Very few Dutch cyclists wear helmets. Yet theirs are among the safest streets on earth. Why?
They understand it’s more beneficial to calm motor traffic, build dedicated infrastructure, and nurture a culture of everyday cycling. Not force the most vulnerable users to armour up.
https://youtu.be/P7trv9paMxA
They understand it’s more beneficial to calm motor traffic, build dedicated infrastructure, and nurture a culture of everyday cycling. Not force the most vulnerable users to armour up.
https://youtu.be/P7trv9paMxA
Comments
And as a consequence, they have decided to have a highway environment where motor vehicles are kept away...
1./
2./
This is the kind of arrogant mindset that causes people to get seriously hurt in the simplest ways.
Show a vid of a Dutch racing team, and they have helmets.
Since road racers and commuters overlap in the US, we should probably wear helmets here
Recreational road bike riders and e-bikers wear helmets here too.
This rarity of speed may be safer. This is accessing risk. If you are going that fast, probably wear a helmet
Yes there are a few bridges with decent slopes but even on those it's pretty much impossible for a city bike to reach high speeds
I've personally witnessed horrific bike accidents with zero cars involved. One in particular resulted in a massive head injury and hospitalization.
Helmets are still a good idea.
I really dislike the corner of cycling culture that helmet shames. It's so strange.
You're the one who's repeatedly said that people should wear helmets in replies.
This is normal in my experience, helmet wearing is pushed far more than any pushback. Those who don't will be all too familiar with having to patiently explain why they
As for me, we're more likely to die of a fatal head injury in this country walking to the shops than cycling there. Would be irrational to wear for cycling but not walking.
cycling, fabulous. I’ll even help them select the right one. But do not tell me I must wear one. That’s not your decision.
A couple of months ago, my coworker's daughter in FL witnessed a terrible accident in her apartment complex *parking lot* where a car hit an toddler in the head who was riding her bike without a helmet, and it exploded. I won't say more, but... Helmets matter.
All three statements "bike helmets aren't made for car impacts" and "its better for cyclists, especially young children with soft skulls, to wear them" and "cars suck and we should get rid of them" can ALL coexist simultaneously.
removing helmets in the US won't magically fix accident rates
1) Helmet usage has grown to about 4~5%. It's not 0.5% anymore
2) The "most vulnerable users" are elderly cyclists and they often fall without a car in sight. Probably they would benefit from wearing a helmet, because these accidents are not infrastructure dependent.
Notice though that over 300 cyclists died without a collision versus 0 pedestrians.
1) Elderly people have started cycling much more (e-bikes enable them to)
2) But they are more prone to losing their balance. Less agile, slower reactions.
3) Fall are more likely to cause harm
4) E-bikes tend to be heavier
5) ... and faster obviously
I guess there’s only so much you can do to design infrastructure for those kind of risks without entirely compromising the experience for everyone.
And how would that affect their health, mobility in older age and longevity?
Denmark would probably provide the best comparison:
"From 2004 to 2022, helmet use among all cyclists has increased from 6% to 50%"
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022437523001329?via%3Dihub&utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=GOV%201125355&utm_content=
Do we have any data to suggest that Danish cyclists are deterred nowadays?
The data doesn't say whether they died from head trauma and at what speed they were going.
I assume most or all of them were using a bicycle, not a trike.
Here are my other sources:
https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/nieuws/2024/15/684-verkeersdoden-in-2023
https://www.cbs.nl/nl-nl/visualisaties/verkeer-en-vervoer/verkeer/hoeveel-mensen-komen-om-in-het-verkeer-
Here's the percentage of people who died as a a result of traumatic brain damage (as a percentage of cycling fatality cases in which the patient died in the hospital)
https://swov.nl/system/files/publication-downloads/r-2020-22a.pdf
And I BLOCK pro-helmet evangelists. Really CBA with the weaselly "what-iffery", and shoddy evidence-dodging.
[Note - I don't block genuine pro-helmet evangelists, who ALSO advocate helmets for drivers and their passengers, pedestrians, toddlers, stair-climbers, ladder-users, et al 😉.]
And when you crash your car, what then?
Helmets have a purpose.
Anti-helmet crusading makes you sound like anti-seatbelt dipshits of the 1970s.
But even with a big hill, most commuters will keep it under 25kmh.
But what he's saying is that proper infrastructure protects cyclists, not helmet pressure or laws.
Your piety is misplaced. Commuters statistically live longer in London on a bike with or without a lid because of the health benefits of daily activity.
So why make it a big distraction from the thing which makes a real difference? Infrastructure.
But you need to re-read my point, it's a bit nuanced for social media.
The evidence shows that lids are way less important than infra. And that discouraging people from cycling by spreading fear can be more dangerous than cycling without one.
I even work in a political party trying to improve infrastructure. My point is just that living in a city with steep hills, helmets are a good idea. Regardless of infrastructure.
I do agree with the sentiment you express though.
The End.
https://www.crawfordlegal.com/blog/2016/06/should-we-wear-helmets-in-the-car/
Should wear. Not must.
You don't get the mass cycling if you insist on dressing up as if for an extreme sport in order to go shopping.
Except that you do...
Seatbelt hair isn't a thing.
Really???
Seat belts have proven safely benefits. Please show me the safety claims made by ANY cycle helmet manufacturer?
Do I wear one whilst cycling down hill at 20 mph , yes.
Do I wear one whilst cycling to the local shops, no.
Countries with low cycling casualty rates are not those that encourage helmet wearing.