Husband of woman who died after fall from bike says helmets should be mandatory

I hesitate to comment without all the facts , but it appears that alcohol and cyclist behaviour may have played a part here. I'll wait for the inquest and see - jumping to "compulsory helmet" time seems to be too hasty.

Her husbands says that "the government should make a stronger case for saying if you want to get on a bike you need a proficiency test and you need to wear a helmet."

but previously he said: "but the reality is that an accident can happen to anyone at any time – regardless of how experienced a cyclist you may be."

So a proficiency test wouldn't have helped, and his wife normally wore a helmet.  

The mistakes that caused the crash - riding with one hand and carrying a phone in the other - are all covered by Rule 66 of the highway code.

So the government should do no such thing.

Sympathies to the family.

Wife.  

Mother of two kids.  

RIP . 

Someone on another thread referred to "noddy hat wearing evangelists", which I thought was quite funny. I would stress that I am a fan of wearing helmets, although not to the point of evangelism, I hope, so I disagree with the poster's position on helmets. But at least poster had a sense of humour.

Disgusting to watch the "charity" Headway misusing this tragedy.  Is there no depth to which they will not stoop?

New Zealand has a compulsory all age helmet law and it's about exactly as dangerous to cycle there as in the UK which doesn't (interesting that the law was also brought in by using a single anecdote by the "Helmet Lady" rather than population level data).  And the UK is hardly a shining star in European cyclist safety...

If Sweden had a compulsory all age helmet law then you might take some notice as they have a third the road casualties as New Zealand... but New Zealand is hardly a leader in road safety.  You couldn't even regard it as a follower.

More like heads off in it's own direction doing shit that has never been shown to work (you might consider it working if you think reducing cyclist numbers is a good thing).

An egg box sellotaped to your head is going to reduce the force in an impact, not much but some. It is funny the way this issue with being crushed by HGV's keeps coming up, like anyone claims a helmet will protect you from this. Its a bit like climate change deniers saying 'It was hotter when the dinosaurs were around' fallacious arguments are fallacious.

Funny as well that there doesn't seem to be the same sort of debate about Horse Jumping, BMXing, Base Jumping, White water kayaking, Rafting, Carting, Motorbiking, Helmets are cool/No compulsion.

The way the law is now is fine, classic British Libertarianism, what are we still arguing about?

Condolences to the family and very sorry that TCC have suffered more bad news so soon after Ralph.  

In the rush to rightly defend choice & critique this lady's behaviour, comments above have overlooked the fact that yet again bad road surface was cited as a trigger for the accident.  We should be bemoaning that it's the responsibility of the relevant agency to maintain the roads to be safe for all rather than only blaming the cyclist, who we must accept may well have been also at fault.

It's also possible a helmet could have prevented her skull injury, in contrast to the accidents that involve HGVs

Some pretty awful responses on here to a tragic accident. I hope none of her friends or family come across this site. 

A tragedy for the family without doubt but this is all about choice.
Mrs Greenway came from New Zealand where helmets are compulsory yet she chose to ride without one. She chose to ride after a night out without fully concentrating on the road whilst taking a selfie. She was an experienced cyclist in making these choices. Whilst the consequences of these choices are devastating for her and her family, the outcome does not justify the removal of freedom to choose for everyone else. At no point is it clear that if there was a law, her choices would have been different anyway.
A tragic tale and that's it.
My thoughts are with the family but I disagree with the reasoning in their campaign.

Husband of woman who died from fall in a shower/ from ladder / in a car accident says helmets should be mandatory...

Shortlist for a Darwin Award.

And No. I have no sympathy for moronic behaviour. If she was killed by a drunk, selfie taking motorist, it would be a different matter.

Here in New Zealand, cycling events have (almost) never been more popular. Cycling as a mode of transport from a to b (eg kids cycling to school, commuters) is strongly on the wane. I live in a town with about 3000 school students. I pass or live close to 5 schools on my morning 'commute'. It would be a rare day I see more than 10 kids cycling to school. Much of this lack of participation is due to the perception of cycling being dangerous. Personally I support individual choice. I do think children should be strongly encouraged to wear helmets as the incidence of head injuries from cycling accidents in NZ has always been highest in those under 16. 

And back to the article, I do think this guy has done a brilliant job of highlighting why the separated cycle path is a good idea

Really very sorry for this gentleman's loss, but with best will in the world I fail to see how someone's free, though I'll advised, choice to lark about on a bicycle after a session at the pub whilst taking selfies should mean that my free choice not to ride with a helmet when I don't feel like wearing one should be taken away.

Laws should be based on data and reasoning, not on personal experiences. Nearly everybody who lost friend or family would argue the same way. Imagine the Dutch had introduced mandatory helmets instead of changing their infra based on the "Stop the child murder" campaign. 

How about a compromise then.

People who want to ride drunk, with one hand on the bars, taking selfies with the other, on rough tarmac, should have to wear helmets.

https://rdrf.org.uk/2013/12/17/the-effects-of-new-zealands-cycle-helmet-law/

I see my link does not work. Is this better?

A very sad case - but would she have crashed if she hadn't been taking selfies ? 

I feel sorry for the husband and family in this tragic accident but they should perhaps remember the old lawyers' motto: Hard cases make bad law.

Pub + taking selfies with one hand on bars = everyone suffers for one person's stupidity?

Never mind the husband's it'll never happen to me talk, that WILL never to me as I won't go down the pub on a bike or take selfies whilst riding.

It's bad enough people in cars keep off the phone.

I wear a helmet had a crash coming back from the pub, fractured some ribs and cracked the helmet. My own fault cycling with a few pints, unfortunately like my own incident this was self inflicted, compulsory helmet use won't stop accidents like this happening.