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Day 3 of the Times Cities Fit for Cycling Campaign… a bit of a backlash

Hackles raised by focus on helmets & high viz + James Cracknell helmet article

Day 3 of The Times newspaper’s Cities Fit For Cycling Campaign sees the paper publishing a 12-page ‘Guide To Safe Cycling' and encountering something of a backlash from some cyclists in the process. Parts of today's guide have not been universally well received, and while there is undoubtedly huge support for the campaign amongst cyclists, The Times is also finding out that they can also be an independent and prickly bunch, who don’t like being lectured or told what to do.

Among criticisms levelled at the paper on social networking sites such as Twitter are its decision to include an article from James Cracknell, now a strong supporter of helmet compulsion, who amongst other things likens those who cycle without a helmet to football hooligans, plus the newspaper’s own advice that cyclists should wear a helmet as well as high visibility clothing.

Cracknell, the Olympic rower turned TV personality, almost lost his life in 2009 after he was struck in the head by a truck’s wing mirror while filming in the United States. He believes the fact he was wearing a helmet saved his life.

However, with helmet compulsion being a subject guaranteed to incite heated debate, Cracknell has come under criticism from some quarters for the pro-helmet stance he has adopted in pieces written for The Daily Telegraph.

As one blogger points out, Cracknell appear on Alpina’s UK website as a “sponsored athlete" despite insisting, after mentioning his Alpina Pheos helmet in The Telegraph that, “I don’t have a commercial relationship with the manufacturer, by the way".

Cracknell's piece in today's Times is accompanied by a picture of him holding the helmet, still stained with blood, that he was wearing when he was struck by that lorry, although there is no mention of his apparent sponsorship by the manufacturer.

Cracknell also likens those who choose to cycle without a helmet to football hooligans.

“If you are cycling without a helmet, you are being selfish to your family and friends,” he asserts. "It is like with football in the Eighties, when a violent 1 per cent minority of football fans meant the other 99 per cent were tarred as hooligans."

The Times itself suggests, in a two-page spread under the heading ’12 ways to cycle safely’ – there’s an interactive graphic here, under the ‘Graphic: 12 safety tips’ tab – wearing a helmet and high-visibility clothing; it cites a statistic, unsourced, that “60 per cent of cyclist fatalities are head injuries,” but fails to acknowledge arguments against them often outlined by opponents of compulsion or that in the case of cycling fatalities involving motor vehicles - which make up the majority - the outcome is unlikely to have been altered by the wearing of a helmet.

On a day when coverage in the main newspaper focused on the success of the municipal authorities in Copenhagen of getting people cycling, the focus on helmets and hi-viz strikes a dissonant note for many – seeming to miss the point that when a city is fit for cycling there should be no need for helmets or high viz cycling gear. In Copenhagen and in other cities with high levels of cycling such as Amsterdam, such equipment is noticeable more for its absence than anything else. Cycling is an everyday activity, carried out in everyday clothes something that was achieved by getting more people on bikes and changing the attitudes of drivers in particular about interact with other road users.

Among those interviewed for the newspaper’s supplement today are Rebecca Romero and Chris Boardman, as well as several everyday cyclists who have no ambitions of following that pair to Olympic success, but simply want to get around on their bike, safely.

There is also an article penned by Jon Snow, the Channel 4 broadcaster and CTC President, although he is writing in a personal capacity. A couple of his comments do give food for thought.“The Times Cycling Manifesto is good as far as it goes, but there is a serious dimension missing: human rights,” he says.

“The dominant creature on the urban road is the single-occupancy car. One person in a motorised 60 sq ft metal box.
And what are we cyclists — one person on a thin strip of tubing with two wheels.

“One has the power, the presence and the rights; the other is deprived of all three. Is that equality under the law?

“I would willingly pay a licence fee for my bike if it meant that separated cycle ways were provided as my right,” continues Snow.

“My children were deprived of the right to cycle to school, even of the right to cycle safely at university — it was, and is, quite simply too dangerous.”

Even in a private capacity, that’s a startling point of view to be expressed by someone who is the figurehead of one of Britain’s leading organisations for cyclists.

Meanwhile, the urgency of the overriding goal of campaign by The Times – to make Britain’s streets safer for cyclists – was underlined yesterday by news of the deaths of two cyclists in incidents that took place in very different parts of the country just minutes apart yesterday afternoon.

A 77-year-old man died in the rural village of Whaplode Drove, Lincolnshire, in a collision with a car driven by an 80-year-old male; in London’s Bishopsgate, a male cyclist said by police to be aged in his sixties died following a collision with a coach.

Broad support for the campaign continues to be strong, with more than 100,000 people now signed up to it. But reaction to the comments by Cracknell and advice to wear a helmet and hi-viz gear do show that while in some cases it’s appropriate to generalise those who choose to ride bikes as ‘cyclists,’ it does need to be remembered that cyclists are individuals too, with views as diverse as the machines they ride.

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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104 comments

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VecchioJo | 12 years ago
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i feel left out, in all the bicycle accidents i've had, be that wearing a helmet or not, i've never ever hit my head, although i did bang my head real bad on a kitchen cabinet yesterday

i think i'll extrapolate that anecdotal evidence to suggesting that no-one needs to wear a helmet on a bike but EVERYONE needs to wear one in the kitchen, and i've just ordered this for the cat, just in case

//2.bp.blogspot.com/_80usCx0eqV4/SZBbzAY__3I/AAAAAAAAATk/TdVvAI0MR2s/s1600/08tourneycat.jpg)

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burtthebike replied to VecchioJo | 12 years ago
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VecchioJo wrote:

i feel left out, in all the bicycle accidents i've had, be that wearing a helmet or not, i've never ever hit my head, although i did bang my head real bad on a kitchen cabinet yesterday

i think i'll extrapolate that anecdotal evidence to suggesting that no-one needs to wear a helmet on a bike but EVERYONE needs to wear one in the kitchen, and i've just ordered this for the cat, just in case

//2.bp.blogspot.com/_80usCx0eqV4/SZBbzAY__3I/AAAAAAAAATk/TdVvAI0MR2s/s1600/08tourneycat.jpg)

I'd love to see it try to lick it's fur!

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a.jumper replied to VecchioJo | 12 years ago
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VecchioJo wrote:

i feel left out, in all the bicycle accidents i've had, be that wearing a helmet or not, i've never ever hit my head, although i did bang my head real bad on a kitchen cabinet yesterday

I know what you mean. I sometimes wear one, sometimes not and I've had some quite SPECTACULAR crashes (although not recently because I'm a more careful rider), but I've never hit my head in one of them.

The only times I've hurt my head in a bicycle-related accident have been hitting it on the door frame of the bike shed. If I don't wear a helmet, it hurts quite a bit. If I do wear a helmet, it hurts much less, but I'm slightly taller so I clonk it on the door frame far more often. So, here's another helmet debate: is a 500% increase in the risk of an accident that's 20% as bad worth wearing a helmet? As a tie-break, should I factor in the cost of replacing the helmet more often as a result of all the taps on the head?  3

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joemmo | 12 years ago
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I jammed my index finger between the front mech and chainring last year resulting in a crushed fingernail and stitches in my finger tip. It's hard to point to whether a helmet would have helped prevent this, in fact it was quite hard to point to anything for a while.

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big mick | 12 years ago
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Fools do not come crying to me saying you were not warned.I can recall saying the same crap before my accident.My line was i have raced moto x and never banged my head so i will not need no helmet on a push bike.What a fool i feel now.I suppose there is no helping some people so just get on with it.I will not trouble you no more with the hard facts of brain injury so keep posting pics of kittens etc because it will never happen to you  37

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VecchioJo | 12 years ago
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sometimes i think the only real reason i strap a helmet on is that if i'm crushed by a car it will instantly stop the "should have worn a helmet" (regardless of if i die of head injuries) lazy and yet sensationalist hand-wringing and people might be bothered to look beyond that into the true reason i'm smeared across the tarmac and do something about it

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dave atkinson | 12 years ago
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I'm not seeing many kittens, people

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VecchioJo | 12 years ago
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sorry

//forums.steves-digicams.com/attachments/panasonic-leica/35684d1125886885-samurai-cats-samurai-cat-6.jpg)

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lazyusername | 12 years ago
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I'm considering riding with a kitten perched on my head for protection. Driver sees kitten and drives considerately

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Simon_MacMichael | 12 years ago
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LID KITTEH GOT TEH WRONG IDEA WHEN HOOJ DAVE SUGGESTD PUTTIN TEH HELMET DEBATE 2 BED.

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big mick replied to joemmo | 12 years ago
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its just the way it is brother.I think the powers that be are mixing motor CYCLE and cycle law.Like i say you can jump up and down all day long but the world isnt perfect.Now i am 300.000 pound down.boo hoo.That is not a problem the fits are.I would give it all back to be unbrain damaged,which is something money cant buy

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Bez replied to VecchioJo | 12 years ago
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VecchioJo wrote:

sometimes i think the only real reason i strap a helmet on is that if i'm crushed by a car it will instantly stop the "should have worn a helmet" (regardless of if i die of head injuries) lazy and yet sensationalist hand-wringing and people might be bothered to look beyond that into the true reason i'm smeared across the tarmac and do something about it

^^^ THIS.

Oh.

//icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/funny-pictures-next-time-your-cat-will-wear-a-helmet.jpg?w=500)

Avatar
big mick replied to VecchioJo | 12 years ago
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VecchioJo wrote:

sometimes i think the only real reason i strap a helmet on is that if i'm crushed by a car it will instantly stop the "should have worn a helmet" (regardless of if i die of head injuries) lazy and yet sensationalist hand-wringing and people might be bothered to look beyond that into the true reason i'm smeared across the tarmac and do something about it

Thank F--k for that.Someone gets it.

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