Stuart Jeffries had an article in the Guardian yesterday on that old chestnut: ‘cycle helmets, yes or no?’ Aside from the usual anecdotes about Dr Mark Porter allowing his children out without helmets, and some interviews with cartoony Parisiennes who refuse to wear helmets or high-vis jackets for aesthetic reasons, Jeffries doesn’t add much to the debate.
In fact, is it even a debate? I instinctively wear a helmet whenever I get on my bike. I don’t even think of the spatial statistics that point to motorists driving closer to helmeted cyclists – if you’re a seasoned urban cyclist, you regard every vehicle on the road as a potential hazard, and adjust your riding style appropriately. And you wear a helmet. A helmet could be important, but on the other hand you may never need it. I only cracked my head on a road once, and I had a helmet on when I did. I don’t know whether it made a huge difference, but I’m glad I was wearing it. (On that occasion, I broke a small bone in my hand.)
I’m guessing this is a non-issue. Basically: wear a helmet.
8 Comments
August 13, 2008 at 8:26 am
‘regard every vehicle on the road as a potential hazard, and adjust your riding style appropriately’
Agreed!
Coincidentally, I wound up reading about the helmet/no-helmet debate over the past few days, and came to the same conclusion.
BTW, the spatial study’s results may not be relevant to Ireland, since it was based on research conducted in just two UK towns, Salisbury and Bristol (http://www.drianwalker.com/overtaking/); I can imagine driver behaviour being different here, it being a different country after all.
thanks for the blog btw, I enjoy reading it…
August 13, 2008 at 8:48 am
Cheers Justin,
Your point about the UK towns is well made – for a start, I saw the finding that ‘drivers are more likely to go within a metre of helmeted cyclists’ and immediately thought: that’s still quite far, isn’t it?
In Dublin, I find drivers go much closer than this, especially some taxi drivers. Plus, when you’re trying to squeeze past a queue of traffic waiting at lights, you’re going much closer than this too.
Also, I think cycle lanes visually prescribe a cyclist’s spatial use, while appearing to assure motorists that a bicycle is not traffic. I’m not sure if this warns off vehicles, or draws them closer, but it ultimately encourages drivers to think of cyclists as outside of traffic, and therefore subject to arbitrary rules compiled by a lone angry motorist.
I do use cycle lanes though – they’re sometimes the only part of the road that’s available for use.
Thanks for your comment – very pleased to hear you enjoy the blog.
Karl
August 14, 2008 at 10:53 am
‘when you’re trying to squeeze past a queue of traffic waiting at lights, you’re going much closer than this too.’
heh, yeah, that occurred to me too
August 28, 2008 at 3:54 pm
[...] then goes on to rehash some of the stuff that has cropped up recently on cycling blogs about cycling safety, helmets, [...]
August 29, 2008 at 9:28 am
I’d be in the “seasoned urban cyclist” too, and never wear a helmet. Having read the stats on cyclehelmets.org I’m happy with that choice. One of their main arguments is that cycling becomes safer the more cyclists there are, and that this is more of a factor than preventing injury in the event of a collision.
I used to wear a helmet when cycling in the Dublin/Wicklow ‘mountains’, because in the sort of falls you have there – 30km/h impacts with rocks – a helmet is useful. It won’t save your life, because your life isn’t in danger, but it will prevent minor injuries, which are quite possible. A 50km/h collision with a car or hgv is different though.
In ~12 years cycling in Dublin city I’ve had one accident, in which I landed in the oncoming traffic lane, which was empty. Had a vehicle been oncoming though, I don’t think any helmet would’ve been of use.
August 29, 2008 at 9:51 am
Regardless of the stats, I wear a helmet, and advise other people should too. It’s their choice not to, of course, and they may never need to. But as a precaution, I think cyclists should wear helmets. Cars are well protected on the road, cyclists are not. I agree that the more cyclists there are on the road, the more safety provision there will be, but does that mean we should wait around for a larger proportion of the population to start cycling? I don’t feel wearing a helmet automatically ensures my complete safety, I just wear one because it’s a good idea.
August 29, 2008 at 6:15 pm
An edited version of my comment on Justin Mason’s blog…
For the record, my article was emailed to the newspaper on August 1 – that’s before your blog post was posted (and also before the Guardian article it links to was published).
Reading Mikael Colville-Andersen’s blogs was the main factor in coming up with the idea for the article. Also, at the beginning of the summer, I saw cycling in a number of cities around Europe for my self (in Copenhagen, Berlin, Paris and other cities).
August 29, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Fair enough…