I wear a helmet, I don’t like to but do because of the risk of head injury resulting from hitting pot holes or slipping on tracks. I’ve heard arguments that they won’t help much in the event of a collision with a car but it might help so I wear my helmet most of the time, but I prefer a cap.

It would be nice if there was more training made available to bike riders but I really wonder why they took driver’s ed away from the high school curriculum. At least they did from the school I went to after prop 13 passed. I was one of the last classes to get actual driving training.

Finally, have a look at the latest copy of Momentum. Interesting advice and comments from parents who ride and how they train their kids.

As to the safety of cycling and requiring helmets, cyclists probably fall onto their heads about as often as pedestrians do.

Look, it’s rather simple, if we can make cycling safer, then more non-cyclists will become cyclists. By adding more cyclists to our roads we make cycling even safer. We should be doing everything we can to make cycling safer for everyone.

Thank you,
Joe Mizereck
http://www.3feetplease.com
http://www.RoadGuardian.com

Cycling can certainly be made safer and we should draw attention to safety problems, but the reality is that cycling is approximately as safe as driving, walking, or any other everyday activity.

We can’t predict the errant movements of some motorists, but a lot of the risk is controllable beyond just “wear a helmet.”

Of course, I ride fairly slowly, not in a hurry, and I’m female which means drivers treat me better for the most part – beause I look vulnerable with my little helmet-less noggin exposed to the wind.

As to the helmet controversy–while I always wear a helmet, I am sympathetic to the Copenhagenize argument that legislating helmet-wear does reduce the riding population. (Silly as it may sound, a sizable % of women really do reject bicycling because of resulting “helmet hair.”) Mandatory helmets also make bikeshare programs difficult and let governments off the hook for create true bicycle safety through good infrastructure (including smooth pavement!) by implying wearing helmets somehow is the answer to make bicycling safe. Let’s face it: riding in a car would also be safer if everyone in the vehicle wore a helmet. But even though car accidents are the leading cause of death for children and teens, there’s no talk of how unsafe unhelmeted car driving is. In Denmark, land of the unhelmeted, bicycling injuries and deaths are a fraction of ours. Helmets do not create safety, and the absence of helmets does not necessarily create danger.

What parent in their right mind would send their kid to school on a bike if it’s not safe? Asking a 10-year old to go out and mix with cars on the same ribbon of asphalt is insane. Separated bike lanes are the only way to go to connect residential areas and schools.

Of course, Amsterdam is as flat as a pancake, and I’d assume never having been there that Copenhagen is likewise glacially planar, so the barrier to riding uphill and into the wind is not there.

But getting down to basics, the condition of the pavement is critical. When cyclists must keep an eye on the road to ensure that we don’t go flying upon hitting a pothole, crack or the like, we can’t keep that eye on pedestrians or autos, and that makes cycling more dangerous.

-marc