Why are UK cyclists fixated on helmets

[Mugshot]

C-LC

?

 

[uclown2002]

Rebelpeter, you dont need to shout.

It seems he does. I've mentioned this annoying bold font previously.

 

[MontyVeda]

It seems he does. I've mentioned this annoying bold font previously.

and once that's sorted out... we'll raise the punctuation issue.

 

[4F]

I think its a bit mad not to wear a helmet they are life savers, one crack on the head can give u the rest of your life brain damaged, gotta be worth it as got knocked off a few years ago a car tried to get between me and a car from theopposite Way smashed into the back of me i went up and fell my helmet hit one of those yellow posts the gas board often have they stick up a few feet my head hit it. The copper who came said you would have been probably dead or brain damaged had you not had a helmet, its crazy not to wear one motor bikes wear them cyclist can come off just as easy, i would not go out the door without one when im biking.

The point of this thread is to discuss why there seems to be a fixation in the UK of helmet compared to the continent where they have a higher cycle percentage usage.

Any opinions you may have on whether "a helmet saved your life" really should be in the helmet sub forum and this is not the place for it.

 

[4F]

The only times I have ever got into a helmet discussion is with non cyclists who seem to already have pre conceived ideas on usage. I normally find after 10 minutes they wished they had never asked

 

[Mugshot]

Chaise Longue, cheroot.

Thank you

 

[summerdays]

The schools here teach it !!! My daughter came home and was in tears because i rode without one, and the teachers had told them that i was risking my life !!

Not sure how likely it is that my life would be saved by being hit by a 4-wheel drive monster pulling out of a side road without looking properly, but I now wear one all the time .... to stop my daughter getting upset.

Is it the school or the teacher passing on their view. I think often teachers in schools do pass on the message that you should wear a helmet, but most aren't cyclists, and I guess see wearing a helmet as something that might help. I wonder how many of them also tell children that their parents shouldn't jump red lights, wearing a seat-belt, not using their phone and how big a space they should give a cyclist when passing. So it's not really a thorough attempt at keeping the children safe. All of those things I've seen near school gates by the parents dropping their kids off.

 

[ufkacbln]

And Newton's fluids do it for you?

The fluids from the Newton Brewery in Middlewich do!

 

[ufkacbln]

Because it's a forum. But I'll let flow a little. I wear a helmet. I don't like head injuries - they don't repair very well versus other parts of the body that do repair, or can be repaired, very well.

We can rebuild limbs from a crushed and managled mess, internal organs can be repaired or replaced. If I damage my brain, I'm ****ed - it's that simple to me. And as much as I try not to put myself in harms way, I can't account for everyone around me. It's a tiny little thing that "might" make a difference, but I'd rather have it than not.

I think its a bit mad not to wear a helmet they are life savers, one crack on the head can give u the rest of your life brain damaged, gotta be worth it as got knocked off a few years ago a car tried to get between me and a car from theopposite Way smashed into the back of me i went up and fell my helmet hit one of those yellow posts the gas board often have they stick up a few feet my head hit it. The copper who came said you would have been probably dead or brain damaged had you not had a helmet, its crazy not to wear one motor bikes wear them cyclist can come off just as easy, i would not go out the door without one when im biking.

So tomorrow it is icy, you have to walk 200 yards across a frozen pavement coated in black ice......

Does the same logic apply, and if not, why not?

 

[JonUK4]

ok. We're moaning about font choices now. This is the internet, there is no body language or tone of voice to be read - and emoticons don't cut it. Posts are thoughts - lets just assume they are all made with the best of intentions otherwise it'll be like being back in the school yard.

 

[JonUK4]

So tomorrow it is icy, you have to walk 200 yards across a frozen pavement coated in black ice......

Does the same logic apply, and if not, why not?

yes - if ice of that severity occured over the same distant that I ride, with the same frequency that I ride. Which it does not in Wolverhampton.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

You're quite right, I was straying.
I'm sure someone will let me know if I'm wrong, but hasn't cycling in the UK grown enormously in recent years, whereas on the mainland it's been more universally regarded as a viable form of transport for far longer. Perhaps we need to look at what has caused the growth in the UK. Is it the relatively recent success that has been enjoyed by GB pro cyclists, on the track and more recently in the tours. Greater success means greater tv coverage, means more exposure to the general population, so what does a successful/real/fit cyclist look like? They wear lycra and a helmet and ride a drop handlebar bike. People want to emulate their heroes and dress as they do, or people want to get fit/lose weight, what does a real super fit cyclist look like, they wear lycra and a helmet. Did the rise in bike use in the UK start with its use as a form of exercise rather than a form of transport? If it did, did we breed a generation of cyclists that saw it as a more competitive activity, the rise of smart phones and the apps available has certainly put the ability to compete against both yourself and others within the reach of everybody, and we already know what a real cyclist wears when competing.
Then you have a trickle down effect, more cyclists on the road, more exposure, majority wearing helmets, it must be the right thing to do. More cyclists almost certainly means more people fall off and before you know it a helmet has saved their life.
The fact is that an anecdote on facebook with a picture of a cracked helmet is far more effective and far easier to process than a list of statistics.
Probably nonsense but there we go.

BTW, I know that a "real" cyclist rides a bike.

I'm sure that the pro model has no doubt had a big influence on our own British hyperhelmetry but I think that also there's probably another thing going on. The resurgence of UK cycling actually seemed to be under way before there were any of those big UK cycling successes so I don't think it is all down to these successes. Looking back on the London experience, the crucial moment of ''rebirth'' was very close to when they introduced bus lanes. These had a double effect of slowing down traffic speeds for private motor transport because they reduced capacity and indirectly creating a largely clear corridor for cyclists. (Ironically, one of the most cycle friendly innovations on our roads doesn't appear to have been intended as such.)

It seems very possible that the new generation of cyclists always had time saving as a motivating factor, and this includes the bonus of getting exercise during travelling time. But, crucially, these new and returning cyclists have little continuity with the earlier cycling generations. They don't come from a tradition of cycling to school with a helmetless mother because the UK's roads had been given over almost exclusively to motorised transport.

So, a new generation, new bikes and gears, computers, a new uniform from helmetted top to lycraed bottom? We probably took our cues not from mum and dad going off to work on their bikes but from contemporary images of cycling and these would have been largely images of competitive cycling.

 

[ufkacbln]

yes - if ice of that severity occured over the same distant that I ride, with the same frequency that I ride. Which it does not in Wolverhampton.

So on an icy morning we should follow the logic of the two posts and all pedestrians should wear helmets?

 

[Scoosh]

MOD NOTE:
There have been 3 posts in this thread advising contributors NOT to 'stray' into Helmet Debate territory and to keep to the OP's point (also re-iterated a few times by members in the thread).

Answer the OP question; DON'T go down the helmet debate route.

Failure to comply will lead to a thread ban and possible probable thread closure.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Not only has "sport" cycling taken off massively in the UK starting with, say, Obree and Boardman but it started from a low base - especially compared with the continent. When I was a bike-mad teenager in the 70s, my hero was Richard Ballantine, but racing cyclists? I couldn't name one. Eddy Merricks (I definitely couldn't spell it or pronounce it) and Reg Harris maybe I knew the names of. Racing cyclists were weirdos who belonged to exclusive clubs and (giggle) shaved their legs. Not something to aspire to. Sport? That was football, rugby or cricket.

What that has to do with differing attitudes to helmets, I'm not sure. I think the "sportiication" of cycling is just one of many contributory factors. Possibly also the fact that we are more closely aligned with the USA and their suing/blame culture. And once the ball has started rolling it gathers momentum. I'm sure that the many cyclists wear hlmets not because "it might save my life" but just because ... well, that's what you do. It's a meme - zeitgeist - call it what you will.