Aibu to think the school is bang out of order

[Fishwife1949]

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

Point it out. I am evangelical about helmets.

As I have said before, several years ago we, as a family, were cycling along a wide gravel track. Ds is a very competent cyclist and is a member of a local cycling club. He was wearning a helmet. For no apparent reason, he wobbled and fell off. His head hit the only stone in sight. He lost conciousness immediately. When he was air-lifted to a specialist head-trauma unit an hour later, he was still semi-concious and incoherent and one of his pupils was blown. The initial ambulance had refused to take him as they said he needed immediate specialist care.

He spent several days in a drug induced coma during which time we had no idea whether he would be OK when he came around. The neurologist was quite clear that had his head sustained the imjuries that his helmet had, he would have died.

There was no reason for the accident. It happened where no accident should have happened. Ds should not have been badly hurt. It was just one of those things.

Today, ds is absolutely fine and I give thanks every day for that unshapely lump of polystyrene which enabled me to continue to enjoy my beautiful boy.

The point Silverten was making is that proper training will save more lives than a helmet.

soupdragon

I'm sure it would, but it doesn't mean helmets wouldn't either.

Yes helmets can save lives, but they can also cause injury. This is to do with rotational forces being greater because of the extra weight and bulk of the helmet, and things like not being fitted or worn properly. It is reasonably common to see children wearing badly fitting helmets, with incredibly loose straps, too far back on their heads. These are dangerous!

Helmets are only designed to protect against quite low-level knocks- the sort of force you get from dropping from a standing start from a height of about 4-5 feet. Once you start getting up to the sort of speed it is easy to maintain on a bike, their protection is more questionable.

I am not saying they are useless and shouldn't be worn. I am simply pointing out that it is not as simple as putting on your plastic hat and carrying on your merry way without a second thought to any of the other factors involved.

Surely though it is a question of minimising as many risks as possible and therefore helmets should be worn even though they will obviously not remove the risk of any injury. I agree about many helmets being poorly fitted, but could this not be part of the course itself - it should be part of the process of learning to ride your bike as safely as possible.

a question of minimising as many risks as possible

Yes, that would be a sensible aim. However there is evidence to suggest that whilst helmets offer some protection against certain impacts, they increase other risks. For example, a fairly recent study found that cars pass cyclists wearing helmets at a smaller distance than those without helmets. Therefore wearing a helmet actually increases the risk that you might be hit by a car who didn't give you enough room.

It's a question of balancing the risks and benefits, and it isn't totally straightforward as to the best thing that someone should do.

Well it's not a legal requirement, so down to individuals to decide for themselves. I notice you don't make any reference to high visability clothing. Also a good idea, but not a legal requirement.

And how do you know they didnt have the 10 point bike check?

Have you seen some of the discussion at cyclehelemets.org?

We're they possibly all wearing these?
invisible cycle helmets

Bike ability at our school too, with helmets. I appreciate there's an argument for not wearing them but I really don't think that's the school's call. Wear them, and if an individual parent prefers not to, they should sign something to that effect. Very irresponsible to have kids on the road without helmets IMHO.

Helmets aren't that great at protection. I wouldn't view it as that unsafe at all.

I'm still very surprised (astounded, actually) that anyone could get insurance to run cycling proficiency without helmets on everyone.

Helmets won't ultimately save you.

BUT:

Riding safely & predictably
Wearing high vis clothing
Wearing a helmet

MIGHT help you out

You can't say "helmet riders go faster so they die anyway"
I ride at the same speed to work with or without a helmet. Can't go faster or I'll get sweaty . So for me, wearing a helmet makes sense as if I come off and hit my head on the pavement I'll be better off with a helmet than without.

The types of accidents helmets really help with though, are exactly the type of accidents young very inexperienced cyclists away from the road doing bikeability are likely to have. Slow speed, low impact falls. So while helmets not designed to do anything at higher speeds or in car impacts, and may well make things less safe (both from risk trade offs and rotational injury) those don't apply to bikeability.

I see little reason not to require them in that situation, and I don't believe it would be covered under a normal bikeability instructors insurance, but could be covered by the school of course.

Of course a helmet is safer than no helmet in the vast majority of accidents. Cycling on the roads holds a high risk and we should have more cycle ways as they do in other countries

ps And in Milton Keynes. my brother and wife live there and at 70 they went cycling but neither wear helmets, as they ride so slowly and carefully, but my SIL fell off hers right onto her hip and bike fell on her other hip, but tough as old boots her did not even get a bruise - she's 5foot and 11 stone and all muscle. Her padding protected her.

I think it is a disgrace that the school are condoning not wearing helmets

OUrs insist on them even for treat afternoons when the DC take bikes in,

Bikability they INSISTED on helmets, and the helmets and bikes were checked before they went out.

DH is a cyclist - 5 milesx2 each day to the station and back
In 32 years of cycling on the road he has had ONE accident - depsite wearing hi-vis jacket, having lights etc, a motorist knocked him off - helmet was cracked right down the middle and bike was bent to hell. DH bruised and grazed all over.

Dh was lucky.The hospital told him he was lucky to have been wearing a helmet as it certainkly saved him much damage and possibly saved his life.

Mine are the ONLY children in 10 families in our street who wear helmets - a small 4 yo in our road came off their bike last week and hit their head on the kerb - luckily they are OK. I really do not get why people are happy to take that risk that they will not suffer a freak accident. Its the equivalent of not using seatbelts in my book - yes they need to be of the appropriate size and fit correctly. Afterall, seatbelts and airbags save lives, but can kill children if they are the wrong ones for them!

I have never in my life heard a case of someone dying because they were wearing a cycle helmet (I.e. If they hadnt been they would have lived).

Surely it is all about minimising risks-learning to ride safely, sensibly, according to the road conditions, high vis and with a helmet. If as an adult you want to take a risk, good for you (I note all professional cyclists and most cycling commuters would disagree, but we, the adults, are responsible for keeping our children safe.

No helmet, no cycling/scooting here.

And I also know two people who died who quite possibly wouldn't have, if they were wearing helmets, and many more who could have died if they were not wearing helmets.

I do rather hate these threads as the same old anti-helmet posters crop up in seconds and I fear some might be persuaded to take a risk.

Seriously do any of you drive any differently according to whether a cyclist is or in not helmeted?

I choose a helmet too, I just don't think that going without them is enormously unsafe, either.

No disclaimers on our parental consent forms. More like statements of "Your child must have a helmet or they may not take part." So still am very surprised any (affordable?) insurer would allow it.

sorry statements are along lines of, Your Child MUST have a helmet in order to take part. No "may" about it.

phantomnamechanger

After all, seatbelts and airbags save lives

Actually, that needs picking up.
Pedestrian and cyclist deaths increased after seatbelts were introduced.

Between 1974 and 1982 cycling mileage in Britain increased 70%, but there was no increase in fatalities until the seatbelt law was introduced in 1983
Source

And for interest, note
Studies in Australia show some prevention of superficial injuries (such as scalp lacerations) but only marginal prevention of ?mild? head injuries and no effect on severe head injuries or death. When helmets were made compulsory in Australia, admissions from head injury fell by 15-20%, but the level of cycling fell by 35%.Ten years later, cycling levels in western Australia are still 5-20% below the level they were before the introduction of the law yet head injuries are only 11% lower than would be expected without helmets.Incidentally, 17 times more motorists than cyclists died of head injuries in Australia during 1988.

Source

When ds did this last year we had to sign a waiver if they didn't wear a helmet. I was pretty shocked, I think all kids should wear one. The instructor didn't wear one either - shocking example imo.

If helmets crack, then they failed I'm afraid, or rather the impact was larger than the helmet was designed to protect against. A broken helmet is not an indication of anything other than the helmet breaking. It doesn't mean that without the helmet the injury would've been more severe.

Helmets are very good at protecting you from minor falls at low speed - exactly the sort kids have doing training.