On 16 May 2011 at 10:01pm storm wrote:
Transport Minister in shock refusal to wear cycle helmet - how does that work?
On 17 May 2011 at 8:40am 'ere be monsters wrote:
He's perfectly entitled to decide he won't look as stupid in a wheel chair as he does on a bike with a helmet!
On 17 May 2011 at 8:54am Clifford wrote:
Cycling helmets - along with bottled water - were one of the great marketing scams of the 1980s that are still going on.
'Roger Geffen, the Campaigns Director of CTC, the UK's national cyclists' organisation, says cyclists who wear helmets are 14 per cent more likely to have a collision per mile than those without.'
On 17 May 2011 at 10:26am 'ere be monsters wrote:
Not sure how Roger Geffen can come up with those statistics. If it's presumably based on cyclists using the roads then if there are more cyclists wearing helmets then they are will proportionally be involved in more accidents. The claim it is 14% only reflects the proportion. He also fails to say which ones receive the most head injuries those with or without helmets. I suspect the latter.
On 17 May 2011 at 10:56am Clifford wrote:
'John Franklin, in "The Effectiveness of Cycle Helmets", says that in England and Wales, 40.5 percent of head injury deaths occur in car accidents, 39.1 percent to pedestrians, but only 8.5 percent to cyclists. If the government really wanted to prevent people from dying of head injuries, it should require people to wear helmets in cars and pedestrians to wear helmets while walking down the street.'
On 17 May 2011 at 11:01am Clifford wrote:
'Trends in cyclist casualties in Britain with increasing cycle helmet use', Franklin, 2000: 'Examines cyclist casualties in Britain as a whole, Greater London and Cambridge, over the period when helmet use has risen from virtually zero to over 40 per cent of cyclists in some parts of the country. There is no detectable change in trends for fatalities, serious injuries or severity ratio in any of these data sets to match the increase in use of cycle helmets. Indeed, in some cases the average seriousness of cyclist casualties increased duirng the period of greatest helmet take-up.'
On 17 May 2011 at 11:10am London2 Brighton regular wrote:
I always wear my helmet. I feel naked and vulnerable without it. My opinion, my choice. I also try to avoid accidents which helps a fair bit too.
On 17 May 2011 at 11:22am 'ere be monsters wrote:
So by making 40% of cyclists die or have serious head injuries would be a better thing?
Less than 50% of people take note of statistics!!
It's still a choice you can make, look stupid on a bike with a helmet or really cool in a wheelchair. Same as walking down the street, stab vest and crash helmet perhaps to stop yourself becoming a statistic. Your choice.
On 17 May 2011 at 11:41am Stoo pid wrote:
I was riding along on my bike, with my helmet on, reading the screen on my laptop when I ran into a pedestrian.
When I regained consciousness I saw he was wearing a laptop computer. Has anyone any statistics on how much protection this affords one as he appeared to be Googled to me......Yahoo!
On 17 May 2011 at 12:50pm Clifford wrote:
I don't wear a helmet. I've no problem with other people wearing them. My objection is to it being treated like a religion when, in reality, it is a triumph of marketing.
On 17 May 2011 at 12:54pm 'ere be monsters wrote:
Or perhaps a triumph of common sense as opposed to religion. Don't know how you managed to slip that one in.
On 17 May 2011 at 1:35pm MC wrote:
And while we are on bottled water, what an incredibly stupid idea that is. The uk has good, clean, healthy tap water. There is no need for the waste bottles littering our hedgerows, ditches, fields, rivers and beaches. Anyone who buys it should be made to eat the bottle.
On 17 May 2011 at 2:03pm Clive Sinclair wrote:
I can't wait till I get my electric car so I can creep up behind pedestrians, cyclists and skateboarders. I can knock them over and shout 'Oi, look where your freaking going' Wahooo lol
On 17 May 2011 at 2:20pm 'ere be monsters wrote:
Motorway service station the other day, the bloke in front was moaning like hell about the cost of the petrol, but paid £2 for a 1lt bottle of water. Where's me Peckham Spring?
On 17 May 2011 at 6:53pm Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:
Cycle helmets definitely increase the risk of the cyclist being hit by a car imo. I've nearly run into loads of them because I've been laughing at how stupid they look.
On 17 May 2011 at 7:34pm Mike wrote:
Now dont get me started on booster seats & that scam....
On 17 May 2011 at 8:53pm historyman wrote:
I dont wear one, never have, in saying that I ensure my son does, there is no logic to my decision I just dont like wearing one.
On 17 May 2011 at 8:54pm MC wrote:
Yup. Whilst cycling along the A26 from Barcombe to Lewes I find my helmet makes my head sweat. The sweat runs down my face into my eyes. This causes me to blink, statistically increasing the chances that I might cycle into a train.
On 18 May 2011 at 8:26am 'ere be monsters wrote:
You need a 118 style head band, another '80s rip off still going on eh Cliffy!