Bike Helmet Seminar Invitation
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So. Back to this thing about helmets. You might think that I’m either just writing about this for controversy’s sake, or a glutton for punishment. Actually it’s neither - I just want to understand the facts.
Not that there was much in the way of punishment after the last post. There was only one comment that had a special kind of insulting included, and I left that one in. Strictly in the spirit of “Sticks and stones, oh and several tons of metal driven at me when I’m riding my bike may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”. I’m sure you understand.
No - this is my thing. People think that the whole helmets issue is cut’n'dried, black and white, and a matter that can be resolved with good old fashioned common sense. But I’m telling you, it really ain’t necessarily so. I’m not going to preach to you about which side of the argument is right, and which is wrong. We live in a (pseudo-) free society, and as an adult, you’re free to make up your own mind.
So what I’m going to ask you to do, is read and think about what each side of this argument seems to be saying - I’ve assembled a little reading list for you below. No matter which side you start out as believing, treat both sides with equal respect. More importantly, treat each side with equal disdain - look for the flaws in both sides, especially the one you’d be inclined to have gone for from the outset.
Is that a deal? Because if it is, then your comments further below will be very welcome. You’ll get extra credits for referencing other materials (that aren’t just repetitions of what we have here), finding flaws in your own arguments, pointing out where research has been funded with an agenda from either side, and the use of non-selectively filtered data to make your point.
If on the other hand, you’ve already made up your mind and really think you don’t need read any of this stuff (especially the “other side’s” arguments, ‘cos they’re a special kind of stupid), then your comments are still welcome. But if it’s obvious that you haven’t done your reading preparation for this seminar, I will remorselessly mock, deride, and generally belittle you in front of the rest of the class.
OK - those are the rules, and these are the articles on your reading list:
- The article (re-published in various forms here in the UK and elsewhere) that started my “maybe helmet’s DON’T make as much sense as I’d thought” thinking: Ian Walker’s research on overtaking clearances & road position, which features some stuff that’s totally counterintuitive.
- The British Medical Association’s (BMA’s) 2007 briefing paper on cycling and health. “The BMA urges legislation to make the wearing of cycle helmets compulsory for both adults and children.“
- The British Medical Journal’s (BMJ’s) Analysis and Comment on the benefits of bicyle helmet legislation, by Dorothy Robinson. Careful analysis of confounding factors, which may have distorted pro-helmet evidence. Her argument that mandatory helmet usage discourages cycling is widely reported, such as this pdf example by John Franklin, author of Cyclecraft.
- This phenomenon might be explained by David Hembrow’s discussion on the various ways in which we perceive safety - actual, subjective, and social. He makes the point that wearing a helmet might increase your own sense of safety, while simultaneously reducing that in others.
- CycleHelmets.org’s claim that the analysis over the percentage of head and brain injuries prevented by helmets is wrong.
- Department For Transport’s (DfT’s) Bicycle Helmets: Review of Effectiveness. “There is now a considerable amount of scientific evidence that bicycle helmets have been found to be effective at reducing head, brain and upper facial injury in bicyclists“
- Cycling Health In New Zeland - a campaign to remove compulsion - cites this article about bicycle helmet injury prevention statistics (full article unfortunately not available without fees). The point made in the abstract we can see for free is, “increased helmet wearing percentages has had little association with serious head injuries to cyclists“
- Finally, this site, The International Safety Union for Cyclists, as first highlighted via the schuperbe guys over at Copenhagenize.com. It’s probably a spoof site, but one that’ll confirm any conclusions you’d reached from the first seven or so articles - irrespective of which way your thinking was going.
So tell me, what’s your understanding from reading this lot?
Filed under: Assassination Attempts, Bike Culture, Cycling, Ranting, Road Safety, helmet
I’m not going to say anything directly related…you know where I’m at :-p
Actually, my point is really a lot wider than that. Wearing helmets is a reaction to conditions. People don’t wear them here because they feel safe here. That’s also the reason why there are so many cyclists here. They’re not masochists, they are doing something enjoyable and convenient.
The flip side of this is that helmets are worn far more in countries where there is a reason to be worried about your safety, and these are also the countries where there are far fewer cyclists because the level of subjective safety is such that many people won’t consider cycling, and many of those who do not will think that those who do are masochists.
Install decent infrastructure and helmets will disappear as rapidly as the number of cyclists goes up and the safety figures improve !
The wearing of helmets is a symptom of a problem. Way way back towards the start of my blog I wrote an article specifically about this: http://hembrow.blogspot.com/2008/08/pit-canaries.html
another thought i have . . . i don’t think it’s just luck that helps me keep from crashing. i know that i’m only part of the accident-preventing equation, but i have excellent situational awareness. i am never chillin out on my bike; i’m constantly looking around, either enjoying the scenery or checking to see where cars are behind me and to my side(s). i think that accidents are the direct result of something going wrong on the part of the cyclist, that there is always something else you can do to prevent the accident. believe it or not, i err on the side of caution . . . aggressively
it probably also helps that i came to cycling maturity screaming down singletracks in CO, hitting 45 mph shotting between trees that gave me less than 4″ of clearance between them. not much scarier than that. maybe everybody should have a “fear familiarization” course. a lot of accidents are probably caused by cyclists who get scared and try to hog more of the road than is necessary or courteous.
i’m a confident driver and an INSANELY road-raging biker and runner. cars know what they should do, and by and large they do it. and they are CRAZY careful not to hit people, even when they’re angry. i know this firsthand, because i do a lot that can make cars angry.
David - Looks like there might be a whole cause Vs effect / chicken’n'egg thing going on here then? Just the sort of thing that UK transport planners in general struggle to understand. So they figure that as only a tiny minority cycle, then they only need a tiny minority of the infrastructure budget?
tje210 (man, you’ve gotta get a snappier name!) - I think in part you’re right. There are huge differences between the accident rates for different types of cyclists, as listed on Ken Kifer’s ‘Is Cycling Dangerous?’ page:
Accidents per Million Miles
Child Cyclists 720
College-associated Adults 500
League of American Bicyclists 113
Cyclists’ Touring Club of England 66
I wouldn’t go so far as to say that all accidents are the direct result of something going wrong on the part of the cyclist though. There are circumstances where something happens that there is just no way you could have predicted. However, the above numbers seem to say that such occasions are very much in the minority.
I’ve been banging on about (anti) helmet compulsion for years.
Go to BikeBiz.com and search on ‘Martlew’ for 90+ articles on helmet compulsion, inc lots of reports into golf, footy, toddler and pedestrian helmets (all of which are just as sensible as cycle helmets). Or check out this summary: http://www.bikebiz.com/news/23559/Top-docs-urge-BMA-to-review-helmet-compulsion-position
I believe David Hembrow is correct is his flip side analysis and I totally agree with and support his decent infrastructure statement.
I am not a fan of helmets, but do wear one most of the time.
Karl,
It is of course true that how you behave on a bike affects your own safety. Unfortunately, Ken Kifer’s own death while cycling illustrates that there are limits as to how much one’s own behaviour can improve personal safety on a bike.
Unfortunately, cyclists in the English speaking world have got onto a losing proposition by suggesting that active safety is the way to go. It’s very unforgiving of mistakes, either by yourself, other cyclists or drivers.
Relying on training to make safer cyclists is something that only works on a small scale with an enthusiastic minority who will never break concentration. Not everyone can be trained to be one of an elite of safest cyclists, any more than everyone can be trained to be in the top 1% of anything else. The entire population will never cycle in the same way as that self-selected minority who love cycling.
As you get more people to cycle you get more of the less bothered type of cyclist. They’ll never be interested in bikes as such. They ride simply because it’s convenient, cheap and it’s what their friends do.
It’s amusing to watch cyclists here. There are a lot of very skilled cyclists, but they’re outnumbered by the less bothered types. To see such a cyclist looking over their shoulder, ever, under any circumstances, is very rare. A large proportion simply assume that they’ll be given the right of way, even in many places where they legally don’t have it. They’re always, to quote tje210, “chillin out.”
Initially this looks terrible. Ill-disciplined. As if they don’t know what they’re doing. However, when you think about it, it’s inevitable. The majority of people cycle here. What’s more, they do know exactly what they’re doing. They’re cycling in conditions which are actually very safe despite their behaviour. No majority can ever become a skilled minority. What we see is an emphasis on infrastructure which is passively safe, with a small portion of better driver attitude on the side. The design is very forgiving of mistakes. It’s a more rational approach than an expectation that everyone should behave perfectly all the time, and it’s essential if you want to encourage everyone to cycle as passive safety also is related to with subjective safety.
It may sound as if I’m critical of Dutch cyclists, but I’m not. People have learnt the skills that matter. The average Dutch cyclist is extremely good at riding where lots of other people ride. I find that visiting British cyclists, including those who are quite skilled at riding on the road in the UK, tend to get in the way of Dutch cyclists as they don’t hold their line as they cycle, they don’t anticipate other cyclists and they don’t keep out of the way of those who want to overtake. This is because they’re used to riding either alone or in small groups and they cycle in places where there are few other cyclists. There is a different set of skills to learn here.
For those of us who’ve honed our skills on the mean streets of the UK or USA, who actually do look around, who anticipate what drivers might do, and who take the time to learn to ride en-masse as well, this place is quite absurdly safe.
And it’s very very pleasant. Which is why everyone does it. Who really wants to be an “INSANELY road-raging biker” ? Only a small minority…
Carlton - thanks for the link. You get extra credits for supplying additional information. I’d forgotten what an excellent source of bicycle-related news bikebiz is - not just for the trade insiders!
David - thanks for this very thoughtful & insightful contribution. It throws the whole nature of the more extreme helmet advocates’ (the people who say you should always wear a helmet whenever you get on a bike, ‘cos it’s really dangerous) views into some pretty stark contrast. I’ve not yet ridden in such a situation, but what you describe reminds me of how people navigate through places on foot. In a crowded shopping area (like, say, Northumberland Street in Newcastle last Saturday), the volume of bodies isn’t really a problem. People aren’t constantly tripping over each-others’ feet (& falling to the ground, banging their heads), and the whole thing is chaotic but beautifully functional. The only problem comes when someone tries to ‘break the rules’ and run through the crowd!
And well done for picking up on the road-raging comment. I’m the kind of guy who wants to believe the best in everyone. So I’m sure that what he meant was that he rides assertively, rather than confrontationally.
indeed, i do
what i meant is that i demonstrate my lack of appreciation for cars that almost kill me. and it also means that i’m not afraid to pass cars on the left when they’re going slow and taking up my space on the right side of the lane. those are 2 examples among many other nonconfrontational things that i do. even though i do them, i think i’m crazy for doing them, and don’t recommend such actions to anyone else. it’s certainly fun though . . .
[...] David Hembrow’s recent comments have got me thinking. What’s the secret to getting more poeple on their bikes? Things that can and are being done to varying degrees include (in no particular order): [...]
Bicycle helmets are a safety item, like seatbelts that are available but not everyone uses them. California has a law that mandates minors to wer bicycle helmets.
Having not read any of the articles, I agree wholeheartedly with tje210. I’m riding here in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, passing mostly buses on the left, and challenging them more often than is sane. (But it sure is fun!) The public buses rule the road here, and mostly they follow the rules, but can be erratic, especially on Sundays when everyone else is more relaxed. I wear a helmet, always, except at night, when it’s just too beautiful out and no traffic to speak of. Having ridden only in the US, Belize, Guatemala and Merida, I will state unequivocally that this is the most bicycle friendly place I’ve ever ridden. I plan to peruse the articles when I get the time. Let me also state that, while living in southern Belize, I had the opportunity of seeing firsthand, on several occasions, what a head looks like after having been knocked off a bicycle by a passing motorist. Never pretty. And so I will continue to wear my helmet during the day.