Page 1 of Should cyclists wear helmets by law? Who knows!

Interesting article in the BMJ:
http://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.f3817.full?ijkey=I5vHBog6FhaaLzX&keytype=ref

TL;DR... it's a complex issue and very hard to know if it would make any difference, despite the obvious assumption that wearing a helmet helps to prevent head injuries.


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I think as i said before, all I know is one time I was cycling to the train station, then I woke up in hospital, my head being x-rayed, after being unconscious for 45 minutes.

We'll never know for sure, but my guess is that if I hadn't been wearing a helmet, I wouldn't have got off so lightly!

I think they're probably a good idea, not entirely sure that making it compulsory by law would actually achieve anything other than increasing the number of fines issued though to be honest!

Fines?
That'll be a laugh watching how much time and trouble the police put into that.
No licence or registration so no easy fixed penalty option. Every one will require a stop and details etc. That's for the ones that don't just spot the officer and head down the nearest alley, pavement, shopping centre or off between the traffic.

Snaps

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I used to be with it, but then they changed what `it` was.
Now, what I`m with isn`t it, and what`s `it` seems weird and scary

They are supposed to use lights at night by law but hardly any of them seem to bother and the police do nothing either.

I wear a helmet if I am out on the road unless it's just the school run or on a cycle path. There was a lad in the hospital bed next to my dad who had come off his bike and hit his head on a lamp post, it wasn't good believe me. 

RIP Julie & Maisie

I have given tickets for Cyclists through red lights, riding the wrong way down a one-way street, and arrested for Drunk in Charge of a Pedal Cycle...

What I'd like to see is cyclists using proper front & rear lighting, not the flashing pound shop 3 LED things.

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Never has so little had to be explained by me to so many so often.

I would advise any cyclist to wear helmets on cycle paths, because stones and sticks are thrown up on these paths by cars/lorries alongside, and the percentage chance of getting thrown off the bike due to hitting a stone or stick is massively increased.

Know this as fact as youngest son told me the cycle paths were deadly with debris, and has had to help cyclists who have fallen. These paths are never cleaned, so stones and sticks are everywhere on the path.

He says that's why the high speed 'I am professional so I wear lycra' type of cyclists, just stick to the road, and do not use the cycle path alongside, much to the annoyance of car users.

Quote:
marksparks999 says...
"I have given tickets for Cyclists through red lights, riding the wrong way down a one-way street, and arrested for Drunk in Charge of a Pedal Cycle..."
I have to say you must be  a diligent exception.
In 11 years of private hire in London and now over 5 up here, compared to the thousands of times I've seen vehicles being stopped, I wouldn't need both hands to count the number of cyclists.
I wonder if there are any govt figures for the number of cyclists prosecuted per year as a percentage of those actually on the road.


Snaps

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My new Flash Fiction blog. All my own work
500ish

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I used to be with it, but then they changed what `it` was.
Now, what I`m with isn`t it, and what`s `it` seems weird and scary

My doctors is near a one way street. I sometimes need to sit outside the doctors waiting for appointments. In the times I'm waiting, I see many bikes with no lights going the wrong way in the one way street every time I'm there. Police are around but I have never once seen any of them stopping the riders. Not once. Oh, and I do ride a bike, but only in my local park, I won't even ride to the park as I no longer feel safe using my bike on the road.