3 ms·

There are plenty of studies, the problem with them is that there are arguments made constantly that despite the efficacy of helmets in reducing the severity of

There are plenty of studies, the problem with them is that there are arguments made constantly that despite the efficacy of helmets in reducing the severity of head trauma, something about the helmets somehow makes them more dangerous. I think my favorite stupid argument though is that it increases the size of the rider's head, which increases the likelihood of ground collision in an accident. As though it's so easy to stop yourself from falling as long as there aren't two inches of material strapped on your noggin. The basic fact is that if you do have a head injury on a bike, a helmet is likely to reduce the severity of it. Everything else is an unquantifiable argument about human behavior.

snogglethorpe 11y ago
The main thing is that it's not just a medical issue, so citing medical studies isn't sufficient. Even if wearing a helmet decreases your injuries 100% of the time (and there are a few counterexamples to that), if a helmet law causes more deaths overall, it's still a bad law. The main negative effect of helmet laws that I've seen cited is that they reduce the popularity of cycling as a transportation mode, and that can have extremely negative effects on public health (due to increased driving, reduced physical activity, and indirectly as a general damper on pro-cycling sentiment and infrastructure changes). [I think Australia's helmet law is one of the main examples people talk about.]
- prawn 11y ago
  Yes, also that more cyclists means a greater awareness of them amongst drivers, which improves safety. Making helmets non-compulsory can make riding safer in that way, encouraging more people to ride.
  - snogglethorpe 11y ago
    Yup. "Safety in numbers" is definitely an important factor. In the end, it's far more important (in terms of safety, as well as for other social goals that cycling promotes) to get people on bikes than it is to micromanage the way they do it. It's worth nothing that helmet usage is extremely low in pretty much all the great cycling nations (Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, etc), all of which have cycling mode-share orders of magnitude greater than any place in the U.S. [In Japan it is becoming increasingly common to see very young kids wearing bicycle helmets, especially when they're seated on their parent's bike, but they seem to stop wearing them sometime in their grade-school years.]

snogglethorpe 11y ago

The main thing is that it's not just a medical issue, so citing medical studies isn't sufficient. Even if wearing a helmet decreases your injuries 100% of the time (and there are a few counterexamples to that), if a helmet law causes more deaths overall, it's still a bad law. The main negative effect of helmet laws that I've seen cited is that they reduce the popularity of cycling as a transportation mode, and that can have extremely negative effects on public health (due to increased driving, reduced physical activity, and indirectly as a general damper on pro-cycling sentiment and infrastructure changes). [I think Australia's helmet law is one of the main examples people talk about.]

prawn 11y ago
Yes, also that more cyclists means a greater awareness of them amongst drivers, which improves safety. Making helmets non-compulsory can make riding safer in that way, encouraging more people to ride.
- snogglethorpe 11y ago
  Yup. "Safety in numbers" is definitely an important factor. In the end, it's far more important (in terms of safety, as well as for other social goals that cycling promotes) to get people on bikes than it is to micromanage the way they do it. It's worth nothing that helmet usage is extremely low in pretty much all the great cycling nations (Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, etc), all of which have cycling mode-share orders of magnitude greater than any place in the U.S. [In Japan it is becoming increasingly common to see very young kids wearing bicycle helmets, especially when they're seated on their parent's bike, but they seem to stop wearing them sometime in their grade-school years.]