Cycle helmets.

When cycling it is probably a good idea to protect your head in a world where everyone is in such a frightful hurry.

Might be quicker adopted by everyone if someone designed cycle gear that didn't make the wearer look like a cross between a preying mantis and a pillock.

 

There's a fine line between "freedom" (do we even *have* that?) and letting others pick up the tab for that "freedom of choice".

Personally, I think making it compulsory is a good idea! Seems a tad hypocritical that bikers have to wear helmets, yet cyclists do not?

Fortunately, for the majority of folk, they do not get to witness the downside of a cyclist who has "come a cropper"; it is not a nice sight and it is devastating for the family members.

 

Motorbikes typically do much, much higher speed than push bikes.

As some cyclists dodder along the pavements at barely more than walking pace, if we made a one-size-fits-all law requiring all cyclists to always wear a helmet, then logic dictates that we must also make helmets mandatory for pedestrians, because they sometimes fall over (and often do more injury than if they'd come off a pushbike at low speed, because on a pushbike, you often have a split second warning before you hit the deck, but if you slip on ice, or in the case of some poor soul down Redcar the other week, slip on algae on one of the slipways to the beach and hurt themselves so bad that they had to be resuscitated by the life boat team before being taken to hospital with spinal injuries.

 

BTW, Webmaster I'm really impressed that you could crack a smile after only two hours!

 

For the record, I suppose it makes sense to ensure cyclists heads are protected.

 

I agree, the roads get busier and drivers get more impatient every day!! I hate 'rules' as much as anyone but I think that this one actually makes sense!!

Val

 

I agree that its generally a good idea, but before it gets made into a rule, we must consider how far we take it.

There's a surprising statistic somewhere about how often gardeners stick sharp tools through their feet. Should we make it illegal to enter the garden without steel toe capped boots on? Personally I always wear steelies when gardening just because it so happens that my steelies also have tougher soles so they're more comfortable when I'm digging, but should they be mandatory?

 

Thing is, we can wrap ourselves up in cotton wool, and make regulations for everything. I too am a bit sick and tired of being told what I can and can't do Where I work, it's all gone mad, with the H&S thing. When it boils down to it, life has risks, yes? I think taking sensible precautions is fine, "sensible" being the operative word. I think it's gone too far, with everyone being accountable. Most days, I get an e-mail asking if I want to make a claim....sick of it....

 

I've got to say it, its time people became responsible for their own actions, stood on their own feet and stopped looking for someone else to blame if something goes wrong.

We have reached a stage where legislation is required for all things dangerous or even slightly dodgy.
Otherwise someone will jump on the compensation bandwagon, or at the very least come out with the old phrase, in a moaning voice, "nobody told me it was dangerous".

Wear a cycle helmet by all means, its your choice to do so, but it should also be your choice not to, if you dont want.

 

Kind of sums up the more aggressive of the cycling world.
But I bet it wasn't his fault.

 

Should cycle helmets be made compulsory because of people like that? No. People like that should be prosecuted under law. Also, I'm pretty sure that armed with video evidence, the bus company's insurer and that of the Nissan Navara could bring a civil case against the cyclist if the bus bus company or the navara driver made a claim for any dents and scratches his stupidity caused. Of course that will never happen, because it would cost more to pursue than they'd be likely to recover, but if they did, then maybe completely idiots like that the give all cyclists a bad name might start to think twice about their actions.

 

Notice the dog at 35secs
American advises he wear leathers and not a pin strip suit OH and a helmet :-)

Jack McH