To think wearing a helmet should be compulsory?

[benfoldsfive]

Incident This morning sparked a debate with my dh. my ds is in year 2 (so 6/7 years old). His class mate Road into the play ground on his bmx, pulled a skid, clipping my pram in the process and went over the handle bars. Narrowly missing the corner of the wall. His mum was no where to be found so I dusted him off and told the teacher what happened. His mother arrived about 5 min after incident and was told by teacher that riding a bike on school grounds is prohibited by the school. mother then says " you have to tell him because he won't Listen to me". Am I being unreasonable in thinking that helmets for any age sound be compulsory? Dh brought up making it compulsory enhances nanny state measures and I compared it to wearing a seat belt. Aibu?

Savethemockingbird we currently live in Germany and yes cycling here is VERY different to cycling in the uk and especially in London (where we lived previously)

There are ample cycle paths and cycle lanes and cars are so much more aware of people on bikes. Biking is like second nature to most people here. Not all the adults wear helmets here but I have hardly seen any young children without one.

Oh and I don't want to scare folk, but most helmets folk buy won't actually stand up to an impact very well. Most will just split in two as there aren't any re-inforcing shells inside them. So that 9.99 or 19.99 helmet is pretty much pointless.

The ones I use have the re-inforcement within the shell, and have propper fitting and retention systems - I still think it will only save me from gravel rash, but at least it won't split in two. The ones my family use cost in excess of 50 each, mine are over 100

I was very glad of my helmet when a dog darted out in front of me from a bush, and knocked me off my bike (dog was ok thankfully, as was I except for cuts and bruises). My head hit very hard off the ground, I am sure the helmet was bound to have protected me from serious injury.

I am so glad a previous poster made the comment about some cyclists being to blame in accidents, especially when they cycle up the inside of large lorries, who clearly don't stand a chance of seeing them - there is an excellent video on you tube which demonstrates this. I see people do it all the time!

I think encouraging people to wear helmets is good, compelling them to is, on balance, a bad thing.