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To Encourage Biking, Lose the Helmets
Hugh Pickens writes in about the detrimental effects of mandatory helmet laws (at least as applied to adults): "Elisabeth Rosenthal writes that in the United States the notion that bike helmets promote health and safety by preventing head injuries is taken as pretty near God's truth but many European health experts have taken a very different view. 'Yes, there are studies that show that if you fall off a bicycle at a certain speed and hit your head, a helmet can reduce your risk of serious head injury,' writes Rosenthal. 'But such falls off bikes are rare — exceedingly so in mature urban cycling systems.' On the other hand, many researchers say, if you force people to wear helmets, you discourage them from riding bicycles causing more health problems like obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Bicycling advocates say that the problem with pushing helmets isn't practicality but that helmets make a basically safe activity seem really dangerous, which makes it harder to develop a safe bicycling network like the one in New York City, where a bike-sharing program is to open next year. The safest biking cities are places like Amsterdam and Copenhagen, where middle-aged commuters are mainstay riders and the fraction of adults in helmets is minuscule. 'Pushing helmets really kills cycling and bike-sharing in particular because it promotes a sense of danger that just isn't justified — in fact, cycling has many health benefits,' says Piet de Jong. 'Statistically, if we wear helmets for cycling, maybe we should wear helmets when we climb ladders or get into a bath, because there are lots more injuries during those activities.'"
They tried riding in various different manners, for example further from the kerb (tr.US: curb), with helmet, without helmet, dressed as a woman etc. He found that as a hemetless woman, cars gave him the greatest amount of room, and as a helmeted man, the least amount of room.
So rather than a helmet law there should be a law that cyclists should dress as women. I could go with that!
Yes, he has invented a machine that allows him to travel alternate timelines in parallel universes. He uses this machine solely for arguing on the internet.
Either that or the damage done to the helmets indicates a level of force best not applied to a naked head.
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
Stupid drivers not driving safely is a problem in and of itself. But when a bicyclist gets hurt regardless of vehicular interaction, well, I bet the bicyclist is going to regret not wearing a helmet if his or her head is hit against something hard.
I bet we'd have more people willing to skydive if they didn't have to lug around backpacks carrying heavy parachutes.
Come and live in Yorkshire. Everything is uphill both ways. In the snow.
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I run 40 miles a month, bike about 100 and kayak 2 hours a week, i.e. I'm more fit than the huge majority of people my age (or any age, for that matter)
And apparently modest too!!!
I'm just glad someone is finally remarking how silly this is. I've been saying for years that ladder helmets are necessary. My kids, before doing any dangerous activity, go to the closet and get their helmet out. Whether that be their ladder-climbing helmet, their swing set helmet, or their swimming pool slide helmet, they know that being safe is better than being dead. Anything that requires being more than standing height from the ground requires a helmet. The kids are excited about it, too - for their birthdays this year, they know they'll be getting new "going down the stairs" helmets.
Take it to the limit, everybody to the limit, come on, everybody fhqwhgads.
Oh, so you're the smelly cubicle I walk past every day...
I don't know a single person that doesn't bike because they have to wear a helmet. And I suspect anyone that reports such is just looking for a socially acceptable reason for their lack of exercise.
I'd never bike if I had to wear a helmet! And I stopped driving once they made seat belts mandatory. In fact, I stopped walking as well after a cop told me I had to wear pants outside. Now I pretty much just sit at home doing nothing. But at least I don't have to wear pants.
The problem I have is that all the issues you raise also apply to pedestrians, yet suggest to a pro-helmet cyclist that they should wear a helmet when walking across the road and they just laugh. I have no problem with people wearing helmets, in fact I would encourage it, but I want the choice for myself.
If I seem short sighted, it is because I stand on the shoulders of midgets