...to not make my 5 and 3 year old wear a cycle helmet?

[blindasabatenburg]

Am I failing to protect them sufficiently? Nobody wore helmets when we were kids and I don't recall anyonr suffering a serious head injury, though we all came off from time to time.

They could just as easily fall from a climbing frame at the park, but nobody would insist on a helmet for the park!!!

Moomins, according to a recent FOI request, there have been only 12 serious injuries (broken bones, etc.) and no deaths or life-changing/threatening injuries involving those 'god-awful Boris Bikes'

www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/boris_bike_accident_statistics

This is out of something like 10,000,000 annual journeys.

I have never seen anyone wearing a helmet on one.

I did hire one last week, and I did notice that taxi drivers were significantly more cautious of me than on my normal bike. It was quite pleasant actually.

Forgot to say - Shabba, my heart goes out to you. Thank you for sharing your story. X

I am not sure goosey's family were exactly mountain biking and not sure what the difference is in cycling on holiday on a cycle track to day to day cycling. Happy to be corrected by goosey if I am wrong.

'Just wondering how PatPig concludes that helmet laws "kill more people than they possibly could save". Where's the link to that article???'

www.cycling-embassy.org.uk/sites/cycling-embassy.org.uk/files/documents/health_impact_helmet_laws.pdf
www.cycle-helmets.com/robinson-bmj.pdf

And PatPig, please remember that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Just as you not seeing Boris Bikers with helmets doesn't mean it never happens. Unless you are omnipresent.

I walk through one of the central parks in London every day (quite a few times). I see the cyclists a lot and find it hard to believe that stat!

There was a banner on the Standard not long after the bike scheme started that said something like 'first death of Boris Bike'. I didn't read it so not sure if it was a cyclist or pedestrian.

Yes - helmets are not expensive........ correct, so how on earth will a 20 quid helmet, that cost 30pence to make, possibly be of any benefit in an accident? It can't and it won't.

And Australia.... yes, helmets are law, and cycle deaths fell as a result of the law being introduced. Quite correct.

However, cycling declined markedly after the law was passed, so of course the deaths decreased, plus heart attack deaths are rising in direct proportion to the decline in cycling.

www.cyclehelmets.org/papers/c2014.pdf is a brilliant read, helmets are basically rubbish.

Oh come on, PatPig. Those articles claim that helmet laws kill people by making them dislike cycling so that they stop taking exercise?? Give me a break!!

A cyclist was killed in April on the Grays Inn Road (Boris Bike). The Boris Bikes are adults only, and I suspect adults are generally more cautious than kids are on wheels, plus where we are, most are cycling on the paths in the park.

If you refuse to ride a bike because of a helmet (of it doesn't matter, then why ever not?) then you really are a dolt.

twofalls, day-to-day, aka utility cycling might involve popping out the shops for a pint of milk, going to the library, cycling to school, and so on. These are local journeys, a substitute for walking or short car journeys, and might be done on a Dutch-style-bike, with lights, some kind of luggage storage (basket and/or panniers), and mudguards.

It is inconvenient to bring a helmet on many such trips.

On the other hand if you are cycling for the sake of it, either as a Sunday morning training ride on a road bike if you are a lycra type, or a family out in the forest on mountain bikes, then the purpose of the trip is to cycle, and you can wear specialist clothes and equipment such as helmets more readily (e.g., you might cycle to a restaurant, but you would probably not do so wearing cycle-specific clothing, whereas if going out for a weekend ride, different considerations are in play).

You could say that the helmets save the lives of the refuseniks by keeping them off the roads, thus saving them from being run over by lorries and cars.

Moominsarehippos, perhaps you are thinking of this: road.cc/content/news/46913-first-cyclist-fatality-barclays-cycle-superhigway-junction-described-bloody, which was not on a Boris Bike, but rather a non 'Boris bike' on a Boris 'cycle path'.

I'm quite certain no pedestrians have been killed by Boris bikes.

The man on Grays Inn Road appears to have been seriously injured, rather than died. lcc.org.uk/articles/cycle-hire-bike-rider-critical-after-central-london-lorry-crash

I haven't read her whole thread but it seems to be all the same stuff repeating.

I'd like to make a few points if I may...

1. Anecdotes do not equal data

2. On a population level compulsory helmet wearing is a bad thing. Compulsion means less people cycle for various reasons (cycling deaths dropped in Australia because the number of cyclists decreased after helmets became compulsory). Less people cycling means more deaths from obesity/heart disease etc.So the less deaths from cycling would be more than cancelled out by the increase in deaths from 'unfitness' causes.

3. A cycle helmet it not a motorcycle helmet (unless you are wearing a proper full face downhilling helmet). Cycle helmets are designed for very low speed impacts only. If you get hit by a car you would hit the road at the same speed as if you were on a motorbike. So cycle helmets may be fit for purpose when uses by young children at low speed ( I think Max 12mph?). Other than this they may help slightly but are not designed for it, and may in fact cause more injury.

1. Loads of kids wear their helmets incorrectly which is more dangerous than not wearing a helmet. If your child wears a helmet please ensure it is fitted properly.

Yup, what ItsAllGoingToBeFine.

More lives would possibly be saved if we made helmets (proper ones, not pushbike ones) compulsory for drivers and passengers of cars. This isn't going to happen.

None of which is to say there's no point in cycle helmets, just that really they're not the great life savers people make them out to be.

more lives would be saved if we made a lot of people not take risks, but in fact risks are good as we learn from them as long as we survive them....

Oh, and in some falls, you are more likely to hit your head if you're wearing a helmet than if you're not!

actually we would save far more lives if only the drivers seat in a car was forward facing and everyone wore 5 strap seat belts - but we don't

Our DS (now 11) wears a helmet without thinking even when none of his friends do. We insisted as soon as he got a bike that it was non-negotiable, if you want to ride you wear a helmet, we would not be able to live with ourselves if anything that we could have prevented for a few pounds happened. He now track cycles and nobody is allowed on the circuit without a helmet.
Because we insisted at a very young age (he was riding on two wheels at 3) it never crosses his mind not to wear one now.
Up to you, of course, but why would you not insist on at least lessening the possibility of head injury?

moomins yep, just as cot deaths are reduced by babies sleeping elsewhere!
in fact if all SIDS happened while children are not in cots, cot death would be reduced to zero..

I'm not mocking you btw. I'm mocking people who twist things into technicalities.

shabba

I am so sorry to hear also about your son. 21 years since it happened, isn't it? so, so sad

I really hope that you've stopped feeling guilty or that you will be able to do that one day.

Wow!PatPig I can't believe your tactless comments in response to Shabba's tragic story!

Have you no compassion? A smug answer to something as terrible as this is unspeakably insensitive! Can you honestly say that you police your children's every move all the time?

PatPig
..... It is inconvenient to bring a helmet on many such trips. ....

How? How is it inconvenient?
You put the helmet on your head - this takes a few seconds, ride to your destination, take your helmet off, this takes a few more seconds and lock it to your bike when you lock your bike up.
Maybe it takes an extra ten or twenty seconds in total..

Said up thread - mine wear helmets (under duress for 12 yo) ...
But talking about increasing car safety...isn't there some thought that road accidents and fatalities would be reduced to almost zero if all drivers had a great big sharp spike attached to the steering wheel pointing at their chest?
I can see how helmets may make people think they are safer ...and thus take greater risks...