Cycling became really popular in the last couple of years. There are many advantages of bike riding, both ecological, physical, and also transport-related because the fewer cars we have on the roads, the less traffic there is.
In Seattle, helmets have been mandatory for 12 years. But some cycling advocates fear that such strict laws might discourage others from getting on a bike. Do you think every cyclist should be required to wear a helmet and fined if they don't wear it?
The fine in Seattle is set at 102$ (380 zlotys). Even though the safety of cyclists on the road is increasing , people oppose the notion because it intrudes on their freedom (I think it's similar to smoking in public). In Amsterdam, people don't even consider wearing helmets because in the Netherlands the number of cyclists killed per mile is the lowest in the world.
So, should we focus on making roads safer for the cyclist (building more bike lanes) or make the cyclist safer on the road? Studies show that helmets help only if people fall from their bikes but do virtually nothing if the cyclist hits a car driving faster than 30 kilometers per hour. I know that many of you ride to school on a bike. Do you wear a helmet? Do you think there should be a law that requires you to wear a helmet?
Many cycling advocates say that making helmets mandatory would not only reduce the number of cyclists but also that "The governments leave the responsibility for safety in the hands of the cyclists. They are blaming the victim". Furthermore, car drivers supposedly drive more carefully around people with no helmets.
Honestly I didn't expect to find so many negative articles and arguments against wearing helmets. What is your opinion?
Comments
As I mentioned in my article the number of cyclist accidents in Netherlands is the lowest in the world (http://blogs-images.forbes.com/niallmccarthy/files/2015/02/20150224_Cyclists_Fo.jpg) but it's so safe to ride a bike there mostly because of many bike lanes. In Poland there is no such infrastructure so maybe money from the fines could help to pay for the development of more bike lanes? Just an idea. I don't own a helmet (they are really expensive!) but I know people that had serious face injuries that could've been easily prevented by a helmet and now I'm really considering getting one.
City bike, mountain bike, trecking bike, cross bike, road bike, BMX, recumbent bicycle, tandem and many many other. Majority of us distinguish city and mountain bikes- sparingly.
As for helmet I think that is good idea. Thanks to helmet our head is safe. As for fine- I don't know.
I didn't know that if the cyclist hits a car driving faster than 30 kilometers per hour, helmet doesn't help. Uhm, then wearing a helmet looses sense.
I don't wear a helmet, but I ride a bike on green, rural area, where the traffic is really small.
Speaking of adults I personally hate using helmets especially during summer when it is hot. I would not like to have regulation saying that it is compulsory. Only in some cases it makes sense. When we are using special bicycle paths we can feel safe. But when we are using road or we are bicycling when it is dark it becomes dangerous.
What we need is definitely more bike lanes and the cyclists to use those lanes. When I walk down the pavement it's really annoying when bikes pass you by by mere millimeters. When I drive a car it drives me crazy when there's a cyclist I need to take over but I can't. And when I ride a bike I don't want to get hit by a car or have some pedestrians under my wheels.
On the other hand sometimes when there are bike lanes pedestrians tend to use it as a pavement and the other way round.
Additionaly if every road user follows their lane there's little to none risk of serious head injury that could be prevented by wearing a helmet. If people cycle among cars the risk is much higher and helmets definitely may come in handy.
So in the end if we have proper lanes or zones for everyone it all comes down to obeying some simple rules to make us safer and more comfortable
The problem with helmets is that they really look LAME, they are awful. After long time of browsing net I ordered really cool one online, but in shops in our country there are not so many options what is not encouraging people to wear them.
You asked whether we think it should be obligatory to wear them. I think it shouldn't be, because it's our free choice. It should be obligatory for children in my opinion. It would be very problematic for veturilo users and casual bikers ;)
But if we had this regulation than it would be more common to see people in helmets and maybe it wouldn't be so lame anymore haha :D (Sometimes I have this feeling that everybody is staring at me just because there are not many bikers with helmets :P )
I think that Warsaw should be more bike-friendly. There are not so many bike paths, and if we have them they are made of paving stone, what is horrible and expensive (more expensive than concrete...). We really don't have opportunity to commute smoothly by bike in our city. Very often I give up to go by bike because I know there are few segments that I have to go through that are very dangerous and it's really not nice to ride this road (lot's of fast cars, or traffic jam - not easy to overtake cars, especially when drivers are not paying much attention, just silently scrolling facebook XD). What do you think? Do we have good possibilities to use bike to commute in our city?
I hate riding on the street because I never feel safe and if I ride on a bike lane people always wonder all over it and don't care.
I don't wear a helmet when I'm riding a bike, but I usually use bike lanes, so I don't expect any particular dangers. Besides, as Natalia says, helmets don't look very good - I don't even have one.
On the other hand, I think I would wear a helmet if I was going for a long ride, using public roads, or something like that. However, I've never heard that helmet's don't work if the cyclist hits a car driving faster than 30 kilometers per hour. Now I think that my tactics is kind of useless :)
There's one photo that instantly came to my mind when I read your presentation's topic. It's a photo of a motorcycle helmet after an accident. I may have ambivalent feelings about bike helmets, but I think not to wear motorbike helmet is pure stupidity.
http://bbs.boingboing.net/uploads/boingboing/3414/a06ec1c973647fb9.jpg
As I mentioned I also don't own a helmet and I also use bike lanes (I hate riding on streets) but I still feel it is safer to wear one and I know people that had injuries that could be prevented by helmets.
a great option is to look on shot movies of crashes, this will open eyes to many of peoples. Many of them is not scary. I like channel in youtube "ku przestrodze" there are compilations of accidents. This is realy worth looking.
for example:
http://img.zszywka.pl/0/0320/w_4050/moda-damska/kask-rowerowy-moze-byc-stylowy.jpg
or
http://bi.gazeta.pl/im/b9/ad/e3/z14921145Q,Kask-rowerowy-przyszlosci-.jpg
:D
In one of the comments I mentioned the same idea that fines could be used to finance more bike lanes.
For sure I'm going to wear this helmet when I will receive it.
To be honest these statistics aren't really meaningful to me.
United States have 318.9 million inhabitants and in 2012 722 cyclists were killed.
Report states that there are 51 million people riding a bicycle in States.
That makes 722 deaths out of 51 million cyclists.
> Nationally the total of bicycle accident deaths hovers around 200.
So Netherlands have 16 million inhabitants and in 2012 200 cyclists were killed.
200 deaths out of 16 million people in Netherlands versus 722 deaths out of 51 million million people.
To normalize:
1:80000 is death ratio for Netherlands
1:73000 is death ratio for United States
So... it shows that death ratio is almost the same for these two countries if you count people, not kilometers.
I think, it should be compulsory to wear reflective vests. Bikers riding without any lights aren't visible on the road - that can cause serious problems.
The helmet does not protect the cyclist in one hundred percent, however it can surely help. Maybe not while someone hits the car, but during smaller accidents It can protect you from hitting the ground with your head. I think it should be also compulsory to wear a helmet, at least till the age of 18.
The only person that can be hurt because of me not wearing a helmet while riding a bike, is still me. It won't save life of others. So it is my own decision wear, or not to wear it.
I'm not really "into" statistics, It's interesting but I don't know how accurate they are. Thanks for counting the death ratio in both countries.
I wonder why do you think that a reflective vest should be mandatory for everybody but a helmet only for people under 18 years old ;)?
Anyway it is up to you, it is your own life and at this moment you decide to wear helmet or not.
I don't have my own bike and if i have i'd ride it only on bicycle lines. So, I think it will be better for government to build more bicycle lines and make cyclists's life safer.
The government shouldn't dictate to wear helmets when riding a bicycle. A much better solution for improving the safety of cyclists is the construction of new safe cycle paths.
Bicycle helmets for city usage are a huge exaggeration in my opinion, I do not ride bicycles but if I did I would never use a helmet - unless I were doing mountain trials or something similar.
I'm also usually not wearing helmet (because I usually forget to take it with me) but if it would be necessary to cycle on roads and optional on paths - I would go for it.
http://warszawa.naszemiasto.pl/artykul/tempo-30-kierowcy-beda-musieli-zwolnic-na-muranowie-i-nowym,1879549,artgal,t,id,tm.html
Because cyclists without reflective vests are dangerous. Adults can decide for themselves whether they want to wear a helmet
Instead of punich the goverment should aware society what results of riding without helmet might be, but please leave the decision to the people.
But answering the question: is wearing a helmet safier? Of course it is and every cyclist should wear them :-)
Mark Troy