The CycleChat Helmet Debate Thread

[deptfordmarmoset]

I just came across a post on aseasyasridingabike covering the London freecycle ride - https://aseasyasridingabike.wordpress.com/2016/08/01/the-helmet-on-the-handlebars/

Nothing controversial there unless you are a think-about-the-little-children compulsionist. But, albeit on just 1 day in 365, I also noticed a change in clothing from previous years, though I wasn't there long enough to note a gradual helmet removal as people adjusted to conditions over time.

 

[theclaud]

Slight change of direction.

I can recall from the hundreds of pages discussing helmets quite a few males saying that they wear helmets because their female partner wants them to. I don't think I recall a single female saying they wear one because their male partner wants them to.

No doubt many explanations could be advanced, some quite sexist, but I wonder whether in part men are just more prone to finding excuses and blaming someone else rather than taking responsibility for their own choices?

It's a pretty dismal tendency, in which men who are in fact doing what they please depict themselves as nagged, henpecked, or despairing of the most simple acts of communication or conversation with women. It's a sort of tedious self-infantilization. Use of the term 'SWMBO' is a giveaway.

My mother would like me to wear a lid. And probably not cycle so much on roads she thinks of as dangerous. Because I don't like her to be worried about me, I do things to alleviate her worries, such as texting her when I arrive somewhere after a long journey. This began as a concession, but it has become a positive thing, which enables her to partake vicariously in the pleasures of cycle touring (I send pics, and she tracks my progress on a map and finds stuff out about the places I visit). Otherwise I talk to her, to reassure her that I am not doing anything recklessly dangerous, that I'm quite capable of looking after myself on the road, and that the pleasure and freedom of cycling is an important a part of my life. Cos we're both grown-ups.

 

[Profpointy]

in fairness to keithmac, it's not silly or unreasonable for him to consider that helmets may be more helpfull to him than an average cyclist. Perhaps he feels, for whatever reason, that for his sort of cycling he's more likely to hit his helmetted head than have the near miss of a smaller unhelmetted head - especially if he feels helmet has indeed helped on at least one occasion. He might be wrong, but it isn't silly. I'm swayed by the Ausi numbers and no longer wear, but I still don't know for a fact that in my particular circumstances it might or might not help on balance - I've just assumed I'm "average"

 

[glenn forger]

You see that's where you are wrong, I wear a helmet based on my own decisions and my own reasoning and my own experiences..

Yet you dont wear one where your risk of head injury is higher. How come?

 

[swansonj]

It's a pretty dismal tendency, in which men who are in fact doing what they please depict themselves as nagged, henpecked, or despairing of the most simple acts of communication or conversation with women. It's a sort of tedious self-infantilization. Use of the term 'SWMBO' is a giveaway.

My mother would like me to wear a lid. And probably not cycle so much on roads she thinks of as dangerous. Because I don't like her to be worried about me, I do things to alleviate her worries, such as texting her when I arrive somewhere after a long journey. This began as a concession, but it has become a positive thing, which enables her to partake vicariously in the pleasures of cycle touring (I send pics, and she tracks my progress on a map and finds stuff out about the places I visit). Otherwise I talk to her, to reassure her that I am not doing anything recklessly dangerous, that I'm quite capable of looking after myself on the road, and that the pleasure and freedom of cycling is an important a part of my life. Cos we're both grown-ups.

@User is probably prosaically right on the statistical explanation. But you have said exactly what I was thinking as I read yet another of those woman-blaming posts five pages back

 

[ufkacbln]

I have a colleague who gave up cycling

His SO had a friend who had been knocked off her bike at a junction (left hook) and decided cycling was too dangerous, and had to stop

After a few months of "wearing down" he complied with her wishes and now drives into work, has put on weight and now paying for a gym to lose it

How many of the " I wear a helmet because my wife tells me to" would give up cycling for the same reason

 

[mjr]

@User is probably prosaically right on the statistical explanation. But you have said exactly what I was thinking as I read yet another of those woman-blaming posts five pages back

I always have to stop myself from responding that such attitudes are probably why that woman wants to increase the complainant's risk of injury... and now they all know I think that of them

 

[newfhouse]

I just came across a post on aseasyasridingabike covering the London freecycle ride - https://aseasyasridingabike.wordpress.com/2016/08/01/the-helmet-on-the-handlebars/

Nothing controversial there unless you are a think-about-the-little-children compulsionist.

I partially disagree with this part:

Concern that individuals are making cycling look dangerous through the clothing they’ve chosen to wear is therefore totally misplaced. Don’t blame these people. Blame the conditions they are responding to, quite rationally – those conditions that they encounter on a daily basis, that make them feel that safety equipment is even necessary for what should be the simple activity of riding a bike.

It seems to me that many cyclists and most non-cyclists believe that the perceived dangers can and must be mitigated by wearing special clothing. I don't blame them for thinking this if they have never been told otherwise - I was in caught up in that when I (re)started cycling. I find it much harder to understand those who are shown clear evidence, who sometimes even accept it as compelling, but who still choose to set it aside in favour of friend-of-a-friend stories.

But, albeit on just 1 day in 365, I also noticed a change in clothing from previous years, though I wasn't there long enough to note a gradual helmet removal as people adjusted to conditions over time.

It was a polluted sea of high-vis early in the day but as temperatures rose it started to disappear. Whether it was the sunshine or because a critical mass of normality spread through the ride is hard to say.

I have a confession. I still wear a fluorescent orange rain jacket sometimes. I know it goes against my argument and is offensive to the eye but it's the most waterproof jacket I own and I like to get my money's worth.

 

[ufkacbln]

One does wonder how many wore a helmet because it was an entry requirement ... but then removed it and returned to their normal preference when they realised it was not being enforced

 

[newfhouse]

One does wonder how many wore a helmet because it was an entry requirement ... but then removed it and returned to their normal preference when they realised it was not being enforced

If you're referring to the Freecycle event, helmets are not required so enforcement isn't an issue.

 

[ufkacbln]

My apologies

I had read the generic site not the Freecycle

Refreshing attitude

 

[mjr]

My apologies

I had read the generic site not the Freecycle

Refreshing attitude

You're not the only one to think it's required. I do wonder how many people took their events-only helmet because they read the wrong page on the website.

 

[Milkfloat]

I took my kids to the Coventry Sky Ride yesterday. We were one of the few families not wearing helmets, to the disapproval of many. The kids wanted the high vis tabards as a team strip and because they got their names put on for free. I was incredibly surprised how few people were not wearing helmets, although I did note that the old Sky Ride rules stated that under 18s had to ear them, but now it is that helmets are advisory.

 

[mjr]

British Cycling have changed their policy for non-competitive rides.

That's not completely true, is it? British Cycling sportives still require helmets and it seems that BC are simply reclassifying even more rides as sportives, leading to disgusting situations like disabled riders being excluded from fundraising rides for a charity related to that disability.

 

[Profpointy]

Maybe, maybe not. His first post in this thread was

As though he had never imagined an injury until he actually witnessed one, and from then on decided that one should always be worn.

I'm not defending the rest of what he said, just to be clear !