British celebrity chef and TV presenter Gordon Ramsay has called for all cyclists to wear a helmet, regardless of how short the journey is or how expensive it might be, after being involved in a crash that left him with trauma and a terrible bruise.
The 57-year-old culinary sensation, well-known for his brash demeanour and ample usage of the F-word (and erm, his beef wellington recipe too) is a keen cyclist and triathlete, having completed the Ironman World Championship course in Hawaii through an invitational slot in a time of 14 hours, 4 minutes back in 2013.
But it seems that one of his recent rides in Connecticut has ended in a crash, with Gordon sharing information about the aftermath through his social media in a video where he thanks medical professionals for looking after him and lifts his chef’s jacket to reveal a terrible, purple patch of bruise on the left side of his abdomen. He also shared images of his torn jersey and damaged helmet.
> Gordon Ramsay "risking further wrath from neighbours" by going on (perfectly legal) 22 mile bike ride, claim the Daily Mail
“You know how much I love cycling and triathlons and Ironman. This week, unfortunately, I had a really bad accident and it really shook me,” he says in the video. “Honestly, I’m lucky to be here. Those incredible trauma surgeons, doctors and nurses in the hospital who looked after me this week, they were amazing.
“But honestly, you’ve got to wear a helmet. I don’t care how short the journey is, I don’t care the fact that these helmets cost money, but they’re crucial. Even with the kids, [on] a short journey, they’ve got to wear a helmet.
“Now I’m lucky to be standing here. I’m in pain, it’s been a brutal week. I’m sort of getting through but I cannot tell you the importance of wearing a helmet. This weekend is massive, for new fathers, for old fathers, for middle-aged fathers, I want to wish you all a very happy father’s day.
“But please, please please please, wear a helmet because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here now.”
While details about the ride and the subsequent crash are unclear, Gordon wrote on Instagram that it happened when he was riding his Specialized Roubaix in Connecticut, USA.
He wrote: “I’m doing ok and did not break any bones or suffer any major injuries but I am a bit bruised up looking like a purple potato. I’m thankful for all the doctors, nurses and staff at Lawerence + Memorial Hospital in New London who looked after me and checked me out, but most thankful for my helmet that saved my life.”
While wearing a helmet is a mandatory requirement in some parts of the world such as Australia, Argentina and Japan, cyclists in the UK, or even in the USA where Gordon was riding his bike, don’t have to wear one.
The Highway Code says: “You should wear a cycle helmet that conforms to current regulations, is the correct size and securely fastened. Evidence suggests that a correctly fitted helmet will reduce your risk of sustaining a head injury in certain circumstances.”
However, there is a longstanding debate amongst cyclists whether wearing a helmet for commuting should be mandatory or not, with many of the belief that in an ideal world, all vulnerable road users, including cyclists and pedestrians, should be free to travel without needing additional equipment.
> Why is Dan Walker’s claim that a bike helmet saved his life so controversial?
While helmets add a layer of protection for cyclists and reduces odds of a head injury, in 2006, Dr Ian Walker of the University of Bath conducted an experiment where he discovered that cyclists are afforded more space by passing drivers if they are (or at least appear to be) female or if they’re not wearing a helmet.
Another study from 2019, presented at the National Road Safety Conference, also suggested “a higher accident/injury rate may result from helmet usage” and argued that “there is strong evidence that helmeted cyclists suffer a higher rate of upper body limb injuries than non-wearers, suggesting a higher rate of falls than non-wearers.”
And then there’s the research from Australia that made headlines this time around last year, revealing that an alarming number of people do not see cyclists as human, with those riding bicycles while wearing helmets or safety vests seen as less human compared to those without.
The researchers concluded that dehumanisation related more to visible safety gear than obstruction of hair or eyes and the perceptions of dehumanisation also varied based on respondent gender.
> Academic behind ‘cyclists seen as less human’ study: “If you have a safe and normal cycling culture, how could you see people as anything but human?”
While most of the replies on his social media posts are positive and thankful that he came out of the crash without any serious injuries, it didn’t take much time for cyclists and campaigners to familiarise Gordon Ramsay with the eternal helmet debate.
Gordon Ramsay isn’t the first public figure to dip his feet into these murky territories. Last year, Channel 5 presenter Dan Walker was hit by a car driver while cycling in Sheffield, leaving him unconscious for 25 minutes. Sharing pictures of his bloodied face from the hospital, he wrote: “The helmet I was wearing saved my life today so - if you’re on a bike - get one on your head.”
> "I had cyclists telling me I was a disgrace for saying my helmet saved my life": Dan Walker recalls helmet backlash after being knocked off bike by driver
The comment proved to be highly controversial, launching one of the great episodes in the well-trodden helmet safety debate path as many cyclists expressed their disapproval and challenged the evidence behind the slogan “Don’t be a helmet, wear a helmet”, that was shared by the former BBC Breakfast host.
In February this year, Walker mused on the aftermath, saying: “Within 24 hours I'd had drivers tell me that if it had been them, they'd have finished the job,” Walker recalled. “I had cyclists telling me I was a disgrace for saying that my helmet saved my life. ‘You’re the reason people wear helmets’. There’s a lobby, apparently, that says if you wear a helmet drivers think you're safer than you are, therefore they hit you.”
“So I got people angry on all sides and I thought, ‘I don’t want to enter this. I’m very happy that I'm still around’. There's a part of me that genuinely thought that was it.”
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117 comments
Wearing a mask in the pandemic was about protecting other people. Wearing a helmet is about protecting yourself. This exposes a fundamental difference in thinking in each group opposing each measure.
I think there may be a lot more going on (in terms of social / emotional motivations)! However I bet this has had proper academic treatment from psychologists / sociologists in the case of mask-wearing, so that's probably where to look if interested!
Speak for yourself. I wore a mask to protect myself as well as other people.
".....but most thankful for my helmet that saved my life.” Rather less likely than winning the lottery every week for a month.
Oh dear, another helmet debate, fuelled by a celebrity who knows nothing about helmets. Stick to cooking Gordon.
So what is your expertise? you helmet!
Having fallen off a bike twice in recent years, on tarmac and concrete, which hurts i can tell you that much, my head got nowhere near hitting anything, even with a helmet and a stupidly large head.
my hands,shoulder, elbow, hip, thigh, knee and ankles on the other hand did.
Just an MSc in Transport Planning, with a dissertation on cycle helmets and over thirty years of reading reports and studies.
You?
Well good for you chap, but from personal experience I'm glad I had one and will continue to wear one.
Confusing anecdote with data is a frequent mistake.
What did your reports and studies tell you about Mr Ramsey's accident that enabled you to calculate the likelihood of a helmet having saved his life with such precision?
The fact that the death rate of cyclists does not fall as helmet wearing rates increase, despite the thousands of "helmet saved my life" stories like his.
Not exactly conclusive proof that a helmet won't reduce the severity of head injury in any individual case then.
What about the phrase "My helmet saved my life" do you not understand?
I'll only comment on my personal experiences and having had a helmet heavily cracked on one side I'm glad I choose to wear one. Of course it didnt help with the broken collar but I'm particularly glad it wasnt my skull making direct contact with the floor.
LOL!!!
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By all means walk away and think that, say it on here even (and expect to be contradicted - and even ridiculed by the most fed-up amongst the posters on this site).
It's something entirely different however when a celebrity get's quoted with that all over the media, on no real basis whatsoever.
LOL!!!
Did you read the comment you're responding to properly? You seem to be agreeing with what was written.
"It's not surprising that people who've been through a crash on their bike and escaped serious consequences but found helmet damage often believe strongly that the helmet has “saved their life”. However, the number of helmet users with this experience seems very much greater than the number of bare-headed cyclists who ever suffer a head injury. This suggests that the reality might not be so straightforward."
https://www.cyclehelmets.org/1209.html
Where did I say a helmet saved my life? Thanks for pointing out that not all accidents are equal, I'm sure no one was aware of that. The anti helmet brigade really cant handle the fact that some people choose to wear one, almost a little bit anti vax like hmmm.
The "anti-helmet brigade" if one exists doesn't care at all about whether someone chooses to wear a helmet or any kind of hat. What they do care about is that people keep banging on about helmets when they're not even in the top 10 of things that make cycling safer. Helmet proponents are all about victim blaming and out-grouping and nothing to do with safety, which is why they only seem to care about wearing helmets when cycling and not any other activity (e.g. changing a light-bulb, having a shower or using stairs whilst wearing slippers).
I'll just lazily paste my post from the forum...
https://www.theguardian.com/food/article/2024/jun/16/gordon-ramsay-lucky...(link is external)
I thought about writing to the Guardian editor asking them to stop spreading baseless helmet-saved-my-life claims and everyone-should-wear-them appeals, but it seems it would be pretty pointless judging from here: https://www.theguardian.com/info/2013/sep/23/guardian-readers-editor
What is that then? A totally not baseless "a helmet will never save your life and no one should wear one" appeal?
I have crashed with and without helmets. The helmet method is better.
Can't disagree. Being hit by a car and instantaneously turned into a cross between a rag doll and a cannonball is something of an eye opener.
Concur. I can still feel the lump where I bit inside my lip cracking my head on the kerb, other than a few bruises and a bruised ego I was able to walk back home and work from home rather than a hospital visit or worse.
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