1949 · 10/10/2012 11:09

No i wont either i have invested in a trendy banksy one which is a bmx style

Everyone always asks him about his hat

OP posts:
hlipop · 10/10/2012 11:09

doesn't seem right my BIL is a cycle trainer in primary schools and has to wear a helmet as to the children that are on the course!

Original poster
Fishwife1949 · 10/10/2012 11:11

This is the 2nd time now i seen groups of children doing this with out helmets fist time i thought it might have been a oversight on my part but now i seen it again today i pretty sure this is how they do things

OP posts:
LynetteScavo · 10/10/2012 11:11

Were they on the road or the playground?

I had to sign to say I was happy for DS to do it on the playground without a helmet. (I didn't sign...he wore his helmet).

Original poster
Fishwife1949 · 10/10/2012 11:13

On the road by my house Confused

OP posts:
RaspberryLemonPavlova · 10/10/2012 11:14

No helmet = no bike in our house. And if I spot them out without their helmet the bike would be confiscated.

DS2 fell of his bike onto his head last year and broke the helmet, which was by far preferable to breaking his head. There was also a child in DS1s class who ended up under a bus when riding his bike home from school (Junior school, parents present). Thankfully he too was wearing a helmet and is fine now.

He is doing Bikeability shortly and the letter says helmets are available in school if children don't have them.

freddiefrog · 10/10/2012 11:14

My daughter is doing Bikability at the moment.

Their bikes all had a check over, they checked the saddle and handlebar positions and the have to wear helmets

If a child doesn't have one, they can borrow one but the have to wear one to take part

greenbananas · 10/10/2012 11:15

Some children really don't want to wear them - I won't let DS ride his bike if he doesn't want to put his helmet on.

Oh I agree totally and my DS won't be riding a bike without a helmet either. However, there are lots of children around my neighbourhood riding without helmets. Some of them are also swerving all over the road and generally putting themselves/other road users at risk. I think it's better that they get taught without helmets than that they don't get taught at all.

FredFredGeorge · 10/10/2012 11:18

All cyclists shouldn't wear helmets - they're not always safer, they're not always appropriate, the risk doesn't always warrant them (more injuries would be prevented/lessened if pedestrians were forced to wear them than cyclists)

However, at low speeds and in the type of accidents young children have, they very very rarely increase risk, they are appropriate for the training, so YANBU to expect children to be wearing them in this situation.

SoupDragon · 10/10/2012 11:18

When DS did Bikeability they were given a free helmet and fluorescent tabard.

greenbananas · 10/10/2012 11:18

The trainer should definitely have had a helmet! What a rubbish message about safety he was giving to those children by going out without one.

seeker · 10/10/2012 11:22

After much research, I truly believe that helmets do not contribute to safety on bikes.

But I still think that something like Bikeability should make them wear them. If only for the reason that parents who insist on helmets would be so badly undermined by an instructor not insisting.

silverten · 10/10/2012 11:25

Weeeeellll.....

The case for cycle helmets is rather ambiguous, in that the protection they offer only goes so far, and that they also incur disadvantages as well as advantages.

It's not exactly a road safety issue, in that wearing a helmet won't protect you much if a lorry runs you over because you cycled up the inside into their blind spot.

However, teaching a child how/where to cycle safely does actually make a difference. Large benefits can be gained by providing guidance on safe road positioning and the importance of, eg, not running red lights.

5madthings · 10/10/2012 11:26

thats odd! mine werent allowed to do the course unless they had a helmet and their bike was chekced over by us and the instructor to make sure it was safe, they also all wore high visibility jacketd (provided by the school). i would contact the school.

WhenShallWeThreeMeetAgain · 10/10/2012 11:27

Sorry - disagree with you silverten. My SIL's bike was 'caught' on her back wheel by a lorry and she was throw over the handlebars (no helmet). After 3 days on life support she died. She left 4 young children.

GoldShip · 10/10/2012 11:27

I thought it very sad, but ironic when a cyclist on a anti-helmet rally banged his head and died. I wonder if that would have happened if he had been wearing a helmet?

I work in a bike shop so a lot of my friends and colleagues ride, they've had a few near misses where they have sworn that had they not been wearing a helmet, they'd be dead. I've seen the evidence when I've sent their helmets off for crash replacements, caved in!

So I do think people should wear helmets, especially children

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 10/10/2012 11:30

I cant believe helmets dont help save lives....if a kid flies over the handle bars and smashes the back of his head on the ground a helmet is going to help save him surely!!

Whenshall - so sorry about your SIL, that is so sad :(

silverten · 10/10/2012 11:31

You're missing the point WhenShallWeThreeMeetAgain, if the lorry caught her back wheel she clearly wasn't in its blind spot, was she?

Either it hit her with its front end, in which case that's the driver's fault for not looking where he was going, or with its back end, in which case that's the driver's fault for cutting in too quickly after overtaking.

GoldShip · 10/10/2012 11:32

Silverten does it matter who's fault it was Confused

The point at hand is whether or not helmets save lives, no matter what the cause of the accident, and in that very sad case of whenshallwe 's sister in law it possibly could have.

And I don't really like how unsympathetic you were in that post to her either.

pumpkinsweetie · 10/10/2012 11:32

Yanbu- They should have all been wearing helmets!
Helmets can save lives, you would think the school would know better!!! Shock

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