BBC Radio4's Sliced Bread discusses Cycle Helmets

[MontyVeda]

Yes it's that old can of worms again; sorry (not sorry)

Radio4's Sliced Bread looks at various products from electric cars to mascara to find out if they're the best thing since sliced bread or marketing BS.

This week they looked at cycling helmets, which is right up our street!

Here's a link to the programme page so you can have a listen: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001n21k.

 

[mjr]

Someone tell me when it appears on the podcast feed (it hasn't yet), please!

Would anyone like to spoil the ending for us? 😀

 

[MontyVeda]

Someone tell me when it appears on the podcast feed (it hasn't yet), please!

Would anyone like to spoil the ending for us? 😀

seems to be taking it's time becoming available... IME radio shows go to BBC Sounds within ten minutes or so.

I don't want to spoil the ending, but i did find myself scoffing somewhat in the first 10 mins.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Would anyone like to spoil the ending for us? 😀

Can I take a wild guess at needing to wear hi vis and how we all ride through red lights?

probably not going as far as paying Road Tax and having Insurance

 

[MontyVeda]

Can I take a wild guess at needing to wear hi vis and how we all ride through red lights?

probably not going as far as paying Road Tax and having Insurance

you can, and you'd be wrong.

 

[mjr]

Finally listened to this yesterday. Awful programme, with a presenter derailing the discussion several times when it started going away from what seemed to be his prior beliefs.

Why were all participants from the helmet using minority? Would the BBC do this with other subjects? Can we look forward to a half hour discussion of drug policy with only addicts? (Actually, with some MPs alleged habits, that may happen!) Would anyone take that seriously? This should be taken no more seriously. Rather than a bunch of pot heads talking, it's a bunch of potty heads!

Chalk another one up to the Bike Bashing Corporation!

 

[MontyVeda]

are you familiar with the format of the programme?

I quite liked that one of the contributors got to state the a cycle helmet will do much more good if people donned one prior to using the stairs rather than a bike, and was allowed to reiterate that point. After all, most head injuries do occur in the home.

 

[mjr]

are you familiar with the format of the programme?

No. Do they usually only allow the " sliced bread " side to speak and no one from the BS side?

 

[classic33]

Finally listened to this yesterday. Awful programme, with a presenter derailing the discussion several times when it started going away from what seemed to be his prior beliefs.

Why were all participants from the helmet using minority? Would the BBC do this with other subjects? Can we look forward to a half hour discussion of drug policy with only addicts? (Actually, with some MPs alleged habits, that may happen!) Would anyone take that seriously? This should be taken no more seriously. Rather than a bunch of pot heads talking, it's a bunch of potty heads!

Chalk another one up to the Bike Bashing Corporation!

Why is others using safety equipment, correctly, such a problem. You have said, more than once, that you use safety equipment in a way other than it was designed for. Even posting a selfie of you doing so. Of those two taking a selfie, using a selfie stick, whilst cycling on the road is the bigger danger.

With helmets we currently have the choice to use or not use. Before long the decision is going to be made for us as we can't as a group decide which is safer. I'm for personal choice, not compulsion because of infighting over what's correct.

 

[Drago]

If Sliced Bread were interested in cycle safety they'd be discussing rider training, not bonce potties.

 

[MontyVeda]

No. Do they usually only allow the " sliced bread " side to speak and no one from the BS side?

BS?

Anyway... the programme was responding to a listener question regarding which cycling helmet to buy next and are more expensive helmets better than cheaper ones.

It was not a discussion about whether to wear a helmet or not. That is not what Sliced Bread is about.

 

[MontyVeda]

Why is others using safety equipment, correctly, such a problem. You have said, more than once, that you use safety equipment in a way other than it was designed for. Even posting a selfie of you doing so. Of those two taking a selfie, using a selfie stick, whilst cycling on the road is the bigger danger.

With helmets we currently have the choice to use or not use. Before long the decision is going to be made for us as we can't as a group decide which is safer. I'm for personal choice, not compulsion because of infighting over what's correct.

the great helmet debate is that way >>>>

this is about a specific radio programme

 

[MontyVeda]

If Sliced Bread were interested in cycle safety they'd be discussing rider training, not bonce potties.

again, Sliced Bread is about product jargon and responds to listeners questions. it was specifically about bonce potties

 

[classic33]

If Sliced Bread were interested in cycle safety they'd be discussing rider training, not bonce potties.

If they were interested in cyclists safety, they'd be better employed discussing driver behavior.

 

[Boopop]

I haven't listened to it at all despite being a fan of the podcast in general, as I'd have found the discussion frustrating and a distraction from what actually matters.

That said, as others have pointed out, the nature of the show is "Listener asks product question, question gets answered". Given that it was an explicit question about which helmets are the most effective, we should be glad that people were even invited to discuss the wider debate, such as the CyclingUK representitive. They could have just answered "x helmet is better than y", and ignored the whole "we should focus on building infrastructure, driver training" question.