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Fabian Cancellara riding bike without helmet (licensed CC BY SA 3.0 on Wikimedia Commons by Jeremy Jannick)Fabian Cancellara sparks helmet debate on Twitter, says all cyclists should wear one
Fabian Cancellara has this morning sparked a revival on Twitter of the eternal helmet debate, after saying that all cyclists should wear the headgear – his comments prompted by the sight of bare-headed people riding bikes in the Netherlands, where he is currently taking part in the Eneco Tour.
The Trek Factory Racing rider tweeted:
Yesterday i saw a lot of people in Breda on they normal bike riding around.got surprised by all of them not riding with the helmet #notSafe
— Fabian cancellara (@f_cancellara) August 14, 2014
Shortly afterwards, he added:
It is important to wear a helmet and wear it right, specialy the kids.
— Fabian cancellara (@f_cancellara) August 14, 2014
The fact Cancellara was tweeting about the Netherlands, which together with Denmark has the highest levels of cycling in Europe but one of the best safety records, did not escape attention:
.@f_cancellara How do explain that cycling in Holland, where they don't wear helmets, is safer than anywhere else? It's not sports-cycling!
— Stan, SpecialEyedLez (@geckobike) August 14, 2014
@f_cancellara Casualty rates are lowest in the world in Holland and Denmark. Helmet use is almost zero in both countries.
— Jon (@ormondroyd) August 14, 2014
Some also pointed out that everyday cycling is an entirely different proposition from racing, where helmets have been compulsory since 2003 – although the speeds that racers travel at means that the velocity of any impact would in all likelihood be well above the maximum stipulated under EU standards for cycle helmets.
@f_cancellara That's just RIDICULOUS for utility riding on utility bikes with flat pedals on safe streets! You are helping anti-cyclists!
— George White (@ExtAnimal) August 14, 2014
@f_cancellara the operative word is ‘normal’. Stop spreading notion that everyday cycling is inherently dangerous. You should know better.
— Amsterdamize (@amsterdamized) August 14, 2014
@f_cancellara The higher the modal split of bicycles in traffic, the lower the percentage of people with helmets > Amsterdam, Copenhaguen.
— Laurens van Rooijen (@bikejourno) August 14, 2014
@f_cancellara It's the safety of the swarm, and it takes away the notion of cycling being dangerous. It's not if the infra is right.
— Laurens van Rooijen (@bikejourno) August 14, 2014
While Cancellara’s original posts were widely retweeted and favourited, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Twitter users doing that were endorsing his views.
One person who lives in the town where Cancellara noticed the lack of helmets happened to be visiting the rider’s home country, Switzerland, and said:
@f_cancellara Today in Bern I see a lot of people on bikes with helmets. It looks strange to me, as I live in Breda normally.
— peter van leeuwen (@bigpete46) August 14, 2014
Not everyone took exception to Cancellara’s stance. One Twitter user said:
@f_cancellara just been involved in road traffic accident mother bike hit me from behind at speed cycle helmet saved my life
— carl easom (@jakk15) August 14, 2014
Another added:
@tweetymike @Al__S @f_cancellara my child will be on a bike soon as she can. I'll also make sure she wears a helmet. You do what you want.
— Matt Kitson (@mattkitson) August 14, 2014
Finally, this tweet sums up an opinion shared by many:
@f_cancellara Stick to racing yeh?
— William Bradley (@W_Bradley) August 14, 2014
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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110 comments
When I used to take my Caterham on the track I wore a full face helmet and Nomex fireproof suit - when I drove it on the road I didn't.
If I was in DK or NL on a normal bike I wouldn't wear a helmet as the level of danger is low - In Seattle I do as it isn't DK or NL and the danger level is higher....
So the level of helmet wear is a direct correlation to how unsafe the roads are... Therefore the govt should try to get to a very low usage of helmet wear, due to the roads being low risk...
Well, look at you. Quite the rhetorical master.....it's not the riding it's the crashing. Just ask Casartelli and Wouters, oh, wait, you can't!
But I do agree with you. People seem to talk about safety in absolute terms, but you cannot legislate for it. I don't say you have to wear a helmet, but that you should do so by choice. You take a gamble when you don't, and less of one when you do.
I've never needed a helmet, and hopefully I never do. But I have no problem wearing one.
You mean Wouter Weylandts who died Giro? When he was wearing a crash helmet? There is (admittedly unresolved) argument about whether a lid would have saved Casartelli.
What I never understood is why parents don't wear helmets when they ride with their children. The children are often seen wearing their own helmets, yet their own "role models" rarely have a helmet. How big a hypocrite can you be if you don't practice what you preach?
Personally I've been using hard-shell helmets for over 30 years and a hairnet head cover before that.
Maybe it would have, maybe it wouldnt have. I have no idea. All I remember is saying to myself "the car has stopped, hes seen me.........WTF why am I lying in the middle of the road!!!!" I never fell on a spikey thing, I fell on to a perfectly flat road surface. It was a sideways motion, like a scraping motion, so I doubt the instant hit allowed my body to tense up, so yes im still happy I had a helmet on. I pretty sure the outcome was much better than a scalping and "Gravel rash" through my hair.
I was wiped out whilst riding a 'ten', due to my Look pedals the bike went under the car and I sailed over the bonnet landing in the side of a car waiting to join the carriageway. A&E visit by ambulance, lots of bruising, external and internal but no head trauma, I wasn't wearing a helmet. Damn it, if I had been wearing one I could have joined the happy band of cyclists declaring 'I would have died but for my helmet'.
Just quickly.
What is the answer to your question?
It's truly fucking amazing how many "I would have died but for my helmet" posts there are.
If helmets *hadn't* been invented, right when they did, it must undoubtedly be the case that the number of cyclists killed per year would have absolutely sky-rocketed from the late-80's onwards.
Very fortunately cycling helmets *were* invented just-in-time to prevent this imminent catastrophe and therefore the numbers of cyclists killed per year has actually remained remarkably stable throughout the decades __ all thanks to cycling helmets.
Phew! Thank goodness for the cycling helmet being invented at the exact time when deaths would otherwise have gone off the scale. That was a close one!
One odd thing I've noticed is that people seem to either view helmets as holy life-saving miracles, or as UTTERLY worthless bits of foam.
Would a third option not be simply be to treat them in the same way we treat shinpads, or similar? I've never heard people evangelising about their divine life-giving properties, but they DO get used (on occasion), and people seem happy enough with the idea that the pads might protect them from the odd graze.
The only time I've ever had a real traffic collision (*ANECDOTE ALERT*) was also the only time I rode my normal route home without a helmet. I ended up hitting the floor with my head, resulting in some bleeding and bruising, which was all gone in around 2 weeks. A helmet couldn't have saved my life, because... well, I didn't die, but I might have left things a bit cleaner. The same way knee pads may have kept a few scratches off me knees.
I don't really WANT to wear safety equipment for something as innocuous as getting around town. I generally feel more secure on two wheels than I do on my own two feet (and I don't WALK around with my head covered in polystyrene); but there are environments on the bike in which I feel things are outside of my control; in which I feel I might suddenly hit the deck. It's sorting those environments out that is the issue. Helmets are a complete red herring.
However, even if they are no more effective at 'saving lives' than a couple of elbow guards, I don't think it's sensible to mock people for using them outright. There's too much moralising over frivolous elements of cycling as it is. Better to focus indignation and column inches into getting the few people who can make concrete differences (literally) into making real investments in improving cycling environments.
Until that happens, everything else is white noise.
[/mini blog over] [/sorry] [/going to bed now]
What I would like to ask,
Do you think Forumula 1/Indy Car racing drivers need a helmet?
Do you think a Motocycle rider doing 70mph on a motoway needs a helmet?
Do you think a pro bike rider on a closed road doing 70kph needs a helmet?
Do you think a club rider descending a hill on open roads at 60 kph needs a helmet?
Do you think a commuter at 30kph in heavy traffic needs a helmet?
Do you think a 14 year-old cycling to school on back roads at 15kph needs a helmet?
Do you think a child learning to ride a bike at 5 kph in the front yard needs a helmet?
There would be a range of answers from people above with no clear line(s) being able to be drawn, because there is too much conflicting information. Given that we more likely to be "informed" cyclists, what hope does the rest of cycling humanity have?
I agree with Joinpoole, above, that it would be much more sensible to take a middle ground and realise that helmets provide protection in a certain set of cases. They reduce injury when a head would have hit something but also may increase the chance of a head hitting something through extra weight or inbuing the wearer with confidence to go faster.
I happen to wear a helmet 100% of the time because I like the extra protection it would give me a in a small number of cases, just the same way I choose to wear shin pads in football, a box in cricket and a 14th century knights helmet when playing darts (okay, lied about the last one)
I wouldn't wear those things for a simple knock-about in the back yard and I (personally) wouldn't want to wear a helmet if I was cycling a couple of mile down the road on a pavement (which I can living in the country I do).
Thats what we should tell people - it will provide protection but not remove injury. It is not a sunstitute for good road infrastructure and better car drivers. It is there for you and your family to have a choice
S'pose if you are riding down mountains at 60-70 mph a helmet is a good idea maybe full leathers as well. Respect or madness the distinction can become blurred. Respect I think.
In Australia bike helmets are legislated by law to be compulsory, with a $200 on-the-spot fine for non-compliance. It is rare to see anyone riding there without one. They tend not to arguments about the pros or cons of helmet use
What has happened to the bloody minded individualism and self reliance of the diggers?
A baseball cap or even a trendy retro cycling cap would probably offer enough sacrificial protection to avoid gravel rash on the head.
And yes, you fell onto a flat road surface, but in a manner outside the design parameters of current casual cycling helmets. It's just chance that it seems to have helped.
Normally, I'd be charging for that information, since it took labour to acquire.
Pro bono, to crack a helmet in two you'd need to create at least 0.01 +/-0.005 square metres of crack (on mine anyway), you'd need about 200 +/- 100J. Really of course you're not going to create the one crack, and I haven't taken into account the covering, so 200J is highly unlikely to cause a major failure. Since unlike you I'm not actually trying to prove anything about helmets themselves, for any more I will have to charge. Given that unlike you I'm not trying to prove anything about helmets themselves, it's pretty shameful that I've done the work and you haven't.
Tell me, is walking to the shops without a helmet 'taking a gamble'? You could fall and hit your head on a pavement. A helmet might make a difference to the outcome.
This is where the ridiculousness of helmets and cycling really comes in. The 'if it saves one life' bollocks. The same is true for wearing helmets in cars, but it'll be a cold day in hell before any government in the world even suggests it's a good idea, let alone legislates for it. The disadvantages of doing so would be considered far in excess of the benefits.
The last serious crash I had, I hit the asphalt head first, I was going about 20mph. Glad I was wearing a helmet, don't really see the disadvantage of wearing one. I think it helped me this time.
Yar... nothing gets my back up more than helmet evangelists...
I think there are plenty of moderate views posted here, which is where we should all be... wear a helmet, enjoy some extra protection should the highly unlikely event of you banging your head in an accident.
Don't wear a helmet and don't protect yourself for the once in a lifetime event where you not only fall off, but you fall off and bang your head... not only do you bang your head, but you bang your head hard enough that protection is needed, but indeed, not quite so hard that you go beyond the protective limitations of your helmet.
Its your choice.
More than likely, as mentioned, a helmet is going to save you from some road rash and a head ache. Thats gotta be worth wearing one for some of us... but lets not get precious about needing to take responsibility for protecting yourself against something that is so incredibly unlikely to happen.
I want to preach the argument that rather than those not wearing helmets are being irresponsible, those choosing to wear protection are being extra responsible.
Oh, quickly, how many of us have experience of crashing and hitting their heads both with and without a helmet?
I have, and I'm still very much in the camp of only using helmets for racing and solo MTB rides.
Where do these professional cyclists get off having their own opinion really!
In fifty five years of cycling - including several spells as a ''pushie'' in London - I have never worn a helmet and I have never been dislodged from my saddle by either motorist, careless pedestrian or exponent of equestrianism; even the dreaded diesel slick has failed to discombobulate. I filter shamelessly, ride fast, obey traffic signals and follow the highway code but here's the thing...I keep my eyes open and my wits about me.
I anticipate that my smugness will be rewarded with an appropriate level of pain, if not permanent injury, commensurate with the opprobrium of the be-helmeted.
Don't worry, Wesselwookie, - it's just the drugs talking.....
They're dorky and uncomfortable, and if they're only saving me from gravel rash and other minor injuries, and had to use one every day to do so when I've not hit my head in several years and several crashes, I'd say the cure is worse than the disease.
But if your valuation of obviously subjective things like comfort is different, that's fine.
Just don't lie and say you know it saved your life, because you don't. And respect the fact that other people's opinion of things like "how dorky they are" is just as valid as yours.
Sorry but bollocks are the two sides as bad as each other - the helmet evangelists commit those sins (dodgy claims, refusing to admit some things are subjective) far more often than "helmet sceptics".
Same experience here although slightly fewer years in the saddle. How hard is it to *not* fall off a bicycle? Answer ... not very.
I've always found 'cycling without falling off' quite an easy thing to do. It's something I learned as a young boy whilst riding to school and back.
Of course that was 20 years before helmets appeared in the shops so the false promise of 'protection' from PPE wasn't an option. The only protection available was your own alertness and skills.
I'm completely mystified by these helmet-evangelists who apparently keep crashing and falling off their bicycles. Why don't they simply watch the road ahead, as I do, and modulate their speed according to the conditions?
I'm starting to wonder if there might be a business opportunity here for experienced cyclists. How many of you helmet-evangelists would be interested in attending an instructional course entitled "How to cycle without falling off"?
It would be one-on-one and take 15-20 minutes. The course will cover all the tricky things like 'going downhill', 'door zones' and 'road junctions' and how to negotiate them safely ... without falling off your bicycle.
You ain't trying hard enough then boiy....
Edited this for accuracy.
You've done it now, there's no sense or context allowed in helmet 'debates'!
BTW, yes, exactly.
I'm kind of happy to wear mine when MTBing, but not for utility cycling. I *expect* to knock into something during the former by headbutting a branch or whatever.
I've always assumed that a detour via A&E would actually *slow* my progress to my destination.
Who said anything about a destination ?
I recall 20 years ago attempting to ride back home from the pub, in the dark, with no lights on through the unlit Fog Lane Park, Manchester.
I went into a massive pothole and went over my handlebars, cutting my hands and forearms (but fortunately my newly bought Levi's survived with no markings).
I was wearing a helmet, but it was completely scratch free as I had miraculously avoided hitting it on the ground. I attribute this miracle to the consumption of 5 pints of beer before setting off. Beer saved my life.
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