When it comes to wearing a helmet while riding a bicycle, everyone seems to have an opinion. On the one side are the pro-helmet people. In BC, we have a law that requires everyone who rides a bike, regardless of age, to wear a helmet. On the other side are those who adamantly oppose wearing bike helmets. They claim the culture of bike riding does more to save people from injury than donning a helmet.
A new study about injury prevention says that the provinces that make helmet use mandatory have higher numbers of people wearing them.
But our cycling friends in Quebec don’t want to be forced to wear helmets. Suzanne Lareau of Vélo-Québec claims that helmets give you a false sense of security and have become a “panacea”.
Instead, anti-bike helmet advocates see a strong cycling culture and dedicated bike paths as the answer to injury prevention while cycling.
I’ve come across the pro- and anti-bike helmet sides in BC and blogged about it. I personally don’t think I ride any differently with or without a helmet. I certainly don’t feel any safer wearing one when a car cuts me off on the street. But I know that if I do fall while riding, my chances of not sustaining life-altering injuries are much better with a helmet on than without one.
What do other British Columbians think?
Is it bike helmets laws that keep us injury free or is it cycling culture and dedicated places for cyclists to ride that keep us away from the emergency room?
Loading ...
If you bike, wear a helmet. Period.
I think not wearing a helmet, especially if you’re a commuter riding alongside cars, is pretty stupid. I ride to work quite often (not as much as I should be as of late, truth be told) and my helmet definitely does not give me a false sense of security. However, it does reassure me that if run into some unforeseen trouble, I’m more likely to survive than had I not been wearing it.
My father would likely not be alive today if not for a bike helmet, so I always wear one and think that anyone that commutes through traffic should certainly wear one.
I am in favour of helmet laws because they influence our attitudes and beliefs. I am also in favour of culture because it directly influences our behaviour. So, both are required to keep us injury free.
The helmet law is ill conceived.
Firstly there is now ample evidence to show that forcing people to wear helmets greatly reduces the number of cyclists. Especially so amongst the young.
Secondly some research conducted at the University of Bath in the UK showed that drivers gave far less space to cyclists when wearing a helmet compared to not wearing a helmet.
Thirdly there is no evidence that helmet laws actually reduce the number of deaths from head injuries as a % of riders. The reduction in head injuries can be accounted for by the reduction in cyclists following the introduction of the law.
Wearing a helmet should be a matter of choice not mandatory.
There are a few web sites with good analysis for example: http://www.cycle-helmets.com/
[...] only works until, well, it happens to you, which dispels that myth. Even for those who claim that helmets give people a false sense of security (which I’ve yet to see any non-anecdotal evidence for), it’s hard to refute that your odds of [...]