Safety or style?
Idon’t cycle 20 kilometres a day several times a week like I used to, but I cycle enough to know I would never, ever go without a helmet. This week, biking advocate group Choice Biking organised a protest in Wellington against the law that makes bike helmets mandatory. Reactions have been mixed, with some believing it’s time to give riders a choice and some saying helmets remain a necessity.
I remain firmly ensconced in the latter camp. When I was a teenager, a friend’s brother was riding on the footpath and was hit by a reversing car. Amid the blood and broken bones, he was wearing a helmet. It may or may not have saved his life, but is it really worth the chance?
I would call myself a reasonably competent cyclist, as I like to remind those who whinge about how fast bikes go on walkways. (One, most of us are probably not going more than 20kmh, and, two, we are in control and almost never going to hit you. But I digress.)
On one occasion I was coming downhill in the rain, holding my rear brake, and my rear tyre hit a wet palm frond on the road, spinning me around 90 degrees. The brakes do nothing when the tyre is skidding out of control. And this was not a quiet country lane; this was in the CBD with traffic.
Up against cars and trucks, and even up against the small bump in your path that you didn’t see until it was too late, you and your bike are vulnerable. Life is a risk, of course – but there’s no need to be stupid about it. It’s a risk going to work on the highway, but that doesn’t mean you don’t wear your seatbelt.
What is the argument against wearing helmets? Style? If you’re getting a half-decent workout, you’re not going to look any good on a bike anyway. Besides, some helmets can look at least semiclassy and make you feel like you’re the fitness fanatic you’re not.
Convenience? Do you not have twenty-five seconds to pick up your helmet and buckle it on your head?
Price? Would you pay to have your car fixed so it was safe and road worthy?
Maybe more people would cycle if they didn’t have to wear a helmet. And yes, many of us have cruised the streets helmet-less and not come to any harm. I’m all for not living in cotton wool, but I am also keen on common sense.
I have stood on the footpath and heard the sickening thump of a cyclist getting hit by a van. I have ridden on an open road between New Plymouth and Bell Block with twin-trailers flying past. I have ridden on New Plymouth’s Coastal Walkway with moving dogs and children.
I have written about, or read of, crashes where cyclists have been hit, cyclists have been seriously injured, cyclists have died.
Yes, sometimes a helmet won’t save you.
But what about all the times when it could?