To Encourage Biking, Cities Lose the Helmets
nytimes.com
To Encourage Biking, Cities Lose the Helmets
1–10 of 212 posts
Re: To Encourage Biking, Cities Lose the Helmets
#2Absolutely... Just visit Amsterdam, Copenhagen, or Paris and see all the cyclists... What a joy. Instead of helmets the US cities should try to implement cycling lanes for a change.
Re: To Encourage Biking, Cities Lose the Helmets
#3good points raised in there, instead of promoting the use of helmets city officials should establish more lanes for cyclists. and just on a side note, taking the bike to work everyday is arguably the best workout available.
Re: To Encourage Biking, Cities Lose the Helmets
#4Absolutely... Just visit Amsterdam, Copenhagen, or Paris and see all the cyclists... What a joy. Instead of helmets the US cities should try to implement cycling lanes for a change.
The difference is of course that in those European cities, cyclists are part of the expected traffic and are catered for with bike lanes etc.
Being originally from The Netherlands, I always used to ride my bike, literally everywhere. I've been living in Sydney/Australia for the past 7 years and the bike riding culture seems very similar to that of the US. Loads of sporty mountain bikes and everyone forced to wear helmets. It's not so much the gear that is the issue of course but the fact that e.g. a city like Sydney (and I guess the same thing counts for many cities in the US) doesn't cater to cyclists at all. No bike lanes (maybe a handful) and in general very dangerous. Not to mention the steep bloody hills in this place!
Re: To Encourage Biking, Cities Lose the Helmets
#5Absolutely... Just visit Amsterdam, Copenhagen, or Paris and see all the cyclists... What a joy. Instead of helmets the US cities should try to implement cycling lanes for a change.
Agree on both points. I never wear a helmet myself.
Re: To Encourage Biking, Cities Lose the Helmets
#6What's so wrong with helmets?
Re: To Encourage Biking, Cities Lose the Helmets
#7Until there is a distinct change in driver attitudes, riding without a helmet in most of the US is just nuts. Sure, there are places like Portland with dedicated bike lanes and an overall emphasis on pro-bike culture, but it is a rare spot.
In the bay area, there is a very large biking community -- road, mountain, around town, etc. The problem is, the infrastructure isn't there for bikes compared to Amsterdam. We have "bike lanes" that any vehicle can enter within, say, about 150' to make a turn onto another street. Vehicles don't look for bikes. The bike ways in Amsterdam, certain parts of Munich, and other towns are often separate from the roads. When not, people expect them and are courteous to them much more than here.
Re: To Encourage Biking, Cities Lose the Helmets
#8This article is great but it does itself a pretty big disservice by pretty much ignoring a lot of why many of the European cities which have successful programs are successful. Namely they have made significant investment into infrastructure to make bicycling safer, many times prioritizing bike traffic over auto traffic.
I ride quite a bit, live in Berkeley which has numerous "Bicycle Boulevards [1]" and I'm pretty comfortable riding sans helmet. I happily rented a bike in Amsterdam and never even considered using a helmet. Riding my bike to work in SF (or to the articles point NYC)? You're damn straight I'm wearing a helmet.
[1] Bicycle Boulevards are streets (open to bikes and cars) that tend to run parallel to primary traffic arteries that tend to have fewer Stop Signs and every 3 or 4 blocks auto traffic isn't allowed through (usually big planters in the middle of the street) so it keeps the auto traffic down.
Re: To Encourage Biking, Cities Lose the Helmets
#9What's so wrong with helmets?
I find this the most important question. They aren't expensive (£15) and if you're going to bike then you're going to get sweaty, rained-on, etc with or without a helmet.
So I guess if you're put off cycling by a simple helmet then I really cannot seeing you sticking with it through any kind of adverse weather either.
Re: To Encourage Biking, Cities Lose the Helmets
#10relevant study from the UK: http://www.cyclehelmets.org/1231.html
"HEAT suggests that a law making helmets compulsory for cyclists may result in an overall increase in 253 premature deaths – 265 extra deaths from reduced cycling less 12 deaths saved among the reduced pool of cyclists receiving fatal head injuries."
"The overall cost of a law would be between £ 304 million and £ 415 million per year. In addition, there would be a one-off cost to the remaining cyclists of £ 180 million to equip them with helmets"