To think that in this awful accident, a helmet was not the only precaution this cyclist should have taken?

[LikeDylanInTheMovies]

<a class="break-all" href="//;www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/oct/04/carmen-greenway-bicycle-crash-helmet-law-london" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Husband of woman killed in Isle worth Husband calls for helmet law after wife dies following bike crash

What an awful thing to have happened, I feel terrible for husband and children and I'm sure if she could wind back the clock she'd have made different choices.

However in incidents like this, making helmets compulsory on its own is not a panacea, given that she was taking so many other risks (taking selfies, riding one handed, riding in drink, all at night).

In less tragic circumstances I get absolutely livid when I see cyclists like this, they give those of us who ride responsibly and legally a bad name. More worryingly they put us fellow cyclists at direct risk with their antics when traveling in cycle lanes. As it is sadness is my prevailing emotion.

I always wear a helmet on the road, but I don't think it is a magic forcefield that will save me. I have a duty to protect myself and others, just like any other road user.

Giving full allowance for the fact that her husband is deep in grief, but am I being unreasonable to feel that his campaigning efforts are misdirected? if he wanted to campaign on cycling safety, he should have perhaps included advocated better education/training for cyclists alongside his call for compulsory helmets.

The other argument against is how other road users treat helmeted and bareheaded cyclists respectively: the evidence shows that bareheaded cyclists are given more space.

Very sceptical of this bit of research for a start approaching a cyclist from behind you don't see their head that well if at all. You arent looking at what fashion items or apparel their wearing your more concerned with their directional movement.

You can damage your head quite easily you DO NOT need to have an impact with a German car of any make;! You just need the road surface and any handy street furniture and telephone poles or street light will do.

Ever seen what a brain looks like?. They're around the consistency of blancmange they need all the help and protection they can get.

Can someone say they are quite prepared to rub their head on a concrete road with their helmet on or off;? Anyone?

And one other thing if your going out at night on yer bike!

FIT SOME FREAKING BIKE LIGHTS AND USE THEM AND MAKE SURE YOUR COAT DOESN'T OBSCURE THE BACK ONE!

Thank you:-)

One of the stupidest things I see every day is kids riding to school with their cycle helmets swinging on their handlebars.

Another factor which I also think should be considered is if a cyclist is involved in an accident where they injure their head because they were not wearing a helmet then surely the cost to the NHS could be so much greater than if they had been wearing a helmet.

Also if a cyclist needs lifelong care due to brain damage that they would not have needed had they been wearing a helmet is it really fair that the cost of all that will be met by the car driver's insurance even though a simple cycle helmet could have prevented such severe personal injury?

Very sceptical of this bit of research for a start approaching a cyclist from behind you don't see their head that well if at all. You arent looking at what fashion items or apparel their wearing your more concerned with their directional movement.

Are you? In daylight I can very easily see if they're wearing a helmet or not - in poor light I agree with you.

And YYYYYYYYY fucking YY about making the bicycle and rider as visible as possible. Hi-vis all the way including gloves please, multiple lights and reflectors, clear hand signals, light-coloured clothing, etc. Give drivers a chance to see you if they look. Don't cycle inside someone's indicator (eg undertake someone indicating left). Claim your road space at complicated junctions, don't hide in the gutter.

The issue about making cycle helmets complusory is that they discourage cycling. It's an additional faff the find somewhere to put your helmet when you reach your destination.

Consider these for the school run? Train the children to tuck their toes in if they get hit.

I was knocked off my bike a few months ago. A car pulled out of a side road on the left as I crossed the junction and there was nothing I could do to stop being hit.

I was wearing a helmet and would now never get on a bike without one. The paramedic who attended was worried about me and wanted me to watch out for signs of concussion as she'd attended an almost identical accident two weeks previously except that woman wasn't wearing a helmet and was now dead. It wasn't the car that killed her but her head hitting the ground. I was amazed how hard I went down for quite a "slow" accident.

I know of someone who was injured by the helmet strap - it is not unknown. Doesnt mean a helmet is a bad idea.

But riding a bike carelessly is. Most kids do it and get away with it - adults dont bounce as well.

Sorry - but some things are avoidable accidents. Drowning after swimming pissed, diving into unknown water, taking pills that someone gave you in a nightclub, car racing on normal roads...

Her teenage sons could come across this thread. A bunch of people on the internet saying how sad it is that their mum is dead but.....if only she hadn't been doing x, y and z. That'll be nice for them.

If this situation comes to pass, no one has been abusive or disrespectful towards their late mother. It should also be remembered that it was their father who initiated a public debate. Also when they got to an age when they start trying to understand and seek an explanation for their mother's death, I imagine they'll woek out that the fact she was in drink, riding one handed and taking a selfie (along with the lack of helmet) may well have played a role without reference to this thread.

Sorry some one said the link wasn't working.

Link

www.telegraph.co.uk/men/active/recreational-cycling/11979540/Bike-helmet-laws-do-not-prevent-head-injuries.html

There seems to be alot of anger towards cyclists living their lives the way they want to. Do smokers get everyone so riled? Do drinkers make you see red! Is their head, their risk. I don't see why it makes a complete stranger mad!

A hospitalisation covers a multitude of interventions. As far as I can make out the study doesn't account for the length or seriousness of the intervention. A hospitalisation could range from a checkup in a&e and a period of observation (which I imagine anyone sent flying from a bike would seek) to months of intensive care. A raw number telling you about hospital admissions doesn't tell the full picture.

Another factor which I also think should be considered is if a cyclist is involved in an accident where they injure their head because they were not wearing a helmet then surely the cost to the NHS could be so much greater than if they had been wearing a helmet.

Be careful where you go with that analogy, PersianCatLady. All the advantages to wearing helmets and safety in low-level impacts could logically be applied to car drivers, their passengers, and pedestrians.

Rufus Greenway, 47, said his wife, who was not wearing a helmet, was a very competent cyclist. “She had been taking some selfies on the main road: she did that regularly and was media savvy,” he said. “She was not taking it at the moment of the accident. She was 100 metres from our house, one hand on the bars, quite relaxed, and probably had had a drink.

It's a sad story but maybe alcohol impacted her ability to cycle.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/oct/04/carmen-greenway-bicycle-crash-helmet-law-london

Be careful where you go with that analogy, PersianCatLady. All the advantages to wearing helmets and safety in low-level impacts could logically be applied to car drivers, their passengers, and pedestrians.
I am aware that what I am trying to say isn't coming across very well but I was trying to compare not wearing helmets with not wearing seatbelts.

In car accidents where a person would have escaped a collision with no injuries if they had been wearing a seatbelt then they can lose up to 25% of their compensation due to contributory negligence.

Supermoon100, I think some people get cross about it because they're scared - scared they might be the person to hit that cyclist. I know I get cross with reckless cyclists when I'm driving, because I am frightened that they might get killed by me if my reactions aren't quick enough, and I would have to live with that. I feel bad enough about a pheasant I ran over.

MrsHathaway Hi-viz clothing?. agree totally but getting anyone to think like that?

Nah ;(

Yes to hi viz clothing.

This was a motorcyclist but he over took me at night and, once in front of me, he disappeared completely because he was in a position where his lights blended in with those of the car he was behind. I hadn't seen him behind me either for the same reason. He was dressed all in black. This was on a well lit road too. He needed some kind of reflective tabard or something.

Someone will be along in a minute to say that it as beenoroved that hi viz makes no difference though.

I cycle a lot, and having seen the write off to my helmet from a pretty minor (in all other respects) fall I would never go without one.

No, they're not magic. But I'd much rather the kerb smashed my helmet on than my skull. Top tips for many I see are however:

1. You need to buy the right size. A top small helmet perfect atop your head looks dumb and does nothing.
2. Wear it correctly - tipping it back at a jaunty angle such that your forehead is unprotected will make the whole thing pointless.
3. Do it up. Properly. No, no one loves chin straps, but if you don't do it up it will just come off in an accident.

And yes - high via and lights are needed. Light yourself up like a Christmas tree. Your aim is to ensure the driver in The dark foggy night, on his mobile, can't miss spotting you.

*too small

Can I add this?

Your helmet must fit tightly. Try rocking your helmet from side to side and fore and aft. The helmet shouldn't move. You'll know if you've got it tight enough when you take it off - it should leave marks on your skin.

I think a badly fitting helmet can be worse than nothing as it can push on the soft bits weirdly. Yes, they must fit and you must wear them properly.

Most helmets have a black tape circumference IYSWIM. It is intended to be horizontal in use. Most people have it slightly tipped, leaving the forehead unprotected. Some really useful brain areas in that front bit ... the areas that differentiate us from lower apes.

Well, lets see: drink driving/riding, using mobile phone while driving/riding and he blames the lack of helmet? Yeah, right.

Sadly, because of an increasing number of self-entitled bike riders doing all sorts of stupid antics on the road, less and less people feel sorry when one dies in a road accident.