Interesting article in Independent on helmet use – Safety Essential or Health Risk?
More than two-thirds of the British Medical journal’s readers voted against mandatory cycle helmets for adults (out of 1,427 people who voted)
The key reason for their opposition was that making helmet-wearing compulsory might deter people from taking up cycling, and therefore they wouldn’t get the health benefits that flow from it. As one doctor said:
“It gives out the message that cycling is dangerous, which it is not. The evidence that cycling helmets work to reduce injury is not conclusive. What has, however, been shown is that laws that make wearing helmets compulsory decrease cycling activity. Cycling is a healthy activity and cyclists live longer on average than non-cyclists.”
Figures from Western Australia suggested that cycling fell 30 per cent after helmets were made mandatory.
On the other hand Olympic gold medallist James Cracknell feels that it was a cycle helmet that protected his life when a passing lorry hit his head with it’s wing mirror (I presume in US, lorries pass cyclists even closer than in UK)
BTW: James Cracknell is doing a 25 mile time trial near Wycombe this Sunday morning. (I will be doing a 10 on U47b)
If it is not a paradox, I agree with both.
I don’t think cycle helmet use should be made compulsory. However, I do wear a helmet for the very remote chance it might reduce injury / save a life.
What do you think?
Related
I avoided wearing a helmet when I was younger and was lucky to avoid brain damage in a couple of very minor accidents. And still I did not learn. A few years ago, when I’d cycle to work (4 miles) I’d usually wear a helmet, but when I’d cycle to college (1 mile) I would never. One day I had an epiphany when I’d gotten half way to college (no helmet, of course) and a car very nearly pulled out on me at a roundabout, but stopped just in time. Could have been a nasty accident without a helmet…
Nonetheless, I do not think helmets should be compulsory. It would more than likely lead to a reduction of cyclists on our roads, leading to more health problems. But also, with fewer cyclists on our roads, they would be a more dangerous place to be for the cyclists who stuck it out, leading to more accidents.
Also, cycle helmets aren’t really designed to protect in collisions involving third party vehicles.
Just for clarification, I ALWAYS wear a helmet now.
For an adult its a personal choice and for a child its the personal choice of their parents, simple as that. I didn’t wear one until I fell off and hit my head. That gave me a fright and now I wear one as does my daughter. We don’t need or want the government making decisions for us about how we lead our lives. Personal choice, personal responsibility.
The video from James Cracknell is very compelling, but there’s just one little thing he doesn’t tell you: he’s sponsored by a helmet manufacturer http://www.alpina-helmets.co.uk/athletes.html
The very same one that he claims saved his life. I wonder how many helmets they’ve sold since his video was released?
well if ya gonna fall off ya gonna fall off simple as that I mean look at the tour crashes this year they were all wearing helmets and bradley wiggins broke his collar bone
(I can relate to this cos i’m sitting here with a broken collar bone myself) 
but i think wearing a helmet has become a little bit more compulsory I mean my dad who never wears a helmet had to buy one to come on my club ride with me so.. I dunno what this post is about really but hey
Em
i mean my comment
not this post
It’s a topic of great debate. There are studies that have shown that wearing a cycle helmet actually increases your odds of having an accident.
As a road racer I always wear my helmet anyway as i train as I would race so make sure I have a Cool Cycle helmet like the Team Sky Kask to make sure I look good and have the protection required
John,
Don’t be silly. Why should children be required to wear helmets? If you think that’s logical, then children should be forced to wear safety equipment in many, many other situations that have equally low injury rates as cycling, or higher, such as playing in playgrounds, physical sports, etc. Even walking to school. Your attitude, though well-meaning, is illogically focused on eliminating a very very small risk to children by replacing it with a number of far more certain harms regarding children’s psychological (independence, life skills, ability to assess risks) and physical development (being active and healthy and avoiding the ever greater rates of obesity in children).
If you take all societal effects into account, helmets (compulsory laws, or the culture in anglo-saxon countries that effectively demands cyclists wear them) perhaps do far *more* harm than good.
I use to think hemlet are useless and would wear it only when doing Road Cycling because well heu that’s the way the pro doing it these days and well it’s cool to look like pros but not when I was doing commuting… Last month I was in SF where I rented a road bike and was going down from a nearby mountain and fall down from the bike and landed on the hemlet which broke in two and believe save my life (or at least a need to go to the hospital while i was by myself as a tourist) :
http://goo.gl/LS5ak
I wear one all the time that’s my choice, personally I like to have a choice.
I was a little upset with a article I once read (cant remember where) that a Judge slashed a cyclist compensation on an appeal because he wasn’t wearing an helmet after a motor vehicle struck him at around 30mph. Why he did this was not known. The argument was
1. they are not compulsory. 2. they are designed for head protection if a cyclist topples off his bike and hits his head on a curb (not being hit at 30mph plus). I imagine the judge cycles to work every day and knows better.
It should be mandatory for children to wear helmets!
I’m not sure about the “take more care without helmet” argument. I would take more care without reflectors & lights at night but it could still be more dangerous!
Some say, without a helmet you take more risks and cycle more carefully. Though, even if you cycle very carefully, it still doesn’t stop a van’s wing mirror driving into you.
I think it’s interesting how many people don’t wear helmets. I’ve only just started cycling properly in the last 3 months or so and never would dream of going anywhere with out a cycle helmet. In fact, this week when cycling to work I forgot my helmet and was paranoid about it the whole journey.
I agree with the notion that making it compulsory would put people off and at the end of the day it’s personal preference, but I would never dream of going anywhere without mine on.