Helmet donation to a school.

[2Loose]

I feel for the family as their boy recently died, but am unsure about the value of the response.

I heard that he hit the car, rather than the other way round, but details are sketchy.

My link

 

[Red Light]

But isn't that the stupidity of the whole thing? They would rather deny pupils training than have them not wear a helmet? I wonder if Daniel had any Bikeability training and whether, given 2Loose's comments about the cause of the accident, it could have saved his life.

I just hope they realise that the helmets are not one size fits all as their comment "this way we will have a stock so we can lend them and no one has to miss out." implies and that they have good procedures for sterilising the helmets between users so that ringworm, lice and other nasty scalp infections are not passed between pupils.

 

[thelawnet]

Details here:

http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/T...ar-collision/story-13395986-detail/story.html

Basically, from what it seems the car driver was coming down here:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=ivy...id=mfo0cyTUzoeHLvok0x8Q_A&cbp=12,4.03,,0,8.86

the cyclist emerged from the left and was hit by the car.

There are obviously questions about the speed of both parties, but the main point here is that the road from which the cyclist emerged had give way lines painted across it.

Apparently he was cycling with a friend:

http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/C...y-boy-Daniel/story-13388384-detail/story.html

The friend shouted, 'Daniel stop' and he didn't hear me or acknowledge me. He went straight out."

Another comment

Mr Butler said he had contacted the council and police on numerous occasions as many people drive too fast on it.
"It's a rat run, the speed the cars come down is ridiculous."

The visibility down the hill to the road looks pretty good, ultimately death could possibly have been avoided by:

(a) giving way - bikeability training?
(b) traffic calming measures - would the car have been able to stop/caused less damage at a slower speed
(c) better visiblity for the cyclist - hi-vis/lights? Did he have lights?
(d) discouraging rat-running, perhaps the driver wouldn't even havebeen there?

It does look like, as the driver was not named, that the cyclist was deemed 100% at-fault, whereas, given better awareness and road sense, he wouldn't have got into this accident. Handing out helmets as if to say 'once you've got one of these on, you'll be safe', is very irresponsible.

 

[Mad at urage]

Handing out helmets as if to say 'once you've got one of these on, you'll be safe', is very irresponsible.

Agreed!

 

[Bicycle]

All the comments here are perfectly sound, but there seems no need to criticise this initiative to me.

The man has lost a son and is in the sixth circle of He'll. It is common in these circumstances to want to:

A. Commemorate the passing.
B. Do so in a way linked to the family member's life or death.
C. Do it in their name.

it is very difficult for a school or similar to object or raise concerns in these difficult circumstances. my kids often rode to school helmet less, but if I were still a PTA chair I'd see this as a noble gesture to be embraced and somehow incorporated.

Too few people want to do anything for schools. This may be a slightly I'll-judged gesture, but it is from the heart at a time of great pain and will not hurt anyone.

 

[thelawnet]

All the comments here are perfectly sound, but there seems no need to criticise this initiative to me.

The man has lost a son and is in the sixth circle of He'll. It is common in these circumstances to want to:

A. Commemorate the passing.
B. Do so in a way linked to the family member's life or death.
C. Do it in their name.

it is very difficult for a school or similar to object or raise concerns in these difficult circumstances. my kids often rode to school helmet less, but if I were still a PTA chair I'd see this as a noble gesture to be embraced and somehow incorporated.

Too few people want to do anything for schools. This may be a slightly I'll-judged gesture, but it is from the heart at a time of great pain and will not hurt anyone.

The picture of the family donating the helmets to the junior school is a touching image, that's true.

But in the context of a 'helmet forum' on a bicycle website, people might read this and think 'hmm, that boy would still be alive if he'd had his helmet on'. We don't know that. Maybe true, maybe not. What we do know is, if he had simply given way as the rules of the road required, he would still be alive.

So frankly I'd sooner see the family out helping (slightly older) kids cycle round cones, or whatever it is they do on bikeability, than this. It is tragic that the response to an entirely avoidable accident is to tell people (again) to wear helmets.

If I were in charge at a school I'd be checking kid's brakes and I'd be making sure they have proper lights on. Far too many badly maintained bikes out there.

 

[Bicycle]

The picture of the family donating the helmets to the junior school is a touching image, that's true.

But in the context of a 'helmet forum' on a bicycle website, people might read this and think 'hmm, that boy would still be alive if he'd had his helmet on'. We don't know that. Maybe true, maybe not. What we do know is, if he had simply given way as the rules of the road required, he would still be alive.

So frankly I'd sooner see the family out helping (slightly older) kids cycle round cones, or whatever it is they do on bikeability, than this. It is tragic that the response to an entirely avoidable accident is to tell people (again) to wear helmets.

If I were in charge at a school I'd be checking kid's brakes and I'd be making sure they have proper lights on. Far too many badly maintained bikes out there.

Absolutely. That's what I'd do and it's what I'd want done. Not even a whiff of disagreement there from me.

But this is an unusual scenario. The man is dealing with his grief and this is a typical response to an almost unbearable situation. We've all seen these things a thousand times and until someone invents some form of immortality we'll keep seeing them. I was asked by the executors of a will about 15 years ago to buy some books for a school overseas. The school didn't want books, they wanted IT equipment; but it wasn't their will and it wasn't their money. These things happen. Funnily enough, although I'd have preferred at the time to buy IT stuff for them, they ended up doing much better with the books.

I find the response mentioned in the OP eccentric, but in these circumstances it is hard to criticise. This is what the grieving father has chosen to do and if we want to do something else it's up to us to do it.

But no disagreement on the greater importance of good training and maintenance classes.

 

[thelawnet]

Generally agreed, I just thought it was useful to give a fuller context, lest people take this to be another 'helmet saved my life' or 'helmet would have saved my life' story.

 

[ufkacbln]

If this helps with the grieving process then fine.

The driver is not to blame, and the other option is to take responsibility yourself.

In this case the lack of a helmet (whether or not it would have helped) is a convenient and non-confrontational scapegoat

Personally I would have preferred an educational or training element to prevent further accidents.