Wrong people wrong helmets

[Cush]

My faith in helmets was established when I fell off among the railway lines on the Bristol docks at virtual walking pace. The helmet was dented but my head wasn't.

 

[Cush]

While waiting for SMBO to give me a shout to move a chest of draws back, I will try and answer that. I don't want to start another debate on the yes or no helmets but I do think my helmet would have taken a harder knock and at cycle speeds. Have to leave this I have had the call

Walking pace is what they're designed for.

 

[ComedyPilot]

 

[ComedyPilot]

I tried to find a comparable picture of a similar scene as the Dutch picture, but UK/GB/English cycling only throws up images of lycra-clad potty-wearing drones, yet the NL image was pretty much this first one I found.

The promotion of helmet wearing onto the UK cycling public is a horrible, pervasive blame-shifting exercise designed to make people fear cycling.

Cycling is NOT dangerous.

Yes you 'could' bang your head 'if' you fall off, but I haven't in 30+ years of regular cycling.....

Be honest, which picture is the more inviting and appealing from a cycling point of view?

 

[david k]

The promotion of helmet wearing onto the UK cycling public is a horrible, pervasive blame-shifting exercise designed to make people fear cycling.

By who?

 

[theclaud]

By who?

You, among others.

 

[david k]

You, among others.

I am trying to make people fear cycling?

 

[theclaud]

I am trying to make people fear cycling?

That probably isn't your intention.

 

[david k]

'Designed' might be putting it a bit strongly, but when I meet people who don't cycle, and they find out that I do, the first things they say are 'Aren't you brave,' and 'Do you wear a helmet?' so the perception that cycling is dangerous is very widespread and encouraged by the often hysterical promotion of helmet-wearing.

That;s fair enough, I do believe that most people wear a helmet because they accept that the potential benefit outweighs the inconvenience rather than hysterical promotion though .

 

[ComedyPilot]

By who?

Have a trawl and see how many new threads we get started on here entitled something like - Hi, new to the forum, doing a thesis on road safety, how many of you don't wear helmets, and why?

Just google Beverley Turner and see the readership she spouts her bile to.

Bradley Wiggins, and numerous other 'slebs pushing helmet use.....

Why?

It's NOT dangerous.

Just do as I did. I googled Dutch cyclist and British cyclist, and the MASSIVE difference between the two countries projected image of cycling is painfully obvious.

NL cyclists are free to ride where they want, wearing what they want, and that very freedom in pictorally promoted.

British cyclists are corporate lackies wearing the latest team strip, riding corporate events, and using massively-promoted sport cycling as the 'standard' or 'normal' view of cycling.

I love the NL version and frankly find the UK image of cycling to be farking bile-inducing.

 

[ComedyPilot]

Most non-cyclists I meet won't ride due to perceived fear of cycle safety.

They also (with ZERO cycling experience) then lecture ME for not wearing a helmet.

 

[ComedyPilot]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/acti...-not-just-skiers-who-should-wear-helmets.html

http://www.scunthorpetelegraph.co.uk/Cycling-rise-Tata/story-20367641-detail/story.html

And this delightful letter in the torygraph:

SIR – [URL='http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/active/recreational-cycling/10544734/Its-not-just-skiers-who-should-wear-helmets.html']Beverley Turner urges every parent to ensure that children wear helmets while cycling

.

My grandson was cycling with me and was in collision with a 4x4 vehicle. His head hit the windscreen and he was thrown on to the road. He was wearing his cycle helmet. The result was a broken wrist, and no head injury whatsoever. My blood runs cold at the outcome had he not had the good sense to wear a helmet.

David McIlwaine
Bangor, Co Down

[/URL]

I could spend hours pasting the bile though.

Non-helmet 'bile' is a damn sight harder to find - maybe because we are not pushing it onto helmet wearers to the extent the pro lobby are doing it....?

 

[ComedyPilot]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/acti.../Should-cycle-helmets-be-made-compulsory.html

 

[psmiffy]

British cyclists are corporate lackies wearing the latest team strip, riding corporate events, and using massively-promoted sport cycling as the 'standard' or 'normal' view of cycling.

I will not go as far as to say this is complete rubbish - but certainly where I live that is not the picture of cyclists that I get

In fact comparing like with like I think you will find that in Holland or Denmark the proportions of helmet and/or lycra clad cyclists is not dissimilar to the UK - Its just that there are more cyclists in general

 

[ComedyPilot]

I will not go as far as to say this is complete rubbish - but certainly where I live that is not the picture of cyclists that I get

In fact comparing like with like I think you will find that in Holland or Denmark the proportions of helmet and/or lycra clad cyclists is not dissimilar to the UK - Its just that there are more cyclists in general

Do as I did and google British cyclist, look for images and tell me what you see compared to Dutch cyclist - then tell me I am talking rubbish and imagining it.

BTW, like you, I have toured extensively in the NL and unlike you I found almost ZERO people wore helmets....


Strange...........