Kids wearing cycling helmets, parents not

[Faveusernamewastaken]

Sorry but this is such a bugbear whenever I see it - a child on the back of their parent’s bike rightly wearing a helmet but the parent cycling isn’t. What if there is an accident, yes the child will be safe but their parent is risking their child seeing them with head injuries or worse. Please, please, please, from an ex-A&E nurse, wear a cycling helmet (cycling with a child or not)! No one thinks it will happen to them until it happens to them. Looking after your child means looking after yourself too!!

In the scenario of a helmeted child passenger and a helmetless rider, which I think is fairly common, I wonder if the fear is dropping the bike while dismounting? A child in a seat probably can't protect themselves very well.

OK, I see where you're coming from. I am very unlikely to ever cycle on a 50mph road, and most definitely not with my kids, no amount of (not) wearing helmets and safety gear would make that feel safe to me. think that's where our situations differ.

this is a good summary article with lots of links to the stats https://amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/mar/21/bike-helmet-cyclists-safe-urban-warfare-wheels

"Lots of misinformation" indeed.

I am sick of reading ill-informed people saying they "don't understand" why so many cyclists - having studied and assessed the risks for themselves - choose not to wear helmets, and saying things like "it should be illegal" to ride without one.
You are still far more likely to suffer a major head injury as a driver or passenger in a car than you are on a bike.
How many of you wear a protective polystyrene helmet when you're travelling in a car?
If not, why not?

Please rest assured that those of us who ride bikes (on a daily or near-daily basis) are very used to assessing the risks involved. I have used a bicycle as my main form of transport for almost 40 years, and have NEVER had a branch magically get stuck in my front wheel and cause me to fall off (or heard of this happening to anyone else - and I spent 20+ years working in bike-related jobs/ as cycling instructor, so have spent a LOT of time around regular and professional cyclists). I have never heard of anyone falling off as a result of a "sudden puncture" either. I'm sorry to hear about your dad's (extremely rare) misfortune, but don't think such anec-data is helpful here.

I know that if I were to fall off my bike my natural reaction is to put my arms out to break my fall. The chances of my head making contact with the ground is virtually zero. I'd be more likely to graze my hands and/or break my wrists (and have one friend who managed to break both wrists in this scenario). This is why I often wear gloves when riding, because they actually protect me against a real risk.

There is plenty of evidence that the heads of those who wear helmets are more likely to hit the ground, and various theories about why this is <ranging from (a) subconsciously if someone feels their head's protected they let it happen to (b) that the helmet adds extra weight, and there's gravity involved>.

When I've had a child riding on the back of my bike, strapped into a child seat, or in a trailer, I have put a helmet on them, because they're strapped in. There is a higher chance of the trailer tipping, or the bike tipping due to the extra weight of the child+seat, and because they're strapped (and could even be asleep at the time) they're far less likely to be able to react and put our their arms to break their fall.

Those of us who don't wear helmets aren't stupid. We've all given the matter a great deal of thought, and most cycling parents have given it even more thought since their children arrived, and the last thing any of us need is kneejerk judgement from people who don't have any experience of riding a bike/ towing a trailer, but as car-drivers, are directly responsible for the conditions we find ourselves cycling in.

49% of head injuries are sustained in car crashes
do you think car occupants should wear helmets?

I've never understood why the helmetless head offends so many people, that it has literally nothing to do with, most of whom have never cycled. Why does the smoker, the over eater, the drunk, the skate boarder, the pedestrian crossing roads whilst looking at phones, the list could go on, why do these 'risk takers' cause much less ire?

Because they already hate cyclists and are trying to find some justification for that.

it drives me crazy too op. Regardless of the data other posters have shared as nurses we have seen the ones where a helmet has made all the difference. But worse than a parent not wearing a helmet… the other day I saw a parent wearing the helmet and a baby (around 12months) in the baby seat WITHOUT a helmet. I felt physically sick. What utter morons

Regardless of the data other posters have shared as nurses we have seen the ones where a helmet has made all the difference

so you will have seen vehicle crashes where a helmet will have made a difference, but where is your call for children and adults to wear car helmets? Seems very odd perspective you want to save cyclists lives but don't give a shit about drivers and car occupants

I'm not sure how much of your post was addressed to me, but I just wanted to say that your experience as cycling instructor/ cyclist is just as much anecdata as my dad's story. There's also an unpleasant assumption that I don't know what I'm talking about. I've had 20 years of cycling in the Netherlands followed by over 10 years in the UK. I have a bike trailer for my two young children. No need for your superior tone.

You might not have heard of branches getting stuck in wheels, or of a child falling off their bike and sustaining permanent facial scarring, or of someone being found unconscious next to their bike after a unilateral accident, or of people landing awkwardly when falling over and sustaining permanent brain injury, or of people hitting some debris and going over the handlebars and into a lamp post and dying. I have, and not from news stories, these are all people I know. All these accidents took place in the Netherlands. In none of them the cyclist was wearing a helmet, and in all of them a helmet would have made a consideration difference to the outcome.

I am starting to find this thread upsetting. It is full of whataboutery and insulting comments by people who choose not to wear helmets. Let the statistics speak for themselves. You do you, I'll do me (with a helmet).

I categorically do not hate cyclists, don't be daft. And no one is offended, that's just you being dramatic. It's incredulity that you wouldn't take every precaution available to keep yourself safe on the road.

Head injuries sustained in car crashes at far greater speeds than a bicycle can go, plus the whiplash aspect, are a different kettle of fish to a bike fall.

at the speeds bikes go, a helmet may make the difference between a headache and concussion, a concussion and a skull fracture, a skull fracture and death. It may just absorb enough of the impact to make a difference.

So rally drivers are wasting their time wearing helmets?

You do you, I'll do me (with a helmet).

thats what many are already doing 🤷‍♀️