Charity Bike Ride - Compulsory Helmet

[Arch]

Actually, could you ask to see the risk assessment?

It would be interesting to see everything they've missed - bikes fit for the road etc.

Sunburn is a good one.

Although if you mention every little thing to make your point, they might end up cancelling the ride in terror, which wouldn't be great....

Turn up on the day, in a full suit of armour....

 

[Mark_Robson]

I would imagine that your company is worried about being held responsible if people injure themselves, hence the rule about helmets.

If I were a cyclist who didn't own a helmet then I would be pretty unhappy about having to fork out for one for a one off. If your company is happy to provide helmets then I would would suggest that you swallow your pride and wear it for the day and justify it by telling yourself that you are doing it for a good cause.

 

[User169]

The company I work for organises an annual bike "classic" (100kms following some of the Liege-Bastogne-Liege route) - helmets are obligatory. I don't usually wear one, but put up with it because it's a nice event and the company has a good attitude towards cycling in general (generous cycle to work scheme, sponsor of Garmin-Cervelo pro-team). I could see it would be a bit galling if your employers are usually arses when it comes to bikes.

 

[classic33]

I'm with Arch, ask to see the risk assesment. Presumably if they have insisted that the first rule is that helmets are to be worn then they will have done an assesment to prove that they're required. OR more likely simply accepted the story that cycling is dangerous & requires a helmet to be worn in order to cycle safely.

Will an inspection of the actual bikes be made before the ride to see that they are fit to use?

I did actually pull out of one that was organised by a place I used to work on the same grounds. Wasn't very well received. But I didn't want to be bullied into doing something that I disagreed with. Willing to raise the money, do the ride. Not to do something I wouldn't do at any other time.

You sell out your values, what have you got left?

 

[Angelfishsolo]

+1
[QUOTE 1393140"]
It's not just me then.


There's also another issue here. We ought to be doing everything we can to encourage cycling. Refusing to ride on helmet grounds is just going to make you look odd to a non-bikey, and it's unlikely to encourage anyone onto a saddle.

I'd suck it up, get them sucked into cycling, and then you can start the helmet debate.
[/quote]

 

[Bicycle]

I'm largely with the above.

Just do it and have a laugh...

 

[ufkacbln]

Ask for details of which standard they require to be worn and who is going to be invigilating.

I used to organise rides for the Scouts and bring in several hundred pounds a year until helmets became compulsory - I then stopped organising the rides.

Their choice, their loss

 

[frank9755]

[QUOTE 1393140"]
There's also another issue here. We ought to be doing everything we can to encourage cycling. Refusing to ride on helmet grounds is just going to make you look odd to a non-bikey, and it's unlikely to encourage anyone onto a saddle.

[/quote]

-1
Remember that the evidence from countries which have promoted helmets is that it discourages cycling

 

[frank9755]

[QUOTE 1393145"]
That's compulsion you're talking about.
[/quote]

This is compulsion!

But let's not have the broader debate as the OP specifically didn't want it and I am sure he is familiar with the issues.

 

[Fnaar]

March into "The Man's" office, and tell to "STICK YOUR BL00DY RIDE...AND YOUR BL00DY JOB... WHERE THE SUN DON'T SHINE, MUSH!
Worth a try?

 

[ufkacbln]

March into "The Man's" office, and tell to "STICK YOUR BL00DY RIDE...AND YOUR BL00DY JOB... WHERE THE SUN DON'T SHINE, MUSH!
Worth a try?

But wear a helmet in case he gets upset and throws something?

 

[ufkacbln]

[QUOTE 1393145"]
That's compulsion you're talking about. Helmets are promoted in the UK. You're more likely to find that a newbie's first piece of kit is a helmet. Something inside them says that it's obviously going to make cycling safer. And if that's the case, let them get on with it. Our job as enthusiasts isn't to talk people out of wearing them, but talk people onto bikes. Any argument about the merits of helmet wearing can come later.

I think that the helmet discussion is a good one. But I don't think in this situation it's going to help or make any difference to anyone by making some kind of point here. Sure, have a chat with the organiser, and they may relent. But if they don't there's only detriment in pulling out of the ride.
[/quote]


My problem is that if we spent all the effort and money on education the benefit would be far greater.

Next time you are out look at the standard of bikes and cyclists.

Wearing a helmet on the back of your head with looses straps is going to be ineffective and even dangerous.

Then ask the next question. Is te helmet really the best safety investment when compared to having brakes that work, inflated tyres, and the forks the right way round?

Sadly the helmet is now seen as being the answer - we no longer seek to educate and prevent accidents rather we allow the accidents to happen inthe hopes the helmet will magically save us from our own neglect and ignorance

 

[srw]

[QUOTE 1393145"]
I think that the helmet discussion is a good one. But I don't think in this situation it's going to help or make any difference to anyone by making some kind of point here. Sure, have a chat with the organiser, and they may relent. But if they don't there's only detriment in pulling out of the ride.
[/quote]

Agreed. You're taking part to raise money, to have fun with colleagues and to demonstrate that even though you're a serious cyclist who posts on chat forums you're not above riding with people who don't. If you pull out you'll look like the boy who took his football away because his friends didn't want him to be captain.

My best guess is that the organiser just hasn't thought about it - or is part of a racing club which just automatically does helmets. At this stage of organisation the last thing he'll want is to have a helmet debate. To be fair to your colleague the time to have that debate is just after the ride, not before or during.

 

[Red Light]

[QUOTE 1393145"]


That's compulsion you're talking about. Helmets are promoted in the UK.[/quote]

TRL Report 286 in the UK found that in local authorities where helmets were strongly promoted cycling declined on average by 2.8% against an average increase of 4.9% where they weren't.

Copenhagenize has also reported that when they started to promote helmets for safety in Denmark in 2007/8, cycling numbers fell for the first time in decades.

So it's not just an effect of compulsion.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

For me, it's got nothing to do with helmet safety, it's got nothing to do with being a serious cyclist, etc., etc. It's about previously trying to get my company interested in cycling and participating in promoting cycling by taking part in schemes such as C2W (which I even offered to set up and run) - I've tried and it's as though the invention of the bicycle completely passed them by, not interested in the slightest. I gave up asking when they just started ignoring the information I gave them regarding the benefits, fun, health and saving money, etc. that cycling and C2W had to offer all of us as employees and them as employers. It isn't even about me sulking over not getting half price bikes either, I am paid enough to buy all the bikes I want.

What I'm naffed off about is suddenly being dictated to about how to go about cycling safely, by folk who don't ride, when I've managed to ride a bike for about forty years without, last time I looked, dying.

As I stated in my first post, I'm finding it difficult because I don't want to appear to be a toy throwing brat but I can't help the way I feel on a matter of principle as far as I'm concerned.

I will, no doubt, end up doing the ride once I've 'got over it', after all I'd rather be riding a bike than working!