Compulsory helmet wearing for children under 16 mooted.

[User]

 

[Davidc]

What risk? Presumably he's also in favour of children wearing helmets while walking and riding in a 4x4, both of which are more dangerous than cycling.

Really ought to put them in full body armour 24/7 from birth.

 

[ufkacbln]

max martin wrote:
If you left this law alone then this is a case where survival of the fittest might see better parenting:
Bad parents do not insist on helmets; so more children of bad parents die; so these children who were more likely to be bad parents do not grow up to be parents of bad parenting children etc.

So now we have cycle helmets as the indicator of parenting.... the kid may be on smack, pregnant and thieving from the neighbours, but as long as he has a helmet on it is good parenting?

 

[Bollo]

I suppose that if his field is paediatrics (sp?) then he doesn't have to deal with all the lardy couch potatoes who can't walk up the stairs without getting out of breath.

Yes he will.

 

[ComedyPilot]

I never wore a helmet as a child, and I turned out OK.



ftang, ftang,bleep, bleep, weeeeeeeeeaaaarrgghhhhhhhhhhhhhh

 

[Sam Kennedy]

When I was like 5, maybe 7 my mam just said that I was good on my bike and didn't need a helmet.

I'm still fine, managed to get through life in 1 piece!
I've even fallen off my bike and got a scarred knee, I didn't wear a helmet then either.

Now I would prefer no helmet over a badly fitted one, but I would probs wear one if I had one which fitted. It's just choosing between if I fall off my bike, would I rather have a fractured skull or broken neck. So I might just keep without.

 

[Archie_tect]

Predictable.... as ever.

 

[MacB]

I like some of the stats quoted:-

90k road and 100k off road accidents involving cyclists each year - over half involve children - seems rather high to me

an estimated 52k children in Britain have suffered traumatic brain injury from various causes - over what time scale and how many related to cycling?

just more sloppy sensationalist journalism, the scary bit on most news websites now are the comments.

 

[Bollo]

I do hope all you parents of young children have bought one of these. Remember.....

“As an expert and a parent I feel it is just common sense — anything that can protect our children from this risk should be compulsory.”

 

[UKPhil]

Thudguard? Yes, that's really clever. Teach your child that they can go around headbutting things/people with no pain or consequences

 

[very-near]

I do hope all you parents of young children have bought one of these. Remember.....

“As an expert and a parent I feel it is just common sense — anything that can protect our children from this risk should be compulsory.”

Have you got any children Bollo ?

 

[Bollo]

Have you got any children Bollo ?

Worryingly yes. That was sarcasm BTW. I do a lot of sarcasm.

I actually have the opposite problem as my 7yr old daughter is very risk averse. If she'd have been running Lehman Brothers, I'm pretty sure the world's economy would be in a better place today.

Actual risk and perceptions of risk are an interest of mine (I've a reasonable grounding in stats) and cycle helmets are a classic example of mis-interpretation and exploitation of statistical data to support an agenda. I apply that to both the pro and anti-helmet lobbies.

I do get majorly irritated that cycling safety, especially for kids, is reduced down to an over-simplified helmetty gloop.

 

[MartinC]

“As an expert and a parent I feel it is just common sense — anything that can protect our children from this risk should be compulsory.”

This is a pretty damning admission of failure. As an expert he ought to be able to advance a reasoned argument for cycle helmets. Quoting "common sense" merely highlights the fact he hasn't got one. Nevertheless the media will not bother with any of the facts.

 

[very-near]

“As an expert and a parent I feel it is just common sense — anything that can protect our children from this risk should be compulsory.”

This is a pretty damning admission of failure. As an expert he ought to be able to advance a reasoned argument for cycle helmets. Quoting "common sense" merely highlights the fact he hasn't got one. Nevertheless the media will not bother with any of the facts.

You still didn't answer my question of whether you would put your own children in a cycling hat Martin ?

In your own time of course

 

[Tony]

The argument is broader. As Cunobelin has so often shown,why is cycling to be a special case? And the statement about teaching children they can headbutt things without risk---again, cycling is different?
Does not compute.