Argument over bike helmet - DS13

[GoldenNoodle]

Am I being unreasonable to insist that ds13 wears a helmet when he rides his bike? It has always been the rule that he wear one. He says that none of his friends do - which as far as I can tell, is true. He is on his bike all the time, riding to school and out with friends. He says that everyone is laughing at him and he's the only one who has to wear a helmet.

Dh is sympathetic to ds and says I should relax my rule. However, I'm not sure I could ever forgive myself if anything happened to him.

Ds is an experienced rider and has done the cycling proficiency test.

Anyone with biking teenagers - what are your rules? TIA

It's a tough one - on one hand, studies have shown that helmets will significantly reduce the risk of head injury in the case of an off. I personally would never ride without one, but I tend to do more mountain biking rather than road riding.

However, other studies have shown that cars will do more dangerous overtakes of cyclists wearing high-vis and helmets (the theory being that they're perceived as being more stable and competent than a cyclist without a helmet).

If he's so upset by this then maybe he just shouldn't be cycling anywhere. He has a choice. You aren't forcing him to use his bike.

I hate the damned things but they save lives. He’s got to wear one or no bike.

DS cycles to a school where they have a bike licence. The caretaker supervises the lockable bike shed they each put their helmet in a locker. No helmet = no space to put their bike the next day.

I feel it all quite disturbing and a bit sinister that schools are trying to enforce helmet compulsion. There is no evidence that forcing helmet use reduces injury in populations. They are essentially forcing someone else's opinion of what is 'safe' onto others.

They should be doing all they can to encourage more people to seek alternatives to driving children to school. That might actually make people safer.

Aren't schools also supposed to encourage critical evaluation of evidence? If so, why aren't they enforcing wearing of helmets in cars? Who is monitoring how the parents and staff are driving?

No helmet, no bike.
Buy a new helmet if he wants a different one.

At his next appointment, let his doctor know about his reluctance.
His doctor will want him to wear one.

They should be doing all they can to encourage more people to seek alternatives to driving children to school. That might actually make people safer.

Alternatively they could concentrate on doing what they can directly to keep the children safe and insist on helmets; they aren't there to re-educate the general public. I'd rather they spent the money on the education of the students.

Flatwhite101 How is it sinister that schools are trying to implement a safety measure for their pupils. Making it a requirement for riding too and from school at least reduces some of the peer pressure to not wear a helmet (if only M-F). I bet there are plenty of teenagers who would happily wear a helmet if it was enforced and everyone did it.... but will avoid it if they will be the odd one out because that's not cool.

A more effective solution to keep children safe would be to insist they all walk, or wear helmets in cars. If they are meant to be teaching children, why not educate them about healthy and sustainable transport choices, and relative risk of different activities, rather than a blinkered knee-jerk reaction based on no evidence.

Commuting and leisure cycling is not some specialist activity that requires you to be plastered in high-viz and protective clothing like helmets that are not even designed with collision with cars in mind. Look at the Dutch for their approach. They have many many more magnitudes of children cycling to school every day, and not many will choose to wear a helmet, yet their accident rate and occurrence of head injuries are lower than ours.

The danger of insisting on things like this is rather than riding in with a helmet, they won't ride at all, making things worse for everyone.

I have nothing against helmets, but I do appreciate personal choice, and proper evidence of risk.

It's so much safer in Holland to cycle than the UK so not a comparable.

So then let's aim for dutch style safety as a priority - not the enforcement of helmets

Yes. Please tell me how you propose to shoe horn safe cycle routes in

there is so much research. just Google. Helmets don't make cycling saver, it's actually more likely that he will be involved in a accident (as motorists take more risk around cyclists with helmets such as giving less space).

I recently read that it is more dangerous to have an accident with a helmet cycling 30 km an hour than no helmet doing 20 km an hour. Speed is a more important factor, just the same as in driving. I cycle to/from work every day and just to get around, but I don’t wear a helmet. I’ve made my risk assessment based on my average speed (about 12-16 km/hour) and the cycling infrastructure. My son age 12 wears a helmet because it’s the law here, but he’ll probably stop when the law allows tbh. That said, if he was doing tricks etc I’d have a discussion with him about, most importantly, where these tricks are being done (I caught him cycling hands free in a stupid spot the other day) and also that wearing a helmet is smart when you’re being more reckless. I’d also talk to him about wrist protection etc, since it’s more common for cyclists to break their wrists when catching their fall.

A previous poster mentioned 30 miles/hour. That’s almost 50 km/hour I gather. If he was pelting along at those racing speeds in city traffic on bike paths we’d be having words for sure. IME it’s not very likely an ordinary rider on an ordinary bike is cycling that fast. The most I’ve done is about 33 and that was downhill and prob pedalling as well. I’m wondering if that was a typo?

I'd rather my kids were doing something healthy and active rather than playing fortnite, so I'll take my chances

You'll take your chances??! With your child's life? Something may happen to your child but you've weighed it up and are happy with that?

one is most likely to sustain a head injury in car crashes and falls from heights (incl household accidents).

I am curious to know how many of the helmet advocates who came to the conclusion that cycling without helmet is a deadly activity put a helmet on whilst travelling on a car or whilst standing on a chair to reach something higher up at home. If you don't put a helmet on before getting into a car, why is that?

Genuine question.

Unicorn - every time you put your child in a car and drive down a motorway or a country road you are taking chances with your child's life or are you just forgetting the thousands of vehicle related deaths. Some risks we are more used to.

But you mitigate those risks by putting a seatbelt on do if you do crash you don't die. A bit like wearing a helmet....

I have teenagers. So I realise that an awful lot of things are negotiable. Bike helmets, however, are not. I sympathise with their hatred of them, as I hate them too (they look stupid, and they wreck my hair). However, I have to put up with that, and so do the teenagers. Of course, I can't know what they do once they've set off for school - but they're certainly not leaving the garden without one. XH is a prat, and he says they don't need to bother. This is really helpful. Not.

Another vote for get the school involved and make them mandatory for anyone riding to school.

In my part of Australia (not sure about while country) it is illegal to ride without a helmet. I was pulled over once because I wasn't wearing one.

We have this argument all the time...no helmet no bike DS12 and DS10. ...but we argue most mornings

Statistically head injuries are a smaller risk for cyclists than other injuries though. And I believe that car occupants in accidents suffer head injuries at a larger rate than cyclists (even with seat belts). I'd have to google a bit to find a source though, and I think it might be a few years old.

I'm not at all trying to be glib about how serious head injuries are, but not all head injuries are fatal. You can get a nasty knock (like your head banging into the steering wheel) without dying. The speed you're going at is a bigger factor there.

I'm just saying that there can be reasonable risk assessments.