Hasn't Jersey mandated helmets for children ?
Edit: They have, for under 14s.
None of whom were dying anyway, so even if they have no measureable effect (which is about the best we can hope for), expect compulsion to be trumpetted as a great success.
Read the words. I said 'no one seems to come to grief', because in all the time I've spent cycling in Holland I have never seen a single collision or person falling off.
I'm aware of two cyclists falling off near me on my recent ride around Holland. One fell unaided onto a verge, completely inexplicably. One rode into a hedge at low speed. Both were wearing helmets - unlike the vast majority of people cycling there - so maybe there really is something in the suggestion that helmets encourage carelessness or impair decision-making or something.
What I'm saying is in the greater population nobody is talking about helmet compulsion IMO,
They don't talk about it. They just introduce rules to make it happen, in whatever sphere of influence they have. Did British Cycling talk to you before forcing helmets for the charity fundraising rides it supports?
at least nobody I know has ever held a conversation with me regarding this (I'm in a bike club and have many non biking friends) ...
Yeah, but you wear a helmet sometimes, so you are counted as in favour of compulsion by the decision-makers and there's no need to discuss it with you. I'm not making that up: one of the reasons government hasn't moved to force helmets is the low wearing rates, or in other words, they're assuming helmet wearers won't oppose a helmet law.
The fact remains that cycle helmets can help in an accident sometimes, as even the most die hard helmet haters admit. ...
It can help BUT IT IS UNLIKELY - please don't cut the important caveat out.
Going back to mountain bikers, why is that any self respecting mtb rider will always wear a helmet these days?
Firstly, some courses and most events compel helmet use. Secondly, they're fairly good at deflecting branches (if they don't have too many vents for them to catch on), so if you're going to buy one to enter events, why not?
However, I really hope that MTBers get Snell-standard helmets. I don't see the point of an EN helmet because you're unlikely to be hitting a flat road or a kerb edge on an MTB track - at least the stone test (in Snell but not EN) stands a chance of being relevant.
I was on a plane recently where there were 2 middle-aged businessmen talking about cycling ... [...] If only the cutlery hadn't have been made of flimsy plastic ....
They'd have been wearing helmets during the flight?
I've also had an 'all the gear and no idea' born again cyclist at another local club berating a young guy who had ridden with us for not wearing a helmet (we are pro-choice, the other club is no helmet no ride). The young lad's brothers and sisters all ride bikes, as do their parents as do their grandparents. The kid probably cycled out of his mothers womb, yet here he was being given chapter and verse on cycling safety by somebody whose probably not yet worn-out his first set of brake pads.
Yep, I've had similar experiences on a ride, although the other club rider wasn't quite as newb as yours, but many helmet-pushers have absolutely no scruples about invading other clubs, scaring children, making claims that have no proper supporting evidence and so on - it seems any sneaky behaviour is acceptable if it serves the greater good of profits for the helmet manufacturers. It is very difficult to counter helmet-pushers without stooping to their level, as this discussion demonstrates.
I mean, we can't very well go on the rides of helmet-forcing clubs and berate them for wearing helmets... I guess they're mostly on open roads, so we could ride along and berate them, but I can think of many more fun rides to go on. I could stop saying hello to helmetted club riders but many of them already ignore anyone who's not dressed like a superman/stormtrooper crossover. Maybe I should switch the greeting to "why the hard hat? Are you off to a building site?" (which would be ironic as the builders I see around here cycling to work mostly don't wear helmets)
