Dutch cyclists not wearing helmet shock. Letter in Telegraph

CiB

For no reason, just thought I'd flag this one up - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?menuId=1588&menuItemId=-1&view=DISPLAYCONTENT&grid=A1&targetRule=0#head6

I'm with Mr Imeson personally. Let's see which of us gets their missive printed tomorrow.

ChrisLS

...oh no... helmets :shock: :roll:

simon_ramsey

What we need is a thread on whether it is safer to wear a helmet whilst RLJ'ing

Stop it .... Stop it I say :oops:

spen666

simon_ramsey wrote:

What we need is a thread on whether it is safer to wear a helmet whilst RLJ'ing

...:

and listening to an Ipod or similar device....

and whether this would be made safer using a campag equipped bike instead of a shimano one


.... all the whilst doing it on the pavement

ChrisLS

...without lights in the dead of night!!!!!!!!!! :shock:

edhornby

spen666 wrote:

simon_ramsey wrote:

What we need is a thread on whether it is safer to wear a helmet whilst RLJ'ing

...:

and listening to an Ipod or similar device....

and whether this would be made safer using a campag equipped bike instead of a shimano one


.... all the whilst doing it on the pavement

Riding a fixie or should that be fixed !!

spen666

edhornby wrote:

spen666 wrote:

simon_ramsey wrote:

What we need is a thread on whether it is safer to wear a helmet whilst RLJ'ing

...:

and listening to an Ipod or similar device....

and whether this would be made safer using a campag equipped bike instead of a shimano one


.... all the whilst doing it on the pavement

Riding a fixie or should that be fixed !!

...in a cycle lane

girv73

...that's shared with pedestrians

boybiker

I thought that the Dutch all wore caps

spen666

boybiker wrote:

I thought that the Dutch all wore caps

if they did there would not be so many of them- if they fitted

chuckcork

Question should be, if a driver cuts me up in a roundabout having totally ignored me in preference for their mobile phone conversation, is my wearing a helmet going to stop me from wanting to punch through the glass of their car window?

always_tyred

chuckcork wrote:

Question should be, if a driver cuts me up in a roundabout having totally ignored me in preference for their mobile phone conversation, is my wearing a helmet going to stop me from wanting to punch through the glass of their car window?

Its safer to do that if you are wearing full fingered gloves.

chuckcork

I was.

I mean, if I had followed through on my aggressive impulses....

boybiker

The thing is the guy who is coaching me doesn't wear a helmet and my natural reaction is to tell him to wear one because I don't want to see him get hurt, but then again he has been a professional cyclist for many years so he should know what he is doing and even if he doesn't know what he is doing he certainly doesn't want me telling him what to do., so I keep my mouth shut which is unusual for me

swagman

Helmets came about as a fashion accessory. Yes they probarbly make sense when doin proper mountain bikin, but i never wear one on the road.
It is this countrys health n safety bollocks as well.
Nobody would wear a helmet when they first came out until they got fashionable.
If we want to be really sensible we should all be wearing a full face jobbie.
Not cool?

ademort

In town the vast majority of cyclists do not wear a helmet, it',s probably because there are so many cycle paths. The chance of a collision with a car or lorry should be much less as most junctions have apart traffic lights for cyclist in the cycle lane. My commute is 16Km over mainly unlit roads and i would say that half the commuters i see have a helmet. I have lived in the Netherlands for 16 years and in mho the further out of town you go, then the higher the % of helmet wearers you see. Greetings Ademort

biondino

swagman wrote:

It is this countrys health n safety bollocks as well.
Nobody would wear a helmet when they first came out until they got fashionable.
If we want to be really sensible we should all be wearing a full face jobbie.
Not cool?

Congratulations, swagman, you are the only person in the entire world who thinks bike helmets are fashionable.

swagman

Well i cant see a peice of polystyrene stoping a ton of metal from crushing your head.

alfablue

And....we're off

boybiker

No its excellent it gives me a chance to expand on my theory, I think it comes down to being a last stand of the lone nutter who thinks he is making a stand against the new world order by not wearing a helmet and standing up to the elf and safety , a bit like the right wing freaks in America who refuse to apply for a passport or a driving license.
Anyway us Boybikers are more concerned with preserving our boyish good looks in the case of a crash so we can shag loads of burds rather than making a stand against the new world order.

ansbaradigeidfran

biondino wrote:

swagman wrote:

It is this countrys health n safety bollocks as well.
Nobody would wear a helmet when they first came out until they got fashionable.
If we want to be really sensible we should all be wearing a full face jobbie.
Not cool?

Congratulations, swagman, you are the only person in the entire world who thinks bike helmets are fashionable.

Er, actually, add me in for that. I started riding when helmets were polystyrene pudding bowls with a bit of lycra over them. Wore one every time (under parents' orders) and never grew out of it. I find today's stuff to be rather fetching. Not skullcaps though: those are a bit odd.

swagman

Real birds like real men ,scars n' all.

Cantdosleepy

I don't think people are ragging on you for you non-helmeted stance, swagman. I think there's just amusement at your opinion that helmets are 'in fashion'. Everyone I know thinks helmets make you look like a right numpty, but wears them for the (endlessly argued over) safety benefits.

I wear a helmet. I think I look like a knob. I wear a hi viz jacket. I think I look like a high-waistbanded dad. I look silly on my bike. But I think the safety benefit is worth it.

If I had a first date in Shoreditch with a media tart, I'd go in jeans on an aero'd fixie with a distressed Sonic Youth T-Shirt, not with a skid lid and in high viz.

swagman

There's so much high-vis around these days that one day i swear im going to have a crash being blinded and that.

wgwarburton

BoyBiker writes:

> I don't want to see him get hurt, but then again he has been a professional cyclist for many years so he should know what he is doing

Yes, he does.

He's probably thought about it and concluded that it isn't worth wearing a helmet for the limited protection it offers. Naturally that's his call and his responsibility and if you've reached a different conclusion then that's just fine.

But, please don't support any move to compulsion.

Cheers,
W.

The Chingford Skinhead

swagman wrote:

Well i cant see a peice of polystyrene stoping a ton of metal from crushing your head.

It's not designed to. It is designed to protect you from other kinds of incident - like if you get clipped by a car and the fall, or like someone who posted today who had a fall on black ice. It offers limited protection but that is better than none IMHO.

After all, I'm sure we've all experienced drivers "not seeing" us and almost / actually hitting us despite powerful lights and hi-viz. That isn't an argument to put your lights and hi-viz in the bin. It's an argument that lights and hi-viz offer some but not compete protection

simple_salmon

I think helmets look cool :oops: