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Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons

bikebiz.com

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Re: Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons

#91

Post by Sebb767 »

_Wintermute wrote: post #78
Sebb767 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more like if a delivery company banned their drivers from installing seat belts and airbags. Even if you are a perfect driver, other people aren't and on a bike, your will be the one hurting after a crash.

Not at all. Seatbelts are a legal requirement, helmets are not. This is employees wearing body amour, which is seen as either encouraging risk-taking, or giving the illusion that the activity is risky.

In Germany it's actually discussed quite heavily whether to make helmets a legal requirement. I also don't see how you don't think of bikes driving on roads as risky. Even with a helmet, you can get very seriously injured; a helmet will just help you to not die and (hopefully) still walk again afterwards. Feel free to look up images from serious bike accidents; I can't imagine anyone sane risking that, helmet or not.

Re: Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons

#92

Post by speed_spread »

somewhereoutth wrote: post #71
throwawayhelmet wrote: post #44

Okay, true story. Years ago I struggled with this exact logic regarding skiing with helmet. After serious consideration I decided to start skiing so carefully that I do not need a helmet. As you may guess at this point, The very first day I left my helmet home, I got into an accident and got a skull fracture. I started using my helmet again after that. (But another safety related thing I have started to really doubt.…

I suspect skiing was invented to cull the clumsy (and the simply unlucky) from the ranks of the rich.

There was already Polo for that.

Re: Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons

#94

Post by scotty79 »

wl wrote: post #21
tejohnso wrote: post #2

From [the tweet], "People that are taking risks that are sufficient that they feel they need to wear helmets are not welcome to work for us" [the tweet]: https://twitter.com/pedalmeapp/status/1489594692857647113?s=...

Riding on roads isn't like mountain biking where you mostly control the amount of risk you take on. Riding on roads puts you at the mercy of other people's choices. I feel the need to wear a helmet anytime I'm riding on a road for that reason.

The point is the risk on the road is smaller when you don't wear a helmet because drivers take less risk with you.

Even better if you are a woman in summer dress. Then the drivers give you way more space and are super careful around you. It was researched.

Re: Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons

#95

Post by stefan_ »

y7 wrote: post #63

Maybe relevant: the Netherlands is probably the country with the highest use of bicycles for transport, yet no one, except for cyclists on racing bikes/MTBs or foreign tourists, ever wears a bike helmet. This is because they're only marginally effective at preventing injury, and the disadvantage of reduced cycling use if helmets are mandated results in far worse public health outcomes. See also https://dutchreview.co…

Hey now, don't bring reason here. We reject effective technology to stop speeding, phone use, distracted driving and regulations to make cars and trucks have no more than necessary power, weight and effective sightlines but since cyclists wear a styrofoam hat they are safe. Except those pedestrians are dying at an accelerated rate, I think they should get a helmet too.

The response here are hilarious, like "they also have better infrastructure" - wow, you are soo close to getting it!

Re: Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons

#96

Post by scotty79 »

perlgeek wrote: post #5

This assumes that the risk primarily originates from the riders, not from other traffic participants. Is there any data to substantiate this?

Other participants take less risk with riders not wearing helmets. There's data on this. For example they leave more room between the bicycle and a car when they are passing.

Re: Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons

#98

Post by guerrilla »

Nextgrid wrote: post #85
yellowapple wrote: post #52

I'm sorry, and pardonner mou Français, but what in the actual fuck? Should delivery drivers not wear seatbelts because they might not be as afriad that they'll fly through the windshield? Should linemen not wear harnesses because they might be more confident working on power lines? Should warehouse workers not wear hi-vis jackets because they might be more confident working around forklifts? Should construction worke…

The problem is that as another commenter points out, passengers wouldn't feel safe next to a helmet-wearing driver while not wearing one themselves. The proper solution here is to provide helmets for passengers as well, but that raises more problems - they needs to be a way to sanitize them, multiple sizes might need to be available (I assume they need to be sized properly for adequate protection?), etc. The aforemen…

> The problem is that as another commenter points out, passengers wouldn't feel safe next to a helmet-wearing driver while not wearing one themselves.

Too bad? If your business model depends on this then you just have to suck it up and deal with it, not compromise worker safety.

> The proper solution here is to provide helmets for passengers as well, but that raises more problems - they needs to be a way to sanitize them, multiple sizes might need to be available (I assume they need to be sized properly for adequate protection?), etc.

Too bad? Cost of doing business.

Re: Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons

#99

Post by GuB-42 »

wzdd wrote: post #20

This is a pedicab service. A cynic would assume that Pedal Me is mandating this (and thus putting their drivers at risk) because passengers are more nervous about taking a service where the driver wears a helmet and they do not.

So why not do the reasonable thing and provide passengers with helmets, like they do with motorbike taxi?
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