OK, I’m back on the Campaign to Ride a Bike, a loose gee-up I’m waging on my blog – and beyond – to get more people riding. You can catch up on some of my rants here and also here.
But a big barrier for a lot of people is the goddamn helmet. How to preserve one’s vanity and the planet?
(PS. The cat in a melon hat was sourced by my new (!) assistant Jo Foster who has an incredible knack for finding obscure factoids, cricket trivia and pictures for this blog. She also likes threatening me with Dance-off Tuesdays and Sing-a-long Wednesdays in my office. Performance terrifies me. Jo finds this funny…ANYWAY…)
I personally struggle. I promote riding unencumbered by style restraints. But helmets just ruin the whole flow, especially for a chick. Plus. Um. Confession: I don’t always wear a helmet. Like when I scoot down the road for dinner, or to the beach in the morning. Illegal I know. And irresponsible. But I must come clean. I sometimes debate the protective worth of them (the Sydney Morning Herald ran a story recently on whether bike helmets do any good if you’re interested). And I rationalise things in my own head thus: I’ve been riding for 32 years (and have never pranged); if I have an accident, I want my brain to go along with my body; and riding sans headwear makes for some very defensive riding.
That said, if I’m going far, or cross-country, or racing, I wear one.
And I’ve recently found some styles that are getting me a little more excited about wearing them more regularly. I’ll share a few:
These ones below are from Yakkay. I rather love them. BUT a warning: Yakkay helmets comply with EU/US standards only (not Australian)…Joyce from CycleStyle tells me that police in Melbourne in particular will wallop you with a fine if it’s not fully compliant.
Borsalino Hats does this one if you’re used to colder climates:
And these from Nutcase:
Joyce at CycleStyle, stocks the DNA brand and also the Nutcase helmets. You can buy online.
Feel free to tell me of other brands I’m missed?
Maybe I’ll pass you in the street…we can tip helmets at each other!
Argh !!!! That’s one of my FB profile pics, it’s soooo cute !!!
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awww fruit helmet on kitty is cute but for something wee bit more practical, the mega-talented Kathryn Baulch from the House of Baulch lent me her custom-made crystal-embellished stackhat which I photographed and filmed for BusinessChicTV – embedded at the bottom of this Movember bro clip
http://businesschic.com.au/2010/11/man-with-the-luscious-mo/
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December 5th, 2010 at 10:49 pm
Hey Cheryl, I know Baulch…an old Melbourne mate!!
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Michael Efford, Bamboo Bikes and CycleStyle, Jo Foster. Jo Foster said: If you need to see a cat in a hat today(AND YOU DO), just drop everything and go here. ASAP. Especially you @nzJayZee http://t.co/8ZgHvdv [...]
[...] TV personality and blogger Sarah Wilson write a guide to hot bike helmets – including helmets from [...]
What about Bern helmets? Are they available in Australia? We love ours. They have snap-in inserts. I had the brim in for the summer, now I’ve got the winter insert that covers my ears. Very necessarily here in Chicago.
I actually have the men’s Brentwood style in white.
The Bern site
http://www.bernunlimited.com/Products/Helmets/Brentwood?helmetType=Bike
me wearing my Bern helmet
http://dingdingletsride.com/2010/09/26/meet-oma-my-new-dutch-bike-finally-arrives/
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where’s the dislike button?
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People are great at drawing long bows to justify their actions…..
“if I have an accident, I want my brain to go along with my body”
If I were paralysed I’d like to at least have my brain as an asset. Plus being aware that Im now mentally deficient would feel awful.
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December 2nd, 2010 at 3:23 pm
mmm, i’d rather a broken leg than brain damage.
Sarah, thats quite an irresponsible post.
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December 3rd, 2010 at 9:57 am
I agree with the above comments. To me bain damage is worse than the physical. we’ve many ways to assist with the physical, but aren’t so crash hot on fixing the brain. Working with kids with acquired brain injuries, as well as adults, is hard, and frustrating process for all involved.
Chat to somoene at a brian injury rehab place one day about it. Especially if they work with kids. A knock to a kids head can leave them learning and language ad social difficulties.
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December 3rd, 2010 at 12:53 pm
A bicycle helmet will not prevent brain damage if the forces involved are so great that you would sustain brain damage without a helmet. You will certainly prevent superficial injuries but that’s about it. In fact, this is a major reason why they’re good to wear for sport cycling. There is nothing worse than having to abandon a race with a scalp laceration.
I do not wear a bicycle helmet most of the time. When competing, I’ll wear one. I am a medical specialist. I’m involved in the resuscitation of trauma victims and their subsequent management in the operating theatre. I won’t let those experiences cloud my judgement…
Do you wear a helmet when in a car? If not, why not? The risk of a serious head injury in a car is much greater than on a bicycle. If there was a mandatory car-occupant helmet law would you all comply?
Dr Paul Martin
MBBS, FANZCA
No judgement on the no helmets – we cant all be saints. Personal choice, albeit a less-than-legal one.
Some of the roller derby girls have some AMAZING helmets – your local skate shop should have a huge range, for something a little different.
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Wow, the Yakkay helmets are super cute! Who knew that was possible?
I was awaiting this post with interest because I had watched a debate on the 7PM Project about this particular issue a few months ago. A woman in Sydney or Melbourne (sorry, my memory is hazy) was fined for not wearing a helmet and she took it to court and won because the judge deemed that the law that we have to wear bicycle helmets is an infringement on personal rights, or something like that. She cited a statistic that most bicycle injuries are not prevented by wearing a helmet and Charlie Pickering shot back with “but most injuries are AVOIDED because of helmets… a fall could be fatal without a helmet but a mere bump to the head when wearing one, so those people wouldn’t go to the hospital and therefore wouldn’t be a statistic at all”… which was quite right, of course!
No judgement from me, Sarah – I doubt that I would wear a helmet around my neighbourhood either. Although of course, we always have to take into consideration other people’s stupidity, no matter how careful and canny we are.
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December 3rd, 2010 at 12:58 pm
Sarah is exercising her ‘choice’ but the reality is that she doesn’t have a choice. To make that choice she has to break the law, as do I. I would prefer to not have to break a law to have a ‘choice’.
That woman was Sue Abbott – a solicitor – from Scone, NSW. She has a blog here: http://freedomcyclist.blogspot.com/ and it is well worth a read.
What really matters is Taming the Sacred Bull in Society’s China Shop.
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December 5th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
Dr Paul Martin, you are writing some excellent posts – good material presented well.
You might find this talk interesting:
http://video.tedxcopenhagen.dk/video/911034/mikael-colville-andersen
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December 7th, 2010 at 9:15 am
Thanks Pete. I had already seen it within minutes of it being posted
It is excellent viewing and Mikael from Copenhagenize is as entertaining as ever.
December 5th, 2010 at 11:37 pm
Laura, here name is Sue Abbott and chapter one of her story is here. Another film follows this one. you’ll find it. Mike
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLoPA_I6SL8
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December 5th, 2010 at 11:41 pm
Chapter two of Sue Abbott’s helmet fight is here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLoPA_I6SL8
Chapter three, when she won, I don’t have.
Sue won through conviction, pesistence, and the advice and support of Bill Curnow of Crag
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I believe anyone who has read Ruth Ritchie’s Waterlemon – a memoir about her husband’s biking accident and subsequent brain injury and rehabilitation – would find it hard to ride sans helmut! I confess I am one such person.
Also Sarah, while you may want your ‘brain to go along with your body’, what about those people you would leave behind if you did have a terrible biking accident? (God forbid). What would they say to people? ‘She didn’t make it because a helmut didn’t go with her flow?’
I’m with David on this one – the things we come up with to justify our underlying belief that ‘it’ll never happen to me…’
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December 3rd, 2010 at 1:01 pm
While such stories are tragic, it is dangerous to change behaviour based on a few anecdotes – although it is human nature.
If medical practice was guided by such anecdotes we would have one of the world’s worst health systems. Fortunately, it is evidence-based. It is a pity that laws like the mandatory bicycle helmet legislation are not evidence-based…
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December 9th, 2010 at 12:04 am
August says: “I believe anyone who has read Ruth Ritchie’s Waterlemon – a memoir about her husband’s biking accident and subsequent brain injury and rehabilitation – would find it hard to ride sans helmut! I confess I am one such person.”
I’m pretty sure Ruth Ritchie’s husband was WEARING a helmet when he had that dreadful accident.
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I agree with questioning the widely, blindly assumed safety benefits of bike helmets
…but seeing as I doubt I’ll get away with not wearing one for an extended period of time, there’s a cute sparkly one here: http://www.papillionaire.com.au/buy.php
It’s a shame those European ones don’t sell here. I’d love one of those!
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It’s interesting how people seem to hold helmets up with almost as safety talismans. Many many people, including myself, ride sans helmets here in London and in many other cities. My decision was out of educated choice, not vanity. A defensive riding style makes me feel much safer than a bit of flimsy foam on my head. Like you, Sarah, I do wear a helmet when going fast or far, but otherwise I might or might not depending on my mood.
There are safety studies about the issue. The numbers could go either way, but again, it’s an educated choice:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_helmet#Science:_testing_the_hypothesis_that_helmets_are_effective
Personally, I am glad that I have the opportunity to make that choice. I guess I hope that people don’t out their faith in helmets thinking that they will always save their life when they mignt not.
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December 5th, 2010 at 10:55 pm
Cosmic… I”m with you. In many ways NOT wearing a helmet does in fact make me a more defensive and aware rider. I see so many dangerous riders kitted out in all the gear, but riding flaccidly without 110% awareness of the flow of the traffic and the lights up ahead. They rely on the gear, not their smarts. My aim is to remain visible and obvious to drivers, so they know what I’m doing. I always head off from traffic lights at the front of the pack, so drivers can see me from the outset etc. I’ve ridden around the world and have never landed in trouble. The only accidents I’ve had is off-road.
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I fell off my bike in the pre-helmet days and had concussion for 2 days. I got lucky.
Wear a helmet Sarah. Every time.
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December 3rd, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Lisa, that may well be true about your concussion. Nut Sarah is doing a valuable service when she decides when to wear her helmet and when not to. She is living the idea that we can make up our won minds about this, and she is helping indirectly bring bike share to Australaia.
As for your accident and such a common story too, you have to ponder those countries where people are happily riding around without helmets, and yet there are not brains scattered all over the place.
No, it’s not because they are all on separated cycleway, s though some may be and we’d no doubt like it to be like that here. have a look and my film on Dublin. Message to Melbourne from Dublin Bikes. http://situp-cycle.com
Not a separate cycleways in sight in Dublin and yet only two accidents involving Dublin bikes in the last year. How come you ask?
Bike share with helmet choice kicks of new and better relationships, (less aggro) with other traffic, so that might be part of the answer
Look into it.
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I’m with Sarah! I hate helmets and only wear one because it’s the law. I sincerely wish it wasn’t the law because it I do NOT believe that helmets offer the protection we have been led to believe.
There’s lots of evidence out there that helmets do in fact CAUSE certain injuries and at present the regulations are being changed to prevent injuries that the government still says helmets don’t cause (how’s that for logic). Helmets are appropriate in certain situations (e.g. racing/riding racing bikes where you’re more likely to go head-first over the handlebars) but if you’re riding a sit-up bike and going slow speeds a helmet is more likely to cause you an injury than prevent one. Read up people. Get informed before you howl down someone with a differing opinion to yours.
People who oppose mandatory helmet laws don’t oppose helmets, they only oppose being forced to wear them in situations they deem inappropriate.
And yes my helmet is ugly.
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I slipped on some piss in a dunny once and split my head open. Another time whilst bush walking a random rougue branch just snapped off a tree and hit my nut- three stitches. I think there’s an argument we should all wear helmets, all the time- Just in case. As someone who has spent a good proportion of my life riding, racing and commuting on pushies all over the world, I feel completely confident in my abillity to ride my bike to the corner shop, the beach or shopping without crashing- This I do most of the time. I hate lowest common denominator rules that say I can’t look after myself and puts my ability at a level of a first time cyclist, a three year old and my grandma. On a bike I’m aware- I have to be. How good would it be if we were allowed to have a choice like in other great civilisations. There’s more reason to enforce wearing helmets in a car if you look at the stats but then that would be a bit silly.
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December 3rd, 2010 at 4:45 pm
And of course far more pedestrians are killed by cars than cyclists every year but we don’t have a mandatory helmet law for pedestrians. Go figure.
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December 5th, 2010 at 10:57 pm
Beggsy, I think you might need a licence to leave the house!
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Good on you Sarah. If there’s anything worse than the authorities telling us to wear helmets, it’s all the enthusiastic adherents to paternalism (i.e., other cylists who cannot contain their self-righteous rage towards anyone riding sans lid) telling us off for being reckless, or posting macabre stories of brains being splattered all over the asphalt. Common sense is getting confused with groupthink in this country, and as long as the fearmongers are in control of cycle advocacy then we’ll forever remain a cycling backwater.
(By the way, a friend of mine was killed on a bike nine years ago. She was wearing a helmet. This did not contribute to my negative views on helmets, and I do not discourage anyone from wearing one given the choice, but it’s just a pertinent reminder that many cyclists still die while wearing one.)
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December 3rd, 2010 at 1:05 pm
“but it’s just a pertinent reminder that many cyclists still die while wearing one.”
Absolutely.
This is one reason the politicians claim they can’t remove the law because someone will have their head when the first person dies without a helmet. Cyclists are dying with helmets already! It is a silly argument but easily appeals to people who are time-poor and don’t have the ability to look at it with an open mind.
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December 5th, 2010 at 10:58 pm
Paul, thanks so much for taking the time to contribute to this debate in a generous manner. Great points. You provided me with some additional ammunition for my loose “campaign”. I just want more people on bikes…
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December 7th, 2010 at 9:22 am
Thanks Sarah. I want more everyday people on bikes as well – going to shops/restaurants/visiting friends, not just ‘training’ – and the more there are, the fewer cars there will be on our city streets and the safe it will be for all of us, including pedestrians.
Having ridden through Sydney on Sunday I can say that it is getting better for cyclists. I found most car drivers to be especially well behaved, even giving way to us when it was clear there was no advantage overtaking us. I was cycling with three other men, all helmet-free. It was also very interesting to not just how many cyclists are not riding with helmets in Sydney – almost half by my guess.
It is about time the law was repealed and people be allowed to make their own minds up on bicycle helmets – they’re clearly already doing this but it would be great if they didn’t have to break a law to do so.
It is about time our cities focus on the movement of people, not cars. The priority should be pedestrians, cyclists, public transport and lastly… cars.
It should be matter of choice. End of story.
They don’t offer the protection we are led to believe they do and it ‘dangerises’ the image of cycling. Cycling is very safe. Not all cycling is about going fast and racing about. Most sports cyclists will continue to wear their helmets even if the law was repealed – a good idea – but to make it a legal requirement to ride two blocks to the shops is madness. People will wear one when they feel it necessary – as Sarah does.
If people were really concerned about the health costs of ‘all these cyclist head injuries’ (the often quoted reason why the law should stay) then they MUST immediately support compulsory helmets for all car occupants! If they don’t, they are hypocrites and should not demand that cyclists be forced to wear helmets.
Once we ditch this silly, unpopular law (here and overseas) we will be able to put some more effort into what makes cycling truly safe (infrastructure, driver education, liability law changes, etc) and we will have a new cohort of cyclists to join in the chorus!
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The helmet issue is is compulsive, fascinating. The factor driving change right now is their impact on bike share schemes. They kill them stone dead. Now, of you think, like I do, that Bike share is the way to A. turbo charge city cycling. B The way to introduce non riders or unhappy riders, to the comfort of the sit bike (since they are all sit-ups) then helmet choice is really important.
We’ll be riding and filming on Cockatoo this Sunday, 5th at around Noon, showing off the beauty of situp bikes. For details about joining in, see Saskia’s Sydney Cycle Chic blog
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December 3rd, 2010 at 4:48 pm
I’ll be there, with my own sit-up bike! And picnic goodies of course!
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December 5th, 2010 at 10:59 pm
Bugger. just read this. Would’ve LOVED to have been there. Will have to get into your loops so I can join next time!!!
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December 7th, 2010 at 9:30 am
It was a great day! Next time perhaps? You should get in touch with Saskia from http://www.sydneycyclechic.org
Here are a few photos from the day with many more to come I’m sure…
http://www.situp-cycle.com/2010/12/06/cockatoo-dreaming/
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Sarah – yes each to your own – but wow how irrisponsible of you.
A good family friend of mine was injured in a cycling accident and the only thing that saved his life was his helmet!! yes he does have a slight speech impediment and suffers from short term memory loss – but at least he has his life and he can still live it as freely as he likes. Had he not had a helmet on the damage would have been more sirver and he would have died. The doctor even said so.
Id rather have my life then none at all!!
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December 3rd, 2010 at 1:59 pm
All these horror stories up to now have made the case for compulsion based on the idea that people are too stupid to look after themselves.
The negative impact of this advice is hidden. You really should consider this when you use such anecdotes. Look at a youtbue movie called, Bixi Frenzie . In that film you’ll see the head of Montreal’s trauma unit getting pretty upset with the new Bixi bike share scheme because they had no plans to dispense helmets along with the bikes (impossible anyway)
Dr Raziz gives a more sophisticated version of these stories speaking from the front line as it were. Bixi ignored the doctor’s advice and continued with their first season launch of 3000 bikes, later 5000 on the streets of Montreal.
Were they being irresponsible as many posters here seem to think? Well. those bikes clocked up 3.5 million kms. that first season with only five accidents, none involving head injuries.
Imagine the good in public heath terms all that city riding did! Image that the doctor had succeed and that riding had been reduced on Bixis to Melbourne bike share levels. Which city is better off, which public?
These trauma specialists are being irresponsible in that they don’t take the bigger health picture into account. They publicly fret over the million to one possibility of head injury, ignoring the 5 to one possibility of diabetes, obesity, etc.
They blithely ignore that to ride a bike, even without a helmet, produces a 20 to one health benefit. a benefit which their cries of alarm are denying to many Australians. Denying most dramatically by making effective bike share impossible here.
You on your bike get no safety dividend from the helmet law, even while as an individual you certainly feel more secure. You are 25 times more likely to be hurt than in Holland, 17 times more likely that in Denmark, 6 times more likely that Germany, and so on.
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December 3rd, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Good post, Mike.
The DublinBikes figures are also telling:
- they have been operating for 400 days
- in that time the bikes have done 1.3 million trips (average duration 16 minutes)
- that equates to 3.7 million kilometres of riding
They have had not one incident. Not one.
Why does the perception of bicycle safety seem to differ so much with the reality? One reason is this notion that you have to be wearing ‘safety gear’ (aka ‘danger gear’ – helmets, fluoro) which any normal person looks at and thinks… “Gee, that MUST be dangerous. I wouldn’t want my husband/wife/child/mother/father doing that. You must be so brave… etc etc”.
I cycle over 5000km per year for commuting and every other trip I would normally take a car for. I haven’t ‘fallen off’ since I was 10 years old. I don’t wear a helmet for 99% of these trips. I’d like to not have to break the law.
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December 5th, 2010 at 11:01 pm
MIke and Paul…love all this… I’ll do another post quoting this data (and attribute to you kids!), if that’s ok.
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Hi there Sarah
Have you seen this article in The Age just a few days ago?
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/helmet-law-hurting-shared-bike-scheme-20101128-18cf2.html
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I really want a Yakkay helmet but they don’t have retailers in Australia?
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December 3rd, 2010 at 2:01 pm
I know the people who planned to import them but the Australian Standards crowd wanted $20,000 for the testing procedure (which will now have to be repeated due to the ‘updated’ standard next year).
They simply couldn’t afford it.
They comply with the EU standards but apparently that’s not ‘good enough’ for AS.
PS: You can buy them from here. I did…
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It IS all about choice. I suspect that those people tut-tutting Sarah’s choice above would easily change their stance if the media changed theirs. Don’t become part of the nanny state – it is YOUR head. And to those people who have told stories about friends or relatives who were brain-damaged by biking accidents – I’m sorry for you, and it is awful, but I wouldn’t be singling out bicycle accidents for causing the damage. As another commenter above said, if we were being logical about this, we would have to wear helmets in cars too.
Bike accidents are , in my humble 30 years experience, caused by two things – bike riders who think that because they are on a smaller, slower contraption, traffic rules don’t apply to them – but much more often- car drivers who think that because bike riders are on smaller, slower contraptions , they don’t actually exist. All my near accidents have been caused by car drivers, reversing into me, turning into me while on their mobile, or just simply trying to get me to move out of their lane.
Share the road. Bike riders have as much right as car drivers. With or without helmets.
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I’m not sure that fabric-covered helmets are such a good idea: http://www.copenhagenize.com/2010/05/yakkay-viva-helmets.html
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December 7th, 2010 at 9:27 am
Yes,
This is something that should be carefully looked at. If the fabric is firmly attached it could worsen the rotational effect of an impact – twisting your head/neck.
I note that the Australian Standard for bicycle helmets (AS/NZS2063) is being ‘updated’ to allow the straps to stretch so the helmet can come off after the initial impact, and it limits visor structures so that the risk of rotation is not worsened…
So the previous standard requires that the helmet be so firmly attached that you can’t pull it off and there was no mention of ‘rotation’… interesting.
What is ridiculous is that helmets that conform to the old standard are perfectly legal. Doesn’t all of this undermine the effectiveness of a bicycle helmet for serious impacts (which they’re not designed for) and make you question whether it should be appropriate that the law FORCES you to wear such a device?
Impact testing under the standard is only up to 19.5km/h on the crown (ie. top) of the helmet. They certainly offer some protection but not enough to justify an mandatory requirement.
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Horseriding helmet, I’ve just bought a vintage one on ebay- hot!
If you can take a fall from a horse….
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December 4th, 2010 at 9:25 am
Just be aware that unless the helmet has the AS/NSZ2063 sticker on it, it is technically illegal in Australia and you can wear a fine. Even if they comply with the EU standard that is not good enough.
I saw a group of construction workers riding bikes home the other day with their hardhats on! I’m sure they only had them on as there was nowhere else to put them and who wants to bring TWO helmets to work!
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I’ve seen your picture in Sunday Life miss Wilson.
Your head is too pretty to get mashed like a melon.
At the risk of messing up a good hairdo, wear a helmet girlfriend
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December 6th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
Those sort of scare comments don’t work anymore, Andy. If yours was a real worry if the countries which really care about their citizens on bikes, I mean the ones which spend hundreds of millions on making riding safe and pleasant, would be all have comp helmet laws like us.
The funny thing is that the whole of Europe allows adults choice and, despite that, the cycling is much safer.
You know, helmets surround cycling with an aura of danger and, presto, it becomes more dangerous. I know that’s weird but it’s true.
Compulsory helmet have been far and away the worst thing to happen to cycling in Australia and, in the big picture, have cost us countless lives, all the people who could have had 10 years added to their life if they had kept on riding, all the floks who died prematurely of heart attacks of obesity, of diabetes. .
Until we give choice back to people, we will remain one of the most obese nations and cycling will stay locked in the grip of sport and leisure, that is unthinkable as a way of just getting around for most people.
We will also remain rather stupid in the eyes of the world. (see the movie ; Message to Melbourne from Dublin Bikes)
Change to sanity is on the way. Within a couple of years, I’d say.
In the meantime, anyone who wants to know how great it feels to legally ride without a lid, hop a flight to Darwin,
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December 6th, 2010 at 11:27 pm
Is Andy a cop. Jeez lighten up- you’re being a tad dramatic. Sarah’s a big girl now. By the way no foam top is going to save a face boyfriend. 80 percent of deaths on pushies involves a car- funny that. I have a hunch that Sassoes likes to smell the roses not CO2 and takes a less car invested route to wherever she goes. Jeez this is can of worms. Love it.
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[...] coupla posts back I mentioned I don’t wear a helmet all the time. I like to dress exactly how I like and not have my outfit stop me from riding a bike (instead of [...]
Dr Paul Martin
I would like to talk to you about this issue with reference to what is happening in Northern Ireland. Can I contact you privately?
You can email me through my blog and then I can get back to you.
Many thanks!
Jonathan
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Good lord, the bicycle lobbyists are at it again. What are people like Mike Rubbo and Paul Martin doing hanging around a blog like this? Oh, I know. Forcing their ideas onto everyone else! Talk about having choice.
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March 16th, 2011 at 1:38 pm
I love anonymous posters… so friendly & eloquent.
The only idea I’m ‘forcing’ onto others is the idea that they are intelligent enough to make their own decision about such matters – and should not be restricted in doing so by an archaic law.
If you think that is a bad thing then you need your mind read. Over and out.
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I cycled around Kyoto-Japan, on a bike borrowed from my backpackers, and it only just occurred to me we didn’t wear helmets. I felt perfectly safe, so safe I forgot I wasn’t wearing one!
Japan has a huge cycling culture, and it has only just occurred to me that I don’t remember seeing helmets at all.
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You won’t eat sugar but you will ride without a helmet?
You’re 70% more likely to survive a serious crash if you’re wearing a helmet. How much sugar is in your system will be the least of your worries if wind up with brain damage.
get serious.
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One reason to wear a helmet: Drivers respect cyclist that look serious and cautious. Wearing helmets, respecting traffic laws, and being illuminated sends a strong message to others on the road. It also helps change attitude towards bicycles, one driver at a time. If you are daily commuter most drivers on your route would know you well in a short time. Looking like a bum and crazy on the road brings out the worst in drivers and it doesn’t help your safety.
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Branko your spot on! I’m both a driver and a rider and its frustratingly easy to spot people that have purchased a bike as a fashion statement as they are the ones who generally pay as much attention to road rules as they do their own personal safety.
While I can see the logic behind some of these comments and admit I’m not mr perfect when it comes to following rules it still amazes me how insanely self-centered most of these opinions are!
Around 2weeks ago I saw an accident, it happened right in front of me! a 12yo girl either didnt see or ignored the red light at the crossing and rode straight out in front of a car doing around 60kms….the driver saw her & skidded quite a distance but still hit her with quite a bit of speed, she flew up the bonnet, her head hit the windscreen hard and she was thrown like a ragdoll approx 5-6 meters into the intersection.
I saw her head hit the windscreen and also the harsh whip back as her head hit the pavement. After it had all stopped i saw her try to raise her head then she just fell face down and didnt move, I seriously thought she was dead!! After the intersection was cleared and the Ambo’s had her in the ambulance and checked her over it turned out she was extremely lucky and besides a few broken ribs, some bad grazes and a light concussion she was alright!
The Ambo officers said she was lucky she had the helmet on (which was now in pieces) as it absorbed a large majority of the impacts that would have otherwise been directly taken by her head.
After seeing it happen directly in front of me I can tell you they DO make a difference, if her head had taken that impacts directly her injuries would have been much much worse!
The only way i can try to provide an idea of what it was like is maybe to imagine someone hitting you in the head with a cricket bat with no protection and then with a helmet on…..its kind of obvious that there would be a big difference in the end result.
The one thing I cant get past is the fact that no one thought about the driver, not even for a split second, in fact one woman even sent some serious daggers in his direction as if he had done something wrong!
The poor old man was in shock, one minute he was just driving down the road heading home, not speeding, not doing anything wrong and then next minute he was responsible for hitting a 12yo girl that would have been a similar age to his granchildren, his reactions were lighting fast for an older person and he was clearly watching the road.
The young girl was 100% in the wrong, yet you could see the mountain of guilt on his face and it was obvious this wasnt something he will forget in a few days.
Regardless of wether you opt not to wear a helmet for fashion, or because you dont think they serve a purpose…….just try to think, for a second, about the damage you could do to someone elses life if your seriously injured or killed by their car!
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Well it may be an irresponsible post, but so be it. We are all so responsible lately aren’t we? I may end up sounding like a geek, but I feel like we are getting closer to the dreaded Borg of Star Trek fame. Conform to every little regulation, because it’s forour safety, it’s for our own good, we must listen, and tow the line, otherwise we will be ostracized by our friends and family, and readers. This is the strangest peer pressure that our society is inflicting on us, and I’m not sure whether the motivation to do the right thing is just so that we “do the right thing” or has its roots in some kind of motivation to define ourselves to our peers. Good for you Sarah, I also don’t wear a helmet. Yes it’s illegal, but that doesn’t make it wrong. What I love about riding my bike is this: I can go anywhere I like. Wherever I can travel on a ribbon of paving, concrete or bitumen, and the odd dirt track on this wonderful planet, I will. Maybe a car will hit me, or I’ll run into a tree, and maybe I’ll get brain damage, but enough with the cotton wool mentality! I could just as easily get hit by a car if I’m walking down the street. Should there be a rule that pedestrians wear helmets? I’m free on my bike. Let me enjoy my freedom, the way I like it.
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