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I don't know about Vancouver, but here in Australia you must wear a bike helmet when riding a bike. That stops many people riding bikes (please do not argue abo

by D_Alex 12y ago

I don't know about Vancouver, but here in Australia you must wear a bike helmet when riding a bike. That stops many people riding bikes (please do not argue about this, it has been done to death), and unfortunately has - probably - had the unintended effect of worsening public health. The pictures from the article show not a single person wearing a helmet... there is a lesson here I'd like the Australian regulaors to learn.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
fit2rule 12y ago
The lesson is, people are less prone to want to wear a helmet in Australia because its very hot and you get quite sweaty. Whereas in Amsterdam, people want to leave their heads free because its mostly pretty cold, and you want to wear a proper head covering - like a beany or scarf - and this isn't always compatible with bike helments. However, I've observed many times over people wearing helmets in Amsterdam. Its not a generalized circumstance that Amsterdam bike riders don't wear helmets - its just in this selection of pictures. Also, the average distances and speeds of the bike riders in Amsterdam are likely to be a lot smaller than those of Australia, where you have all the space in the world. A lot of people in Amsterdam don't ride much more than a kilometer or so, and at much reduced speeds than you would find on your average Australian road.
- ulikunkel 12y ago
  Nobody in Amsterdam wears a helmet while biking. The one exception might be sports cyclist who ride at high speeds. They usually won't show up in the inner city tough. Biking in Amsterdam is pretty safe. But this is mostly because of the infrastructure, and more importantly because dutch drivers are used to cyclers on the roads. Most bike accidents in Amsterdam are caused by foreign drivers that are not used to looking out for bikes. I imagine this the number one reason biking is less safe in American cities.
  - codfrantic 12y ago
    >Nobody in Amsterdam wears a helmet while biking. Also many tourists and a lot of expats! I also see more and more kids riding on the front / back of bikes wearing helmets, their parents usually going helmetless.
- bstrand 12y ago
  It most certainly is a generalized circumstance that Dutch cyclists don't wear helmets. A 1998 study (1) found that 0.1% of them wore a helmet. Furthermore, search for "Amsterdam cyclist" images (2) and you'll find virtually no helmets and rather few of the head coverings you posit are the cause of reduced helmet usage. 1) https://www.aaafoundation.org/sites/default/files/bikeuse_PBA.pdf https://www.aaafoundation.org/sites/default/files/bikeuse_PB... 2) https://www.google.com/search?q=amsterdam+cyclist&espv=2&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=amsterdam+cyclist&espv=2&tbm...
- jpatokal 12y ago
  > Also, the average distances and speeds of the bike riders in Amsterdam are likely to be a lot smaller than those of Australia, where you have all the space in the world. Join me on my bike commute in Sydney sometime. This town of 5 million is crammed into hills and bays, there's a traffic light every 100 meters for most of the way, the roads are jammed during rush hour and there are zero dedicated bike lanes along my route: either you dodge cars on the road, or you dodge pedestrians on shared pedestrian/bike sidewalks.
  - victorhooi 12y ago
    I agree - traffic lights galore. Thankfully, Clover Moore put in cycleways with kerbs in the CBD - Sydney drivers unfortunately have a somewhat deserved reputation for being notoriously ill-mannered. And now the State government wants to tear up the cycleways to make room for....more car lanes...sigh... Sydney taxi drivers are the worst though...
digi_owl 12y ago
I sometimes wonder if the issue with helmets is their looks. A quick bike helmet image search produce a multitude of helmets that looks aimed at either high speed or off-road riding.
victorhooi 12y ago
I also live in Australia, and am an avid cyclist - I ride to work every day, and I'm sorry but no, I strongly disagree. There is nothing wrong with wearing a helmet - I've come off my bike before and its made a potentially very bad situation painful rather than life-threatening - and really look, on the list of worries of cyclist, having to wear a helmet is the least of our worries. (The law about "not riding on a footpath" is probably more annoying - occasionally, you need to, when its the only safe option). However, what is an issue in Australia with cyclist is attitude particularly with car drivers. Until that changes, it will always discourage potential cyclists. Whether it's cars who will literally chase you down and scream about how they "deserve to be on the road and you don't", or people who open doors into the bike lane without checking for cyclist etc. Ironically, I find it actually tends to be the lower socio-economic areas that find the concept of cycling most puzzling. In the more expensive areas, cycling seems to be more of a thing - sadly, road cycling is a rich man's hobby here - when you have groups of Cervelo and Bianchi's out on weekends, those people often tend to be a bit more considerate when you're on the road yourself during the week. I do wish cycling was more mainstream, or at least car drivers better educated - but I don't think that removing helmets is the way to do that.
- Symbiote 12y ago
  What were you doing to fall off your bike? I haven't fallen off since I was a teenager, messing around. I trip over while walking more often, and have been a passenger in two car accidents. People in many countries don't feel unsafe cycling, so don't wear a helmet. I think the statistics back them up, in countries like the Netherlands.
  - victorhooi 12y ago
    I was going down a steep hill near my parent's place, with a downhill MB? New hydraulic disc brakes (Avid Codes, I think), happened to brake on the front a little too hard, and not enough on the rear. I suppose it really depends on how much you ride - if you ride a lot, eventually you're going to have a scrape (hopefully minor). You can't predict everything that's going to happen on the road.
- 12y ago
Cthulhu_ 12y ago
Cycling is relatively safe, and especially given that most people in NL have done it since they could barely stand, cycling is like second nature. It's relatively easy to prevent accidents on bicycles - you can stop quickly and such. And if you do fall, falling on your head only happens if you make a bad or unfortunate fall. (I've had... about three serious bike accidents - fell on my head once (ow), broke my arm (ow), and drove into a rock I didn't see, causing a cut on my arm (pain. And plenty of blood). But, three accidents, of which only one would've warranted a helmet, none of which happened in the past 15 years, are not nearly enough reason for me to wear a helmet on my bicycle. And that's how everyone else feels, too. Statistics will back me up (tens of millions of bike rides a year, only a handful of fatal head-injuries)

by D_Alex 12y ago

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

fit2rule 12y ago

The lesson is, people are less prone to want to wear a helmet in Australia because its very hot and you get quite sweaty. Whereas in Amsterdam, people want to leave their heads free because its mostly pretty cold, and you want to wear a proper head covering - like a beany or scarf - and this isn't always compatible with bike helments. However, I've observed many times over people wearing helmets in Amsterdam. Its not a generalized circumstance that Amsterdam bike riders don't wear helmets - its just in this selection of pictures. Also, the average distances and speeds of the bike riders in Amsterdam are likely to be a lot smaller than those of Australia, where you have all the space in the world. A lot of people in Amsterdam don't ride much more than a kilometer or so, and at much reduced speeds than you would find on your average Australian road.

ulikunkel 12y ago
Nobody in Amsterdam wears a helmet while biking. The one exception might be sports cyclist who ride at high speeds. They usually won't show up in the inner city tough. Biking in Amsterdam is pretty safe. But this is mostly because of the infrastructure, and more importantly because dutch drivers are used to cyclers on the roads. Most bike accidents in Amsterdam are caused by foreign drivers that are not used to looking out for bikes. I imagine this the number one reason biking is less safe in American cities.
- codfrantic 12y ago
  >Nobody in Amsterdam wears a helmet while biking. Also many tourists and a lot of expats! I also see more and more kids riding on the front / back of bikes wearing helmets, their parents usually going helmetless.
bstrand 12y ago
It most certainly is a generalized circumstance that Dutch cyclists don't wear helmets. A 1998 study (1) found that 0.1% of them wore a helmet. Furthermore, search for "Amsterdam cyclist" images (2) and you'll find virtually no helmets and rather few of the head coverings you posit are the cause of reduced helmet usage. 1) https://www.aaafoundation.org/sites/default/files/bikeuse_PBA.pdf https://www.aaafoundation.org/sites/default/files/bikeuse_PB... 2) https://www.google.com/search?q=amsterdam+cyclist&espv=2&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=amsterdam+cyclist&espv=2&tbm...
jpatokal 12y ago
> Also, the average distances and speeds of the bike riders in Amsterdam are likely to be a lot smaller than those of Australia, where you have all the space in the world. Join me on my bike commute in Sydney sometime. This town of 5 million is crammed into hills and bays, there's a traffic light every 100 meters for most of the way, the roads are jammed during rush hour and there are zero dedicated bike lanes along my route: either you dodge cars on the road, or you dodge pedestrians on shared pedestrian/bike sidewalks.
- victorhooi 12y ago
  I agree - traffic lights galore. Thankfully, Clover Moore put in cycleways with kerbs in the CBD - Sydney drivers unfortunately have a somewhat deserved reputation for being notoriously ill-mannered. And now the State government wants to tear up the cycleways to make room for....more car lanes...sigh... Sydney taxi drivers are the worst though...

digi_owl 12y ago

I sometimes wonder if the issue with helmets is their looks. A quick bike helmet image search produce a multitude of helmets that looks aimed at either high speed or off-road riding.

victorhooi 12y ago

I also live in Australia, and am an avid cyclist - I ride to work every day, and I'm sorry but no, I strongly disagree. There is nothing wrong with wearing a helmet - I've come off my bike before and its made a potentially very bad situation painful rather than life-threatening - and really look, on the list of worries of cyclist, having to wear a helmet is the least of our worries. (The law about "not riding on a footpath" is probably more annoying - occasionally, you need to, when its the only safe option). However, what is an issue in Australia with cyclist is attitude particularly with car drivers. Until that changes, it will always discourage potential cyclists. Whether it's cars who will literally chase you down and scream about how they "deserve to be on the road and you don't", or people who open doors into the bike lane without checking for cyclist etc. Ironically, I find it actually tends to be the lower socio-economic areas that find the concept of cycling most puzzling. In the more expensive areas, cycling seems to be more of a thing - sadly, road cycling is a rich man's hobby here - when you have groups of Cervelo and Bianchi's out on weekends, those people often tend to be a bit more considerate when you're on the road yourself during the week. I do wish cycling was more mainstream, or at least car drivers better educated - but I don't think that removing helmets is the way to do that.

Symbiote 12y ago
What were you doing to fall off your bike? I haven't fallen off since I was a teenager, messing around. I trip over while walking more often, and have been a passenger in two car accidents. People in many countries don't feel unsafe cycling, so don't wear a helmet. I think the statistics back them up, in countries like the Netherlands.
- victorhooi 12y ago
  I was going down a steep hill near my parent's place, with a downhill MB? New hydraulic disc brakes (Avid Codes, I think), happened to brake on the front a little too hard, and not enough on the rear. I suppose it really depends on how much you ride - if you ride a lot, eventually you're going to have a scrape (hopefully minor). You can't predict everything that's going to happen on the road.
12y ago

Cthulhu_ 12y ago

Cycling is relatively safe, and especially given that most people in NL have done it since they could barely stand, cycling is like second nature. It's relatively easy to prevent accidents on bicycles - you can stop quickly and such. And if you do fall, falling on your head only happens if you make a bad or unfortunate fall. (I've had... about three serious bike accidents - fell on my head once (ow), broke my arm (ow), and drove into a rock I didn't see, causing a cut on my arm (pain. And plenty of blood). But, three accidents, of which only one would've warranted a helmet, none of which happened in the past 15 years, are not nearly enough reason for me to wear a helmet on my bicycle. And that's how everyone else feels, too. Statistics will back me up (tens of millions of bike rides a year, only a handful of fatal head-injuries)