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Dutch guy here. 29km/h on a bike without a helmet is absolutely safe over here, and everyone is doing it with E-Bikes all the time, every day. Never have I hear

Dutch guy here. 29km/h on a bike without a helmet is absolutely safe over here, and everyone is doing it with E-Bikes all the time, every day. Never have I heard of a friend or family member falling from their bike with any injury on the head; A broken arm at worst.

ajmurmann 8y ago
That's because the Netherlands had real biking infrastructure. In the US everything is design expecting people will take a car to travel any distance more than one block, especially in the suburbs where you even might find yourself without a sidewalk at times.
mentalpiracy 8y ago
Small observation: Dutch bike culture is much more developed than here in the US. In addition to numerous separated bike lanes, and your pedestrians and drivers are much more familiar with how to handle traffic situations involving bicycles. Injury from bicycle crashes is one thing, but the biggest threat to scooters and cyclists in the US comes from inattentive or aggressive drivers.
mft_ 8y ago
While I appreciate that the statistics over the value of bicycle helmets aren't always conclusive, "29km/h on a bike without a helmet is absolutely safe over here" seems like a difficult and sweeping statement to substantiate? Are the pavements in Holland more forgiving when someone's head hits them at ~8 m/s? "Never have I heard of a friend or family member falling from their bike with any injury on the head; A broken arm at worst." Well, I see your anecdote and I raise you with my own: I once fell of my bike at probably around 30km/h, breaking my collarbone. Additionally my helmeted head hit the raised pavement stone hard enough to leave a big dent in my helmet. I'm very glad that it didn't have the opportunity to leave the same dent in my head.
- ghaff 8y ago
  Helmets do seem to be at least somewhat of a cultural thing. I recently returned from a trip to both Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Essentially no one who isn't a young child wears a helmet in Amsterdam. (And often not even them. You see small kids propped up on handlebars all the time.) In Central Copenhagen on the other hand, which would seem to have almost as good biking infrastructure as Amsterdam, a lot of people do wear helmets. It's still the minority--maybe 25%--but it's definitely not at all unusual.

ajmurmann 8y ago

That's because the Netherlands had real biking infrastructure. In the US everything is design expecting people will take a car to travel any distance more than one block, especially in the suburbs where you even might find yourself without a sidewalk at times.

mentalpiracy 8y ago

Small observation: Dutch bike culture is much more developed than here in the US. In addition to numerous separated bike lanes, and your pedestrians and drivers are much more familiar with how to handle traffic situations involving bicycles. Injury from bicycle crashes is one thing, but the biggest threat to scooters and cyclists in the US comes from inattentive or aggressive drivers.

mft_ 8y ago

While I appreciate that the statistics over the value of bicycle helmets aren't always conclusive, "29km/h on a bike without a helmet is absolutely safe over here" seems like a difficult and sweeping statement to substantiate? Are the pavements in Holland more forgiving when someone's head hits them at ~8 m/s? "Never have I heard of a friend or family member falling from their bike with any injury on the head; A broken arm at worst." Well, I see your anecdote and I raise you with my own: I once fell of my bike at probably around 30km/h, breaking my collarbone. Additionally my helmeted head hit the raised pavement stone hard enough to leave a big dent in my helmet. I'm very glad that it didn't have the opportunity to leave the same dent in my head.

ghaff 8y ago
Helmets do seem to be at least somewhat of a cultural thing. I recently returned from a trip to both Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Essentially no one who isn't a young child wears a helmet in Amsterdam. (And often not even them. You see small kids propped up on handlebars all the time.) In Central Copenhagen on the other hand, which would seem to have almost as good biking infrastructure as Amsterdam, a lot of people do wear helmets. It's still the minority--maybe 25%--but it's definitely not at all unusual.