I haven't seen anyone mentioning the Ian Walker study on drivers' responses to cyclists with and without helmets.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00014...
Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons
421–430 of 797 posts
Re: Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons
#422I worked with traumatic brain injury patients as part of my job in a neuroimaging research lab. Holy shit, wear a god damned helmet!
Re: Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons
#423I once saw an accident where a cyclist going straight through an intersection was hit by an oncoming truck turning left that was impatient, didn't see the cyclist and gunned it between cars. The cyclist was launched headfirst into the bumper of a car stopped at the light and her helmet loudly cracked in two. She was still hurt, but I'm sure she would have died without that helmet. If some riders choose to not wear a…
I had a cycling accident when out training on a road bike coming down a hill doing about 50km/h and a delivery van turned in front of me into a parking lot. I hit the side of the van put a big dent in it and fractured my clavicle and t6 and had several cuts in my face. The helmet I was wearing was completely disintegrated on the side I hit the car with. Fortunately I was visiting Australia were cycling helmets were m…
> it’s true that drivers are more aggressive towards helmet wearers
Citation, please?
> can't think of an accident where a helmet would help when I'm on the cargo bike.
Right hook.
Re: Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons
#424I once saw an accident where a cyclist going straight through an intersection was hit by an oncoming truck turning left that was impatient, didn't see the cyclist and gunned it between cars. The cyclist was launched headfirst into the bumper of a car stopped at the light and her helmet loudly cracked in two. She was still hurt, but I'm sure she would have died without that helmet. If some riders choose to not wear a…
I had a near miss like this that really scared me in Vancouver. I was going straight, and the light went yellow just before I got to the intersection. Thinking like a car, I speed up to clear the intersection before the red light. An oncoming car in the left lane also sped up to make a left turn. I don't remember if he indicated, certainly I didn't see it. We both slammed on the brakes and narrowly missed each other. He honked at me and was pissed. I was too scared and shaken for a while to realize I had the right of way. My next realization was that it doesn't matter if I have the right of way and am dead. Since then I always look carefully for left turners, even if they're not indicating, and I stop for yellow lights whenever possible (which to be fair, is what one is supposed to do.) Cycling on roads with cars is dangerous, even when there is a dedicated bike lane.
Re: Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons
#425Earlier quoted context omitted.
Now I'm sort of curious how they died, and whether their personal automobile had any modifications to the interior.
Doesn't it only work if everyone has one? If only one or a few do, they can be as cautious as possible and still be the victim of another reckless driver who doesn't have one. It reminds me a bit of the trend where parents buy larger vehicles for their teenaged children because of their perceived safety. It ends up having the opposite overall effect because less experienced drivers are getting into accidents with lar…
I think it would work for anyone that had one, even if they were the only one, as they would be a much more defensive driver. They would probably save money on gas as well :)
Re: Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons
#426Earlier quoted context omitted.
The pictures that I've seen of the various "saved my life" destroyed helmets have the polystyrene split apart - it's usually quite easy to split polystyrene if the force is applied the right (wrong) way. I don't like the concept of requiring PPE for a relatively safe activity as cycling as it makes cycling seem like a far more risky activity than it is and there's also the problem of "helmet hair" which can dissuade…
Cycling is risky. I've stopped cycling on roads with cars because I realized it's just a matter of time until I get in a serious accident. https://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2016/05/12/how-saf... I'm with you on the mandatory helmet issue, I don't like it either, but mostly because I don't like needlessly restricting ones freedoms, if you want to risk your life, that's fine with me as long as you don't risk ot…
Sounds more like it's the cars that are risky, not the cycling.
Re: Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons
#427Earlier quoted context omitted.
Cycling is risky. I've stopped cycling on roads with cars because I realized it's just a matter of time until I get in a serious accident. https://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2016/05/12/how-saf... I'm with you on the mandatory helmet issue, I don't like it either, but mostly because I don't like needlessly restricting ones freedoms, if you want to risk your life, that's fine with me as long as you don't risk ot…
Cycling is only risky due to the shared infrastructure with cars. The thing that raises the risk is cars. We should all be demanding that our streets are made safe for all users. We already have sidewalks in many places for this reason, we just need to extend similar safe infrastructure to bicycles and other road users too. Just throwing your hands up and not asking for change is a sure way to not improve things.
No one has ever been injured cycling on a trail! It’s amazing how the laws of physics no longer apply once you stop sharing infrastructure with motor vehicles.
More seriously, you can easily hit a rock or something and go over the handlebars on a bike path.
Re: Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons
#428I once saw an accident where a cyclist going straight through an intersection was hit by an oncoming truck turning left that was impatient, didn't see the cyclist and gunned it between cars. The cyclist was launched headfirst into the bumper of a car stopped at the light and her helmet loudly cracked in two. She was still hurt, but I'm sure she would have died without that helmet. If some riders choose to not wear a…
Background: I do downhill longboarding as a hobby. > If some riders choose to not wear a helmet [...] ...we take their board from them, until they show up with one. This sport is almost completely unregulated (outside of official events), but somehow the community has developed an incredibly strong culture of keeping both yourself and the others around you safe. I guess something about being a niche sport, perhaps a…
Freedom in an unregulated space requires less freedom for the individual, I suppose.
Re: Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons
#429Note, these are not normal bikes. From the article: > A major cause of head injuries is going over the handlebars, which is not possible with a 3 metre long bike. Another thing that makes us unique is our training systems, maintenance systems, and ability to track poor rider behaviour. Made me curious what they actually look like[0]. Seeing that, I’d tend to reset my presumptions about wearing helmets with these. The…
This assumes that it's completely impossible to not hit your head when you fall on your side. Which is blatantly not true. This isn't a three-wheeler bike which is much harder to tip over. It's just a two wheeler that's longer. I can attest from personal experience that if you fall sideways, chances are you'll crack the side of your skull open. I got into a bike accident where someone T-boned me and if I hadn't had the helmet on, at the very least I'd have a concussion
The idea that you don't need to wear a helmet cause you won't fall over the handlebars is nonsense
Re: Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons
#430Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unless Pedal Me provide open-source data on which they based this decision, I don't believe it is based on safety. It's seems like marketing and cost-cutting issue for them. Customer: "Driver is wearing a helmet, and nobody provided helmets for us.. Are we in danger?" Pedal Me: "Say no more.. " Plus it seems they only bought caps & jackets for their drivers previously, no safety gear. Drivers are replaceable, aren't…
Why is a 5 meter long motorized bike with an enclosed cabin street legal?
There are laws authorizing their use, they are registered with licensing required for use. That’s why.