Article: "Safe Bicycling Is A Matter Of Bicycling, Not Clothing"

[Crickey7]

While I agree that helmet safety is highly overstated, I think you turn people off by making a big deal about it. If riders feel safer wearing a helmet (as I do), then go for it. You’re really not going to convince someone to ride simply on the basis that it’s now easier because you don’t have to wear a helmet.

[dkel]

It was my understanding that helmets are helpful in bike crashes with bikes, but not helpful in bike crashes with cars. Having not looked at the data, I don’t actually know if that’s true. Does anyone know off the top of your head (no pun intended)?

[jrenaut]

@dkel 144702 wrote:

It was my understanding that helmets are helpful in bike crashes with bikes, but not helpful in bike crashes with cars. Having not looked at the data, I don’t actually know if that’s true. Does anyone know off the top of your head (no pun intended)?

I’ve been involved in one bike on bike crash where another cyclist popped out from behind a van about a foot in front of me without looking. I was wearing a helmet. He was not. His forehead hit my temple just below my helmet. So, anecdotally, helmets make zero difference in bike on bike crashes.

I don’t appreciate the article focusing entirely on cyclist behavior, even though for the vast majority of us, bad road design and inattentive drivers are far more dangerous than not “riding like a girl” or not having reflective shoes on. Not that cyclists shouldn’t take steps to keep ourselves safe, but until we design roads to keep speeds down and actually hold drivers responsible for their actions, we’re just sticking fingers in the dam.

[wheelswings]

A few reactions (just real quick ‘cause I’m supposed to be working at my, um, job):

–I agree with jrenaut that road design, infrastructure and enforcement are key.

–In my opinion the article downplays too much the value of hi-viz/ brightly colored gear. As a cyclist I think it has merit. And as a driver I can see hi-viz from a range of angles, in various weather conditions, just as it’s easier to see white or yellow cars on the road.

–“Shake your booty” to be seen? I’d recommend ankle reflector bands.

–From what I’ve read, helmets provide at least some protection against gashes and lacerations and other head injuries. But they don’t protect against the most critical ones – the concussions. I am confident the technology will improve, so I feel it’s good to get the kids (and me) in the habit of wearing them.

–The “like a girl” slogan applies well to my girls’ gymnastics, and we have towels and posters plastered with that slogan, e.g. in reference to flipping on a four-inch-wide, four-foot-high beam. But I’m not sure it’s safer to ride like a girl, unless that means sticking to the sidewalk. On the street it’s sometimes better to take the lane, which generally requires a bit more testosterone.

[lordofthemark]

Jonathan is a strong advocate for improved road design, for enforcement against bad driver behavior, et al. He is passionate about those things. I think anyone who is involved with advocacy in Alexandria recognizes that (and quite a few have probably told him to take it easy at one time or another )

I think he was trying to address some different issues in this piece though.

Re helmets, I think he was a bit too strong – while helmet shaming is mostly silly, and helmet laws are bad, IIUC the data do show a real benefit from wearing them, if not as big as the number that used to be on the CDC site.

I am not sure if he is right about hi viz being more important for moving parts, but that could make an interesting discussion here.

I think he is very right about lights. And taking WABA classes.

Riding style – there are definitely ways in which riding cautiously is better, and other ways that riding boldly is better. I think that emphasizes the importance of education, to get a better idea of which situations are which.

[jrenaut]

@lordofthemark 144706 wrote:

Jonathan is a strong advocate for improved road design, for enforcement against bad driver behavior, et al. He is passionate about those things…..

Yeah, I don’t know him personally but know of him and that’s my impression, which is why this article was a bit of a surprise.

I can ride my bike literally perfectly – follow every law, best practice, etc – but until we have real infrastructure that focuses on keeping people safe rather than moving cars are rapidly as possible, I’m still at risk. This is why I still have to carry my rising 3rd grader on the back of the Xtracycle even though she’s more than capable of making the ride to school herself.

[Crickey7]

You’re never going to make everyone happy. No question Jonathan fights the good fight here, and everywhere. I just mention the helmet thing because it’s really not, in my opinion, worth fighting even though I largely agree. People are absolutely wedded to the notion that you are much safer with a helmet. If you argue with them about helmets, it subtracts from your ability to convince them on all the other important things, where they can be persuaded.

[rcannon100]

Yeah, this article can best be described as “unfortunate” – including the “ride like a girl” comment.

I am not sure what the gig is recently with bike advocates being so anti helmet. The Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute is a WABA project. http://www.bhsi.org/ And here is there recommendations http://www.bhsi.org/shouldi.htm

Would you do something that makes you 20% safer? Would you do something that makes you 10% safer? What about 5%?

I drive my car with my headlights on. How much safety does that add? I dont know. If over my life time that helps avoid one accident, is it worth it? Yup.

We do a lot of things that add small amounts of safety. Seatbelts. Smoke detectors. Not swimming in a lightning storm. Not playing with our iphones while cycling. Getting exercise to improve healthy…. (just saying). So why is wearing a helmet such an anethema to the bike advocate crowd??

I have several cracked helmets. I am glad I own them.

[lordofthemark]

I am pretty sure most bike advocates ride with helmets. But there are definitely problems with the public obsession with helmets.

1. It can lead to legal helmet requirements. That can mean less riding (it is particularly a problem for bike share, which IIUC died Melbourne as a result) But less riding is bad for health (because riding is exercise) and may even be bad for bike safety (because safey in numbers/critical mass effects)
2. It can lead to people riding less, because people are convinced that it is unsafe to ride without a helmet, even slowly, even on low stress routes
3. It can lead to people riding less, because it convinces them biking is generally unsafe
4. It can lead to neglect of things just as, or even more important – not only the things JRenault mentions, but the other aspects of safe riding that Jonathan Krall mentions – most non-cyclists know about helmets, but how many know about lights?
5. Some people who helmet shame are just rude about it

[ginacico]

Bike Like a Girl is a record-breaking RAAM team from Annapolis MD, now committed to empowering and educating women in cycling. And to his point, women seem to get killed less frequently by riding with caution. I call no foul.

[jrenaut]

@lordofthemark 144715 wrote:

1. It can lead to legal helmet requirements. That can mean less riding (it is particularly a problem for bike share, which IIUC died Melbourne as a result) But less riding is bad for health (because riding is exercise) and may even be bad for bike safety (because safey in numbers/critical mass effects)

Bikeshare in Melbourne (AU) is alive, just underutilized. Melbourne is a fantastic cycling city. It’s flat, mild climate, and has good infrastructure. The helmet law certainly hurts, but the other factors seem to be outweighing it. You should visit Melbourne (by you I mean all of you).

Other than that, and the “L” you put in my screen name, I agree. I always tell people “helmets are good, helmet laws are bad”.

[dkel]

Good discussion here, as always. Thanks for the link, rcannon. My gut reaction is that the arguments against wearing a helmet seem pretty silly. I’ll keep wearing mine. That’s just my own opinion, of course, but to me, it’s the opinion that matters most.

[lordofthemark]

@dkel 144719 wrote:

Good discussion here, as always. Thanks for the link, rcannon. My gut reaction is that the arguments against wearing a helmet seem pretty silly. I’ll keep wearing mine. That’s just my own opinion, of course, but to me, it’s the opinion that matters most.

So. Bikenetics, as some will recall, did a “bike parade” from their old location to the new location back when the new location opened. I managed to drag QueenoftheMark there to ride with me, and enjoy it together. I was thinking she would (test) ride whatever was most comfortable, and I would take this opportunity to test ride a road bike. That way we would help move two bikes over, and we would both get to test ride bikes we might get in future.

But we then realized our second helmet was with our daughter out of town, and we only had one helmet between us. And Bikenetics was not lending out helmets.

So I decided not to ride a road bike, and instead road a hybrid similar to what I have. So that I could ride without a helmet, letting my wife (a much less experienced riders) use the helmet.

The ride was a couple of miles, was slow (6 MPH per my manual strava entry), was entirely on the W&OD. Was I really irresponsible to ride without a helmet? I don’t think so. Probably less so than when I forget to use sunblock before a ride.

But of course for most of my riding, which is faster and in more dangerous conditions I wear a helmet. In fact even when it is that slow and low stress, I wear one, because usually there is no inconvenience to it (though now that I am going to have a bike share membership, I am going to have to decide if I keep a helmet at work all the time, or occasionally ride helmetless)

[JustinW]

Helmets may or may not really protect the user in terms of concussions, but they can definitely blunt the direct effects of a fall. Said another way, your brain may still get shaken (tho possibly to a lesser extent; I think that’s a supposed feature of the MIPS-equipped helmets) but you may not crack your skull or tear out your hair, at least to the same degree, if you have a fall with a helmet on.

Helmet negatives: Can get stinky / sweaty, can make your hair look *not* great, bulky to carry around.

Helmet positives: As rcannon100 notes, they do provide some measure of protection in some situations. They also protect the rider’s head from surprise attacks by low-hanging branches and the like.

Each rider should do his or her own “helmet math” and determine the answer.

[scorchedearth]

IMO, Jonathan is absolutely right that how one rides has more bearing on their safety than a bicycle helmet. For example, I saw a couple salmoning on M St NW at Connecticut not in the bike lane a while back wearing their helmets. Somehow, I don’t think that their headgear made them any safer.

Learning how to ride a bike is more complex than pointing forward, pedaling, and turning once in a while.

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