Cycling with/without a helmet (BBC News story)

[PeterM]

Let’s be very clear – I personally think that anyone who rides a bike without a helmet is plain stupid. Especially at the speed I ride – but maybe that is the point; riding a bike as a sport vs casual commuting?!?

 

I just read this BBC news article regarding this topic. Have a look:

 

BBC News website:

4 November 2012Last updated at 00:35 GMT

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Is Berlin the safest city to be a cyclist?

 

By Stephen EvansBBC News, Berlin

 

Berlin is enjoying a cycling boom, with miles of new cycle paths and more than half a million bike journeys made every day - but controverisally, a helmet is rarely seen.

The Berlin bureau of the BBC is debating whether to buy a bike-trailer to carry around our recording gear.

Since I am one half of the Berlin bureau of the BBC, what I mean is that I and the producer are debating which sort of trailer to buy.

We could get what's called an Eco-trailer for 39 euros and 99 cents (£32) but this just wouldn't be big enough - it's meant mainly for a box of organic vegetables.

Or a heavier duty Big Cargo Trailer at 139 euros and 92 cents (£112) capable of carrying so the maker says, a load of 100kg.

I think we're going to plump for the bigger one. It won't be the easiest to tow behind our push-bikes, particularly over Berlin's cobbles, but it will make for swifter trips to interviews, and it will save money for the licence-payer.

Berlin makes getting around on two wheels a pleasure.

 

I have cycled in London but gave it up after too-many rants at a white van. But in Berlin, it is a joy. Firstly, the city is pretty flat, and secondly, there are endless cycle tracks. Thirdly, everybody has a bike - so car-drivers are probably also cyclists in their other lives and so keep their eyes wide open.

The test of whether cycling has really taken off in a city is who does it. In New York, it is urban warriors, young men usually, who zip aggressively between lanes.

In London, it's a bit of that, but also, I suspect, eco-zealots who are asserting their credentials - though the Boris bike scheme may be taking it more mainstream.

In Berlin, it is the people. Old ladies cycle in stately and elegant fashion, old men pedal so slowly that it's a wonder the bike doesn't fall over.

Young mothers tow toddlers in trailers - I followed one on a crisp autumn morning down Bernauerstrasse.

 

 

Helmets have not caught on in Berlin

The baby couldn't have been much more than a year old. Every time we all stopped at a red light, the infant in the trailer would whine a little. The mother would turn and comfort the baby who would then stop crying as the bike and the buggy took off smoothly again.

The rise of the bike follows a decision by the city senate in 2005 to promote it.

So Berlin now has about 400 miles, or 600km, of bike lane. Woe betide any tourist who strays from the walking bit of the pavement to the red cycling bit.

 

”What you really need, to get people like me on their bikes, is a general atmosphere of safety and tolerance of cyclists.”

 

The city is also integrating bikes into the whole transport system - you can take a bike on a train or tram, though you need a special ticket for the bike.

The state railway, Deutsche Bahn, operates what it calls - using the English that infuriates language purists - a Call a Bike scheme. There is a bank of red bikes outside the station. On the bike, there's a telephone number which you call, and the voice at the other end gives you a code to unlock the bike.

When you've finished, you lock it to something fixed and call the number with a code and somebody picks it up. You will be charged eight cents a minute.

But most of us have our own bikes. We do not wear helmets. It is foolish, but we don't. I always mean to - but I don't. I realise that the brain is man's second favourite organ - but I still leave my helmet behind.

There is an argument now that if cities insist on helmets for bike-hire schemes, then people simply don't ride bikes. And if people don't ride bikes, then they're less fit and that means that more of them die of heart-attacks.

On this argument, insisting on helmets raises the overall death rate.

The Call a Bike scheme has been running since 2002 and now operates in 60 German cities

I haven't ridden a bike in Melbourne, for example, though it's an Australian city I know well. It has a bike-hire scheme, but officialdom insists on helmets - with the result that few people ride bikes or what they call their deadly treadlies.

What you really need to get people on a bike is a general atmosphere of safety and a tolerance of cyclists.

And in Berlin, the authorities are benign. It's true, there are regulations against cycling on the pavement - but I've been chided only once, and then by a member of the public and not the police.

Penalties are usually only imposed if someone is hurt.

With admirable German precision, the rules say that jumping a light that's been red for more than a second incurs a fine - but tell that to the irritating urban warriors who shoot through.

 

I never jump a red light - that would be stupid. Like not wearing a helmet.

[Christopher Brunsdon]

+1

 

Helmets don't prevent accidents, they only reduce the probability of head injuries.

[Clinton1]

+1

 

Helmets don't prevent accidents, they only reduce the probability of head injuries.

 

And for anyone with even half a brain that should be more than enough reason to wear one.

 

The bike hire spots on Durban beachfront do not insist on helmets but then they do make you sign waivers so what do they care.

 

I do not expect anyone to look out for my wellbeing. I do it myself. I also look to set an example for my kids. Stupid insisting they always wear helmets if I don't.

[javadude]

My 11 yo son refuses to go ride his bike with his friends because i make him wear a helmet. Its got to the point now where he hates anything to do with bicycles. I'm not really prepared to back down because i'm responsible for his well being, but then i have also lost out on the joy of sharing my passion with him.

 

Ironically, i survived years of never wearing a helmet, and that includes the 80's bmx craze and early 90's mountain biking.

[tunariaan]

Shame , we have millions of poor , underprivileged, previously disadvantaged kids in Africa and you worry about helmets in Berlin......

[javadude]

Shame , we have millions of poor , underprivileged, previously disadvantaged kids in Africa and you worry about helmets in Berlin......

 

And you sit here trolling a cycling forum instead of being out there feeding them.

[tunariaan]

...lol, i was just pulling your leg

[Witkop]

An interesting study in UK showed that you stand a greater chance of a head and neck injury in a motor car accident than in a cycle acident, but motorists are not expected to wear helmets at all

[RockCoach]

My 11 yo son refuses to go ride his bike with his friends because i make him wear a helmet. Its got to the point now where he hates anything to do with bicycles. I'm not really prepared to back down because i'm responsible for his well being, but then i have also lost out on the joy of sharing my passion with him.

 

Ironically, i survived years of never wearing a helmet, and that includes the 80's bmx craze and early 90's mountain biking.

 

Yeah, we did that and road racing too with anything on our noggins. These days it feels wrong to get on any bike without a helmet.

[tunariaan]

It's def a must.

 

I was one of those that never liked it , .in the last year i cracked 2 helmets and now i can clearly see the need for them

[jmaccelari]

In SA, I wouldn't dare ride without a helmet for a few reasons:

- I ride at speed;

- the roads are baaaad...

- the motorists are psychopaths;

- the cyclists are psychopaths.

So the chances are that at some stage I will come off. And I have. Twice. In both cases a smashed helmet is tribute to the damage my skull would have taken.

 

And I won't even start on the MTBing.

 

I say if you're stupid to ride without a helmet and it would only make you stupider.

 

However, in a first world country like Germany, and a decently run city, like Berlin, where there is a culture of cycling and it's for recreational/commuting purposes, I can see the point of being lax with helmets.

 

I wouldn't and I can't agree with it (especially with kids - none of mine will ride without a helmet), but I can't get on my high horse and condemn them for it...

[RockCoach]

My 11 yo son refuses to go ride his bike with his friends because i make him wear a helmet. Its got to the point now where he hates anything to do with bicycles. I'm not really prepared to back down because i'm responsible for his well being, but then i have also lost out on the joy of sharing my passion with him.

 

What about buying him a cool skaters/jump bikers type of helmet? You can getit in the colour of his choice and/or sticker bomb it to make it more custom and even "cooler".

[lloydkayak]

What about buying him a cool skaters/jump bikers type of helmet? You can getit in the colour of his choice and/or sticker bomb it to make it more custom and even "cooler".

 

THIS!

[Stretch]

It's def a must.

 

I was one of those that never liked it , .in the last year i cracked 2 helmets and now i can clearly see the need for them

correct - the other day at the berg and bush there was a guy with a helmet that was almost split in two....i wonder what his head would have looked like without the helmet.........

 

It is an interesting article though...shows how things can work with a conscientious population

[M L]

My 11 yo son refuses to go ride his bike with his friends because i make him wear a helmet. Its got to the point now where he hates anything to do with bicycles. I'm not really prepared to back down because i'm responsible for his well being, but then i have also lost out on the joy of sharing my passion with him.

 

Ironically, i survived years of never wearing a helmet, and that includes the 80's bmx craze and early 90's mountain biking.

That is a bit ott don't you think?

 

I never wore a helmet (age 6-15), but I was never training. All you as a kid do is ride around, go buy some sweets from the the shop and come back.

 

Never heard of a kid on a bicycle just riding around who got killed as a cause of not wearing a helmet.

[PeterM]

This is how cycling looks like in Deutschland (pics from Der Spiegel).

 

Commuting

 

Bicycle parking at a railway station

 

Traffic officer specifically for cyclists – gives an instant ticket to cyclists (and others).