Nice comic from Bikeyface today:
Headcase
"I dream of the day this guy will asks the city what’s up with the street design that makes cyclists feel like they need to wear helmets."
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
THE Helmet Thread
(895 posts)-
Posted 10 years ago #
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Or the day when people feel its safe to only have a rear brake.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Posted 10 years ago # -
"Or the day when people feel its safe to only have a rear brake."
Not sure about that one. The advice on road is to use your front brake as the primary brake as it will stop you more efficiently. The rear brake is only really of use if you are likely to loose front grip.
I can't remember the last time I used my back brake while commuting.
Posted 10 years ago # -
"I can't remember the last time I used my back brake while commuting"
Every day for me strangely.
IMO, bike control is all situational.
Downhill, wet, cornering are totally different from straight, dry etc - and I reckon I use both together more often than not.
Posted 10 years ago # -
I could be wrong, but I think the point Ed1 was aiming at is that if the infra is so good that even back-only braking is safe, then you've cracked it.
Now, since most of Scotland, including urban bits, is hilly, that ain't going to happen, but that's arguably a separate issue.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Cycling in Lanzarote (very nice thank you for asking): After a mile of riding I was feeling the wind on my scalp & said to my mate "B*gger, I've forgotten my helmet & I'm certain I brought it out of the apartment."
He said: "You definitely took it out with you, but I think I know where it is"
"Where?"
"It's on your head you eejit!"Catlike Whisper helmet. Well ventilated.
Posted 10 years ago # -
"
CyclingSurgeon (@CyclingSurgeon)
09/12/2014 12:36
Prof Karim Brohi, Health benefits & negative physical activity costs of cycle helmet wearing #LTC2014
@karimbrohihttp://pic.twitter.com/ftKRu1nlOO
"
"
Karim Brohi (@karimbrohi)
10/12/2014 08:54
@rhall1979 @CyclingSurgeon @Chris_Boardman Unfortunately making helmets compulsory seems to reduce the number of people cycling."
Posted 10 years ago # -
Come across some strange things on the wiki at work. Do a search for 'Computer replacement cycle' and a whole bunch of cycling research papers come up in the search too.
Lunch time spent perusing some papers on helmet use / casualties / effects etc.
Must admit, I'll probably start wearing one on the Pashley now too (already do on the road bikes), maybe one of those brooks ones.
Some of the Australia data interesting too, much report of "43% drop in cycle rates after compulsion", and framed in an "Australian cycling boom" context.
Cycle rates went from 1.6% to 1.2%...
Posted 9 years ago # -
I've been in Paris & Milan recently and one thing that struck me was that hardly anyone wears a helmet.
While I saw plenty of cyclists, I did not see any of the agressive driver behaviour that we get over here and drivers tended to hold back and give consideration to folk cycling(a bit like it says you should do in our Highway code).
Posted 9 years ago # -
Yeah, it was Paris that surprised me with that. Took to a Velib, and was stunned at how much more relaxed it felt than Edinburgh in a massive city with a reputation for mental driving.
Posted 9 years ago # -
I think the mental driving actually helps - drivers are so used to expecting the unexpected that they stay alert to everything, including bikes and peds, unlike the braindead lane-followers we get here.
I had a huge amount of fun Velibing my way up the Champs Elysees, round the Arc de Triomphe and back down the Champs last time I was in Paris. It was brilliant. The Etoile round the Arc was magic - no road markings, just claim your space.
Posted 9 years ago # -
I'll just leave this gently here: http://putalidonit.co.uk/
Posted 9 years ago # -
"
We want to make helmets, so portable, so cheap and so available that everyone chooses to wear them.
"
Right
So irrespective of any for/against arguments, the problem is that helmets are too big/expensive.
So these designers will produce the perfect answer - if you give them development money upfront.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@ARobComp, what a putz that guy is, its a business plan dressed up as helping Boris Bikers.
His crowd funding plan is based on the premise that a huge %age of Boris bikers don't wear a lid.
Nowhere does he say how many of these rides resulted in head injuries.
His first accident in 1990 (not wearing a helmet) resulted in no head injury.
Subsequent accidents resulted in scratched or damaged helmets ergo (in his mind) the helmet "saved" him.
Dear god........
Posted 9 years ago # -
When the clocks go forward, I'll be doffing mine for the rest of the summer.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@Nelly - slightly out-of-date data, and I think there has now been one fatality on a Boris Bike, but...
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/boris_bike_accident_statisticsIn early 2013 TFL said there had been 12 'serious' injuries (none of which were life-changing or life-threatening) so far and 19.5 million hires.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Should have looked harder. Here's more recent data.
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/boris_bike_accident_statistics_2#incoming-5318341 user killed. 26 seriously injured. 30 million hires. It's not what you might call a high-risk activity, really.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@greenroofer, thanks - exactly the point.
I would be interested to see how many injuries for same number of pedestrian journeys.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Nelly - absolutely. It's an absolute croc.
This is my favourite line from the entire website however: "Let’s stop head injuries ruining everyone’s day!"
Posted 9 years ago # -
On a wider point, I wonder if BBikes are 'safer' than other (owner ridden) bikes?
Heavier, slower, more cautiously ridden by less experienced users??
Posted 9 years ago # -
I think they are absolutely safer. I ride them all the time in London. They're clunky and slow but they are built to be comfortable which means that you don't mind riding them slowly which probably encourages people to hang back a bit. They're also wider which means sneaking through gaps isn't ideal.
The average journey though, I would say, probably uses MORE dangerous roads per mile than the average london commuter as many use them for nipping about in the busy city centre.
They have an incredibly low centre of mass and it's easy to nip off them to the side as there is not top bar meaning you can exit the bike rather quickly if you need to. Also there are mostly decent brakes and no chance of going over the handlebars.
A friend of mine did a magnificent sideways crash on the embankment when we were riding home one evening, he misjudged the angle of the pavement as he was shoulder checking to move out and the bike kind of scraped along and toppled over. On a normal bike this is possibly classic head injury/shoulder injury territory as you're falling sideways but he managed to stay standing and just sort of "ran" away from the bike onto the pavement as it went crashing down.
Posted 9 years ago # -
It sounds to me like a classic case of helmet making him feel safe and taking risks he perhaps shouldn't have done. It's notable that the first of his "helmet saved me" crashes his helmet was well outside the recommended use period.
And as for the picture captioned as same road same risks, I'm sure I'm not the only one to notice that of the 12 or so people using the road a cyclist is the only one wearing a helmet. That's ignoring any bus passengers using what seems to be a worryingly dangerous form of transport:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-24923609Posted 9 years ago # -
I liked all the photos of the gashed knee, arm and face. Looks like he needs knee, arm and face pads.
Posted 9 years ago # -
People like anecdote in their lives, no better way to sell a thing.
Who employes a builder, or uses a certain shop, or buys a certain brand because it has been recommended to them by a friend or colleague, rather than actually research the thing?
Posted 9 years ago # -
Hmm, not sure that is quite the same thing, especially with the builders!
I actually rather like the idea. Shame he is selling it in such an obnoxious way.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@Min,
I'd agree it's an innovative product and certainly has a place in a market. However any product which needs to generate a market by deliberately misleading people (or indeed othering it's target market) doesn't deserve much credit.Posted 9 years ago # -
Amen to that. I hope it bombs like a great big bomb-like thing.
Posted 9 years ago # -
If the main thing that would make me consider a helmet while cycling round town is headphones that attach to the straps how does that make everyone feel?
Posted 9 years ago #
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