6 ms·

Wearing a helmet in your car would prevent a lot of injuries as well, and nobody does that. This is just a risk/reward trade off and I (as a Dutch cyclist) feel

Wearing a helmet in your car would prevent a lot of injuries as well, and nobody does that. This is just a risk/reward trade off and I (as a Dutch cyclist) feel a few additional deaths on the total population is not worth the effort. And the things are uncomfortable and impractical: what are you going to do with it when you arrive on your destination? Lug it around all day? Bring a bag everywhere?

arve0 10y ago
Or hang it on the bicycle?
- mjhagen 10y ago
  That would certainly not get stolen.
  - crummy 10y ago
    You're already locking your bike, you can loop the lock through one of your helmet straps (I do and have never had a helmet stolen, except when the whole bike was).
    - avar 10y ago
      You can trivially undo helmet straps, because it needs to be adjusted it's not one solid piece of webbing. It stops someone from just picking your helmet up and walking away with it, but it takes no more than half a minute to undo the strap, so it's not going to stop someone intent on stealing it.
      - GunboatDiplomat 10y ago
        Put the lock cable through one of the holes in the top of the helmet. Now you can't get it off without breaking it.
        avar 10y ago
        This whole thread including this comment feels like people who haven't ever been to The Netherlands making suggestions that make no sense for the cycling culture here. So firstly as has been covered in other comments here, cyclists in The Netherlands don't want to wear helmets for their daily commuting, it doesn't solve any sort of safety problem for them when you factor in the inconvenience they cause. Secondly even if they did most bicycle chains here are over an inch thick, not something you can thread through a bicycle helmet. Sure you could carry some extra wire just to lock the helmet to the bike, but that gets you even further down the road of making a bunch of special accommodations to solve a problem that doesn't exist in the first place.
        GunboatDiplomat 10y ago
        >cyclists in The Netherlands don't want to wear helmets for their daily commuting, it doesn't solve any sort of safety problem for them when you factor in the inconvenience they cause. This sounds very much like "I don't wear my seatbelt for commuting. It doesn't solve any sort of safety problem when you factor in the inconvenience it causes."
        avar 10y ago
        Let's say there was a country where 0.5% of the drivers used seat belts[1], and out of those mostly just race car drivers. Yet that country had no notable increase in injuries or fatalities in car crashes as a result compared to countries where seat belts were mandatory. Add into that that in this parallel universe driving a car daily had big long-term health benefits, and the introduction of seat belt laws in other countries had caused driving to drop by 1/3 [2], causing fewer people to cycle, overall health to decline, and a reduction in car safety due to less car safety in numbers. Since a major cause of accidents was that few people used cars daily, leading to accidents where people weren't expecting them. Then yeah, I think it would be completely fair to question whether wearing a seat belt in your car was worthwhile. But of course none of this analogy makes sense, which makes your argument rather nonsensical. 1. http://www.cyclehelmets.org/1261.html http://www.cyclehelmets.org/1261.html 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_helmet_laws#Effects_on_the_amount_of_cycling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_helmet_laws#Effects_on...
      - Grishnakh 10y ago
        Why would anyone want to do this? Answer me this: if you needed or wanted a bike helmet, would you buy a used one to save money? Especially if it's never been cleaned? (Those foam pads inside don't seem to be conducive to cleaning.) What kind of person would steal a helmet?
  - Illotus 10y ago
    Don't know about Netherlands, but here in Finland I've left my helmet hanging from the bars of my bicycle for a few years now and it hasn't been stolen yet. Bikes themselves do get stolen especially in the city center, but helmets don't.
  - lkbm 10y ago
    I've been doing this in Austin for years. And not just a helmet: * $40 pump attached to the seat tube. * $20 helmet on the handlebars * $20 biking gloves in the helmet * $80 biking jersey on the handlebars * $20 bike light * $?? seat pouch, with bike tools. I've had the bike light stolen twice (both in January this year), and the jersey vanished once, but I think it blew away. No one's ever taken my helmet, which has somewhat surprised me. I've also gotten too lazy to lock my tires these past few years, and they've been let alone. Admittedly anecdotal and maybe a little lucky, but there don't seem to be people trolling around for bike helmets to steal. They're probably not easy to resell. I'd go for the pumps and lights first, personally.
    - Grishnakh 10y ago
      My girlfriend in college had her bike stolen. This was in a college town (in the US), so bike theft was not uncommon there. She had her helmet attached to the bike, or sitting on it, not sure which. The bike thief took the helmet off and threw it aside before grabbing the bike. Stolen bikes can be resold. But who wants to buy a stolen bike helmet?? Most people don't really want to buy used items which are personal in nature. While a bike helmet isn't underwear, it's still in contact with your head and your hair, while you're sweating a lot, and probably never gets cleaned. I imagine that for the same reasons, no one would want to steal your jersey or gloves. I'm more surprised that your pump and tools never got stolen, but there again it probably has to do with the black market realities: people will buy stolen bikes, but how many people are looking to save money by buying a stolen tire pump?
NetStrikeForce 10y ago
Don't you carry a bag around already? If your commute is one hour cycling in guessing you might sweat and need a shower? I cycle to work (in the UK, similar climate I guess) for about 15 minutes each way with no steep roads and I gotta be very careful with my pace if I don't want to sweat.
- Super_Jambo 10y ago
  It's much easier to control your pace and avoid sweating on a dutch commuter bike surrounded by your fellow dutch commuters whilst in the pancake flat NL.
- Sander_Marechal 10y ago
  > If your commute is one hour cycling in guessing you might sweat and need a shower? Not really. Our cycling is pretty relaxed, it's not like we're trying to race there as fast as possible. And we don't have steep hills to climb either. The only time I really sweat on a bike is when I'm wearing a rain suit. The lack of ventilation causes transpiration.
- speleding 10y ago
  The country is compact enough that most people have < 30 minute bike commute, and it's flat, so people don't really break a sweat. Getting wet is indeed a bit of a problem. As children we're told "you're not made of sugar", i.e. you deal with it. (Some places provide showers for people who want to come to work jogging or race biking, but that's not standard)
- mcv 10y ago
  Very few people shower after entering the office. That's only for the fanatical long-distance racing-bike commuters. Most people ride their bike in their work clothes. A helmet would be a tedious and useless bit of extra luggage.
- ralfn 10y ago
  > If your commute is one hour cycling in guessing you might sweat and need a shower? 1. The weather is Holland is kind of optimal in maximizing not sweating. 2. We are not going that fast. The effort we put into it is identical to a normal walk. You just go three times as fast. The difference between walking/running. Which is why you don't need a shower and why you don't need a helmet. So you go about 15 km/h at most. The bike is heavy (giving you much more stability). You sit up straight (giving you a much better view). You stretch your legs and you are standing still with a bike between your legs. You don't fall with a bike a holland, you loose balance and choose to stand. For all intents and purposes, its just like walking and every non-dutch person keeps coming at it as if we are doing sprints or a marathon.

arve0 10y ago

Or hang it on the bicycle?

mjhagen 10y ago
That would certainly not get stolen.
- crummy 10y ago
  You're already locking your bike, you can loop the lock through one of your helmet straps (I do and have never had a helmet stolen, except when the whole bike was).
  - avar 10y ago
    You can trivially undo helmet straps, because it needs to be adjusted it's not one solid piece of webbing. It stops someone from just picking your helmet up and walking away with it, but it takes no more than half a minute to undo the strap, so it's not going to stop someone intent on stealing it.
    - GunboatDiplomat 10y ago
      Put the lock cable through one of the holes in the top of the helmet. Now you can't get it off without breaking it.
      - avar 10y ago
        This whole thread including this comment feels like people who haven't ever been to The Netherlands making suggestions that make no sense for the cycling culture here. So firstly as has been covered in other comments here, cyclists in The Netherlands don't want to wear helmets for their daily commuting, it doesn't solve any sort of safety problem for them when you factor in the inconvenience they cause. Secondly even if they did most bicycle chains here are over an inch thick, not something you can thread through a bicycle helmet. Sure you could carry some extra wire just to lock the helmet to the bike, but that gets you even further down the road of making a bunch of special accommodations to solve a problem that doesn't exist in the first place.
        GunboatDiplomat 10y ago
        >cyclists in The Netherlands don't want to wear helmets for their daily commuting, it doesn't solve any sort of safety problem for them when you factor in the inconvenience they cause. This sounds very much like "I don't wear my seatbelt for commuting. It doesn't solve any sort of safety problem when you factor in the inconvenience it causes."
        avar 10y ago
        Let's say there was a country where 0.5% of the drivers used seat belts[1], and out of those mostly just race car drivers. Yet that country had no notable increase in injuries or fatalities in car crashes as a result compared to countries where seat belts were mandatory. Add into that that in this parallel universe driving a car daily had big long-term health benefits, and the introduction of seat belt laws in other countries had caused driving to drop by 1/3 [2], causing fewer people to cycle, overall health to decline, and a reduction in car safety due to less car safety in numbers. Since a major cause of accidents was that few people used cars daily, leading to accidents where people weren't expecting them. Then yeah, I think it would be completely fair to question whether wearing a seat belt in your car was worthwhile. But of course none of this analogy makes sense, which makes your argument rather nonsensical. 1. http://www.cyclehelmets.org/1261.html http://www.cyclehelmets.org/1261.html 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_helmet_laws#Effects_on_the_amount_of_cycling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_helmet_laws#Effects_on...
    - Grishnakh 10y ago
      Why would anyone want to do this? Answer me this: if you needed or wanted a bike helmet, would you buy a used one to save money? Especially if it's never been cleaned? (Those foam pads inside don't seem to be conducive to cleaning.) What kind of person would steal a helmet?
- Illotus 10y ago
  Don't know about Netherlands, but here in Finland I've left my helmet hanging from the bars of my bicycle for a few years now and it hasn't been stolen yet. Bikes themselves do get stolen especially in the city center, but helmets don't.
- lkbm 10y ago
  I've been doing this in Austin for years. And not just a helmet: * $40 pump attached to the seat tube. * $20 helmet on the handlebars * $20 biking gloves in the helmet * $80 biking jersey on the handlebars * $20 bike light * $?? seat pouch, with bike tools. I've had the bike light stolen twice (both in January this year), and the jersey vanished once, but I think it blew away. No one's ever taken my helmet, which has somewhat surprised me. I've also gotten too lazy to lock my tires these past few years, and they've been let alone. Admittedly anecdotal and maybe a little lucky, but there don't seem to be people trolling around for bike helmets to steal. They're probably not easy to resell. I'd go for the pumps and lights first, personally.
  - Grishnakh 10y ago
    My girlfriend in college had her bike stolen. This was in a college town (in the US), so bike theft was not uncommon there. She had her helmet attached to the bike, or sitting on it, not sure which. The bike thief took the helmet off and threw it aside before grabbing the bike. Stolen bikes can be resold. But who wants to buy a stolen bike helmet?? Most people don't really want to buy used items which are personal in nature. While a bike helmet isn't underwear, it's still in contact with your head and your hair, while you're sweating a lot, and probably never gets cleaned. I imagine that for the same reasons, no one would want to steal your jersey or gloves. I'm more surprised that your pump and tools never got stolen, but there again it probably has to do with the black market realities: people will buy stolen bikes, but how many people are looking to save money by buying a stolen tire pump?

NetStrikeForce 10y ago

Don't you carry a bag around already? If your commute is one hour cycling in guessing you might sweat and need a shower? I cycle to work (in the UK, similar climate I guess) for about 15 minutes each way with no steep roads and I gotta be very careful with my pace if I don't want to sweat.

Super_Jambo 10y ago
It's much easier to control your pace and avoid sweating on a dutch commuter bike surrounded by your fellow dutch commuters whilst in the pancake flat NL.
Sander_Marechal 10y ago
> If your commute is one hour cycling in guessing you might sweat and need a shower? Not really. Our cycling is pretty relaxed, it's not like we're trying to race there as fast as possible. And we don't have steep hills to climb either. The only time I really sweat on a bike is when I'm wearing a rain suit. The lack of ventilation causes transpiration.
speleding 10y ago
The country is compact enough that most people have < 30 minute bike commute, and it's flat, so people don't really break a sweat. Getting wet is indeed a bit of a problem. As children we're told "you're not made of sugar", i.e. you deal with it. (Some places provide showers for people who want to come to work jogging or race biking, but that's not standard)
mcv 10y ago
Very few people shower after entering the office. That's only for the fanatical long-distance racing-bike commuters. Most people ride their bike in their work clothes. A helmet would be a tedious and useless bit of extra luggage.
ralfn 10y ago
> If your commute is one hour cycling in guessing you might sweat and need a shower? 1. The weather is Holland is kind of optimal in maximizing not sweating. 2. We are not going that fast. The effort we put into it is identical to a normal walk. You just go three times as fast. The difference between walking/running. Which is why you don't need a shower and why you don't need a helmet. So you go about 15 km/h at most. The bike is heavy (giving you much more stability). You sit up straight (giving you a much better view). You stretch your legs and you are standing still with a bike between your legs. You don't fall with a bike a holland, you loose balance and choose to stand. For all intents and purposes, its just like walking and every non-dutch person keeps coming at it as if we are doing sprints or a marathon.