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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

#791

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would I be aware of that? A quick Google Maps search shows some multi lane roads.

Because this is a discussion about a London company. If you don't understand the context, you should at least be prepared to learn.

A quick Google Maps search shows some multi lane roads. Do you have a good way for me to learn more?

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

#792
post #681

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The seatbelt thing is somewhat illogical. Like if that's the level of risk we deem acceptable for society then things like wingsuit diving and probably even motorcycles, longboarding and bicycling on city streets should also be illegal. Especially if measured by any objective metric like fatality risk per passenger mile.

This is an imperfect process, and there's a balance to be made. Sure, we can be too paternalistic, and putting too many onerous restrictions on things (or on banning things outright that people have a reasonable desire to do). I think banning motorcycles would fall under that. Sure, riding a motorcycles is far more likely to get you injured or killed than riding in a car, but I think most people would consider bannin…

Alternatively the control could be given to insurance companies. For example you get a lower deductible in an accident if you're wearing a seatbelt (or bike helmet or whatever) compared to if you're not. Insurance companies actually calculate the risks/costs, as opposed to governments cramming something resembling moral judgement (or just blindly perceived risk reduction) as law.

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

#793
post #423

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

There's this Ian Walker study: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00014... It's a small sample size, so take with a pinch of salt.

What Ian Walker's study failed to do was measure the amount of traffic, let alone the oncoming traffic. As he did different parts of his data collection on different days and on different roads, this key measure which often affects how far a car is able to move out going past a cyclist is a very obvious parameter to take into account. Ian's data set has times of passes in it so it might be possible to crate a proxy for traffic density but I haven't attempted this. I think it's more valid to conclude this study has no credence than to draw any conclusion from it.

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

#794
post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"We're sorry your husband got a concussion, but at least his passenger felt safe!" This isn't the 70s. Just give everyone helmets. Passengers included. And yes you should clean them. If you're running a business I'm sure you can afford some little bottles of alcohol spray.

But if it's about safety, why don't actual car taxi cab companies provide helmets for their passengers? It's easier to get a serious head injury in a car than on a bicycle.

And if a taxi company banned their drivers from wearing seatbelts, that would also be absurd.

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

#796

Must be a cultural thing. If someone tried this here in Denmark, they would get such a shitstorm. Helmets are generally understood to increase cyclist safety.

Interesting! AFAIK, in the Netherlands helmets are considered to slightly reduce safety in the general case (but this is not a strong effect). The general objective is to make infrastructure sufficiently safe so that helmets become redundant.

This viewpoint (that helmet wearers take bigger risks) only holds validity when helmet wearing is a choice.

In my country (Australia), helmet wearing is mandatory and the vast, vast majority seem to follow this rule. I've never felt "more protected" wearing a helmet, as I wouldn't ride without one. It's a default state.

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

#797

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The distance from your head to the ground on a bike is sufficient to cause serious injury of you just fall off. Your individual risk is very low, because you don't fall of bikes often. But multiplied across millions in the population, it starts to make a difference.

the same argument might work for walking, but none is suggesting to have helmets while walking
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