Comments on: Should You Wear Bike Helmets In France and Italy?

By: Margery Cairns

Margery Cairns — Tue, 05 May 2009 05:56:47 +0000

In Australia bicycle helmets have been compulsory for several years and statistics have shown that the number of head injuries through bike accidents has been greatly reduced. At first a few people ( mainly due to the effect on the hair do) may have stopped riding bikes. However now most people regard wearing a helmet as just another part of cycling such as wearing cycling shoes, sunglasses etc. and would never ride without their helmet. Helmet designs have improved vastly and are not the sweaty items they once were. In fact they are quite trendy. I suffered a bad fall some time ago, injured my shoulder and landed very heavily on my head on ashphalt. The helmet was damaged but my head survived what could have been a serious injury. A helmets probably wouldn’t help if you were hit by a car, but for less serious accidents it is one way you can protect yourself. Accidents can happen even to the most experienced of cyclists so why not wear a helmet -just in case.

By: Malcolm Wardlaw

Malcolm Wardlaw — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 21:38:55 +0000

Bernard, I have spent quite a lot of time on this issue over the years. Google my name and you will see what I mean. The main problem (as I see it) is that the relevance of cycle helmets has been vastly exaggerated. There will be a mixture of reasons for this. The academics that “proved” helmets are highly effective have a vested interest. Politicians have a vested interest – especially in countries where cycling on the roads is seen as foolhardy. Ironically, cycling in France is probably safer than driving, hour for hour basis. Helmets are doubtless a good idea for mountain biking. Road riding is rather different. The risks are very low and in any case in the unlikely event of beiing in a serious road crash, a cycle helmet will not help you out. It is a great pity that so few cyclists have a thoughtful view on this issue. Nowadays so many people are happy to believe that cycling on the roads is dangerous. Does this reduce cycling? Is the sky blue? Regrettably less cycling means more risk per cyclist. It is a classic market failure that cyclists take to wearing helmets in the belief it is the sensible thing to do, but the collective interest is damaged.

By: Richard Keatinge

Richard Keatinge — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 11:53:11 +0000

Very dubious whether helmets do any good at all, see cyclehelmets.org. Helmet laws have stopped a lot of people cycling and have done nothing for head injury rates, see Robinson DL. No clear evidence from countries that have enforced the wearing of helmets. BMJ 2006;332: 722-5. http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/332/7543/722-a. It appears that helmets break easily, but don’t absorb the impact, see the engineers quoted at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_helmet.

By: jed baxter

jed baxter — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 23:53:17 +0000

Good article Bernard. Well balanced. I tend to wear a helmet *most* of the time. When I do I think – “don’t want the nasty scalp graze from the tarmac should something unexpected happen” . When I don’t I think – “f*** it, chances are nothing is going to happen let’s go ‘as nature intended’ and play safe.