Should I make him wear a bike helmet?

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My DS is almost 12. He has just joined Y7, likes to meet up with friends and often this means going out on bikes. He took his cycling proficiency earlier in the year. None of his friends seem to wear helmets and I have, so far, insisted he should. He doesn't want to though as this makes him different to his friends. Should I insist he wears one, advise him he should but let him decide or not let him out on his bike if he doesn't?

Flowery, it sounds like you have looked into and given the available evidence have come to a reasonable conclusion! My aim was to encourage research and debate, nothing more.

I would encourage you to look in to risk compensation theory though, it's quite interesting and I think it does have some value when considering the use of PPE (even though Cycle Helmets are not considered formal PPE by the HSE!).

” If the traffic where you live is so bad that you think a helmet is necessary, you should not be cycling, or not cycling on the road.”

You think people should not cycle in places where traffic is bad?! You do realise that would make traffic several times worse?
Surely in places where traffic is bad, the difference in speed between cars and cyclists will be much less, and the cars will be travelling much slower (sometimes slower than the bikes), therefore cycling in traffic in many ways could be safer!

My reason for thinking cyclists should wear helmets is that if they come off, for any reason, their risk of serious injury is reduced. Not rocket science!

” And if the arguments presented for cycle helmets are valid, then we also need compulsory helmets for all pedestrians”

Don’t know about you, but pedestrians where I live don’t tend to walk in the road. Or walk in such a way as to make it likely they’ll fall over.

Messiah i posted above an article that explains the available statistics are not reflective. Because they do not currently count children who fall off bikes and sustain injury.

@Keepithidden yep, I've simplified things. Oz does have a reputation of being a nanny state. $100 for throwing a fag butt on the ground etc. People are up in arms at that if there's him around. But not many people know it's actually about people chucking out butts from cars and causing huge Bush fires.
Sorry I know I'm digressing. But the point is is that the introduction of the helmet law has meant that wearing helmets has been normalised. You're actually seen to look a bit stupid if you don't wear one. 🤷‍♀️ So what's the harm?
Same controversy also happened when motor bike helmets and car seat belts became mandatory under law.. sigh...

It’s not all about protection in a road traffic accident - they offer protection if you fall off too!

" No bin"not him..

Absolutely. I have two friends who were involved in separate accidents which would have resulted in head injury had they not worn a helmet (one off-roading in his teens, one a MAMIL who rode over a misplaced branch).

I've seen a Cambridge student's head splattered all over the road. Clever enough to get into university but not bright enough to wear a helmet. My two-year-old could say "no hat, no bike" and at 4 will now heckle all the idiots going past without one. I take it anyone who thinks helmets are optional have never worked in brain injury units.

My husband is an avid cyclist and very pro helmet. He’s been hit on the head a few times over the years and the helmet has come off worst. Glad it was that and not his head. Not just on the roads by the way but mountain biking as well.

I’m not sure why people are arguing over this and providing links that say helmets aren’t beneficial. The point is the OP’s son is a child and it’s up to her to make the decisions. As far as I’m concerned you can post what you like but my decision for my children and I is that they will wear helmets and if they don’t the bikes will be sold and they won’t be cycling at all and will need to walk everywhere. It’s a perfectly valid decision . Plus I’ll trust the opinion of my extremely experienced cyclist husband over a bunch of randoms on the internet who have demonstrated nothing more than their use of google.

If helmets aren’t beneficial, why is it that all cycling events, road, BMX, mountain bikes etc require the cyclists taking part to wear helmets?

My ds is the same age and I have the same problem op.

Can't believe so many parents are so lax about this!

I've just looked out my window and I've seen a Dad teaching his (10 yr old?) DD the rules of the road on her bike, running along with her back and forth on the road, teaching her to dismount to cross the road when it's busy, and where best to cross the road. She was wearing a helmet but mostly I was just impressed with what he was saying.

and at 4 will now heckle all the idiots going past without one

and you're proud of this? What great parenting.

People will always come in threads like this with anecdata. People whose helmet split and say, “that would have been my skull”. Helmets are designed to split to absorb impact. Skulls are not. People who know a doctor who says they see loads of brain trauma from people not wearing helmets. By definition, they don’t see the people who weren’t wearing a helmet but didn’t suffer brain trauma.

I cycle a lot and sometimes wear a helmet, sometimes I don’t. Al the times I’ve fallen off or had an incident, I’ve been wearing a helmet. So are helmets more dangerous? Of course not - but that’s exactly the kind of logic that people apply.

This is why we have scientific research - to remove bias.

I wonder if, when compulsory seat belts/motorcycle helmets/child car seats were introduced, people who didn’t want to bother made the argument that these measures would cause people to feel safer therefore drive more recklessly?

notthemessiah I have no problem whatsoever with my child calling "no helmet, that's naughty!" I'd have that over one of the dead children referred to on this thread any day.

And the argument that if cyclists should wear them, the same applies to motorists, is completely laughable.

As soon as it’s possible to cycle surrounded by a tonne of reinforced metal and multiple airbags, side impact protection and crumple zones, I’ll agree with you.

My husband's life has just been saved by one, he was just pootling along. Still had a minor brain injury but he's going to be ok after some surgery in the next couple of days

Yes, you 100% should. What's more important- him getting a fatal head injury, or feeling a bit self conscious?

All. Cyclists should wear a helmet and high vi's imo

I have no problem whatsoever with my child calling "no helmet, that's naughty!" I'd have that over one of the dead children referred to on this thread any day.

Or you could just teach your child to wear a helmet AND not audibly ridicule other people's choices (or is tolerance not something you're teaching your child?).

*And the argument that if cyclists should wear them, the same applies to motorists, is completely laughable.

As soon as it’s possible to cycle surrounded by a tonne of reinforced metal and multiple airbags, side impact protection and crumple zones, I’ll agree with you.*

No it's not - despite being surrounded by all that, you are STILL more likely to suffer a head injury in a car crash than a bike accident - that's the point (that you seem to have totally missed).

My dad, a very seasoned cyclist, is unconvinced about helmets. But he also has no memory of the week he was in hospital with a tbi, after crashing without one, and didnt even recognise his own wife, kids, parents. Those of us who not only can remember but cant get that image out of their heads, we are a bit more convinced that helmets good, broken skulls bad.

My son had delayed concussion after falling from his bike wearing a full face helmet. The impact on him for months was terrifying, he was like a zombie.

I don't give a toss about setting my children apart, I care about them not receiving a traumatic head injury which the neurologist who he is still under 2 years later said he would have received if he hadn't been wearing a helmet.

I have no problem whatsoever with my child calling "no helmet, that's naughty!"

Yes I agree. Surely making not wearing a helmet a socially unacceptable thing to do is a good thing. All these kids refusing to wear them out of embarrassment...yes, turn the tables!

Teens shouldn't be riding on pavements (unless designated shared paths) and should definitely wear a helmet. Seatbelts used to be seen as uncool once!