To think helmets should be a legal requirement for all cyclists...

[cocopopz]

I mean they are sharing the road with vehicles! It's all over the news today about the number of cyclist deaths (London) about making roads safer, however nothing said about cyclists being safer by wearing helmets, not listening to music, texting etc... I respect those things might not prevent the worst but surely should help? In most countries helmets are a legal requirement! Do you think this will ever change in the UK?

I guess for Boris this would mess up his London cycle scheme!!

This isn't a thread for bashing cyclists or drivers btw!!

Not weird, I thought it was brilliant, a really well made point.

The man is not actually suggesting that all cars have spikes installed, sparklingbrook

Glad to hear it.

I actually thought they were legal requirements in the UK!

YANBU I get ridiculously frothy over this, every time I see a cyclist with no helmet I feel like shaking my fist at them but I just moan lots about it instead. Do they really not care about their safety or something, I just can't understand why you wouldn't wear a helmet!

I cycle, I wear a helmet, I wear a Buff under the helmet to stop my hair being mangled by it or the draught,t & would quite happily cycle to work in my people-facing job without being worried about my appearance. I only cycle because I can easily access country lanes - no way would I cycle in a city & risk crushing by lorries, when a helmet/Buff combo would merely protect my hair & make it look acceptable... for the mortuary staff

YABU. I did start a thread about this yesterday.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2083914-to-think-that-the-focus-on-bicycle-helmets-rather-than-safe-riding-is-actively-dangerous

And the point about the news today is that a particular junction where many cyclists have died, and the poor man who died most recently was actually wearing a fucking helmet. It is not much good telling his widow he should have been wearing a helmet, when (a) he was and (b) HGV into plastic hat doesn't go.

If a road is dangerous investment is needed. Not plastic hats.

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There's been a few threads about cycle helmets. There was one about motorbike leathers a few days ago in the same vein.

Weirdly there were posts about car drivers and five point harnesses/wearing helmets in that thread as well.

Omg, seriously not sure why I even bothered, no I didn't see your thread as I don't spend everyday on here, besides we are all entitled to our opinions!!

Anyway, I don't cycle but if I did I would wear a helmet to protect my head fwiw! If the risk of being crushed by HGV vehicles in bad junctions etc is so high then cyclists should be more careful. I take it being thrown forward head first isn't a risk for those that don't wear helmets? IMHO experienced cyclists (like other road users) are more confident they can take risks! (I've seen some crazy manoeuvres!) And who's to say experienced cyclists just like drivers don't have bad, tired, stressful days that affect their cycling? There is just too much traffic (in London especially) and if you choose to cycle you should be aware of the risks and take what safety precautions available. Pedestrians are hurt and killed everyday on our roads, roads require caution by all.

I think to cycle on the roads in cities you have to be a certain type of person coco. I for one, couldn't do it. Not brave or assertive enough and there are too many motorists with disregard for other road users.

I quite like a pootle down the canal with my helmet firmly on.

My dp has, twice now, come off his bike in the rain when going through a pothole that looked like a puddle. One time his helmet got smashed to bits. If you come off your bike for whatever reason, your body will bear the brunt of it. It can be very easily done.

So true, I'm same as you sparkling I couldn't do it! I can't do theme park rides either!!

Jenny so did the helmet protect your dp's head at all? I would have thought a helmet smashed to bits better than his head in bits?

I cycle to work in London. Journey or about 6 miles from south of the river to the City. I do wear a helmet for cycling to work (and in the winter a high viz vest thing). I don't wear any other specialist cycle clothes.

Coco- you put alot of emphasis on cyclists being more careful. I accept that cycles have a responsibility as road users and should not jump lights/cycle dangerously. In my experience whilst there are some normally Lycra clad idiots most cyclists do not have a 'death wish'.

The other side of the coin is that motorised vehicles need to accept cyclists have a perfect right to be on the road and should respect measures taken for cycle protection.

For example: the amount of cars/taxis/mini cabs who see the cycle lane as a 'convenient place to pull over to check maps/answer the phone/pick up a fare' is astonishing. Normally this is done suddenly without any attempt to check mirrors.

Another is cars, motorbikes and particularly mopeds using the cycle boxes at lights. At busy times this can mean there is no space for bikes - forcing you to wait to the left of traffic which many want to turn left.

Both these things could be easily enforced but are not.

For me-cycle helmets are there and available and could help in the event of an accident. So I wear one, and the DC do too. It's no more complicated than that.

It's legal here in NZ and you get a ticket if your not wearing a helmet and your over the age of 18.

They also do cycle safety at primary schools. A guy died on the main street not so long ago, after cycling in a cycle lane and getting hit buy a truck :(

I personally couldn't do it, but it is a great way of getting fit and being Eco friendly.

Helmets won't help you when there is a motorbiker in London going round knocking cyclists off deliberately. Unfortunately for him, he video'ed it, put it on you tube and folk have copied and shared it.

Keen cyclist here ! And I do wear a helmet - mainly as gravel rash on the scalp isn't pleasant.

I'm from Holland where barely anyone wears a helmet. That's because the road infrastructure is set up for cyclists - there aren't just cycle lanes, in many places there are cycle lanes which are separate from the main road and regulated by their own traffic lights. In rural areas, there are very many cycle routes where cars cannot go at all, and they are often both shorter and more scenic. That is what we should be working towards.

In the interim, if I were to cycle in the UK (I don't, I like to live) then I would wear a helmet. And probably a sumo suit as well.

I'm a fairly serious cyclist; have ridden through much of the UK, and particularly love London. It doesn't astonish me, but it does sadden me that so many people are afraid to cycle on our roads. Part of the cure for that is more cyclists, but that egg is going to have trouble eating that chicken. (Perhaps my metaphor needs work.)

As for helmets, if I may be so bold as to summarise AgaPanthers recent thread, the emphasis on them sucks the air out of the conversation on safety.

cocopopz: I hate to roll out this cliché, but google is your friend. There's a wealth of statistics and informed commentary on this subject which may be enlightening, particularly if you're not actually a cyclist.

Coco & chippy I know you're entitled to your opinion but there are at least 4 good reasons why they can actually increase the danger on this thread, all backed by decent evidence. You seem to have ignored those argument because you think helmets look safer. There was a v interesting article for which I now can't find the reference, about how a good proportion of the "impressive polysytrene splitting" accidents that make helmets feel so safe would actually have caused no head impact at all if the cyclist had not been wearing a helmet, and had therefore had another 2 inches of space before head/helmet hit.

I do wear a helmet. My DH chooses not to because he's researched it at length and on balance he feels he is safer without one. He is not an idiot and he's probably researched the subject a lot more than anyone who shakes their fist at him! If it were proved that a helmet was a genuine help he would wear one, but the evidence is inconclusive at best, and he thinks on balance it tends to go the other way. I can absolutely vouch for how cars and lorries give you a wider berth without a helmet, but I bet if you surveyed the drivers they wouldn't know they were doing it.

We usually wear helmets but for me it would be really inconvenient if we had to have one at all times. Just once in a while I find we don't have one for somebody, I don't want it to make cycling into such an impractical mode of transport. The BMA used to be dead set against compulsory helmets because they knew so many people would lose health benefits of the exercise.

I broke my arm once because of a spare helmet hanging on handlebars (drops). Well known danger.

I am holidaying a country where helmets are compulsory on children under 14 on almost any wheeled vehicle (including little ride on cars, skates or skateboards); I keep seeing lots of under 14s without helmets. So much for the law.

I agree with Badgerlady and TheFuzz a helmet doesn't stop a car driver doing a punishment pass (ie. overtaking and cutting you up/passing you in a pinch point). When that happened to me I was hit off sideways, didn't hit my head but damaged by arm, knee and badly bruised my side. Nor does it stop a car driving deliberately swerving into cyclists like this one.

We all share the road, and yes some cyclists run red lights etc but so do cars. Sharing the road means accepting other users, we wouldn't sit right up behind a horse or pass them close, I guess because we are scared of what the horse could do. So why do some (not all) drivers not afford that same courtesy to cyclists?

On my journey I frequently see cars/taxis stopped in cycle lanes, vans parked half over them. With people who swing their doors open without looking. Do you know how dangerous that is when you are cycling at 15+ mph? A car pulling out into you at a roundabout and then saying SMIDSY as has happened to my husband several times, a helmet won't save you if you go over a windscreen.

A helmet will help in certain situations, but the best way to keep safe is to ride safely and hope other road users are considerate.

Even if murderous car drivers get caught, they go virtually unpunished

www.surreycomet.co.uk/news/11210141.Five_points_for_driver_who_knocked_down_cyclist_after_argument_in_Richmond_Park/

Absolutely Aga, sadly YouTube and RoadCC are littered with videos and accounts of aggressive driving that is clearly designed to 'teach cyclists a lesson'. Then there are the obligatory comments about 'road tax'!

Thanks Aga for posting that great ad. As someone who's been knocked unconscious in a car, it also hits close to home.

Most of us aren't going to take the proposition that motorists should wear a helmet seriously, because although we all know how dangerous driving can be, we feel the risk has been sufficiently mitigated by the various safety devices already installed.

That ad is a good way to upend our thinking about risk.* And it's so easy to blame a cyclist for being soft in a hard world.

I think erin99 is right on the money: wearing a helmet looks safer. Which in helmet discussions is often followed by It's a no-brainer. I value my brain, much as I've abused it over the years with junk TV and books I've felt the need to tear the covers off of before reading on the train . I simply rely on my skull to protect it.

• interesting link about risk here

a few more links:
Cycle helmets: an international resource
The helmet thread Read the whole thing and you'll never want to discuss helmets again
How to be Safe

for helmet advocates:
Our Response to Some Negative Views on Helmets

Thanks, but I won't be looking at your links as just reading this thread is exhausting and has put me off ever ever discussing helmets again!! Point taken for those that believe helmets are useless but then again they exist ! I started this thread out of concern for the safety of cyclists of strangers I don't even know and TBH I really don't care now, each to their own! yawn....

Looks like you never expected this to be such a can of worms!