Disclaimer: While I definitely have opinions about bicycle riding, everything I write on Carbon Trace should be read as my telling you about what I do and not my telling you what you should do. Further, this site is about utility bicycling (including short-distance commuting), not sport bicycling. I am most concerned with promoting the 1-Mile Solution. I am not a sport bicyclist. I know nothing about sport bicycling (although I have very definite thoughts about the hegemony of sport bicycling culture, i.e. the influence of sport bicycling on the whole of American bicycling). The needs of sport bicyclists are probably very different from the needs of utility bicyclists in many ways.
In the comments to my recent post entitled Betting My Brains, I said that I ought to state my criteria for choosing when to wear a helmet. My deciding to wear a helmet less is a very recent development based on my increasing annoyance with any suggestion that bicycling is dangerous. It seems to me that one would only wear a helmet (e.g. a hard hat on a construction site) in a situation that presents an uncomfortable degree of danger. It is my opinion that utility bicycling around the urban core of Springfield, Missouri presents no uncomfortable degree of danger for me.
Is a helmet cheap insurance against a head injury? I have no idea. That argument seems logical to me, and I accept that it is true to a limited extent. If one justifies wearing a bicycle helmet for this reason, it would seem logical and intellectually consistent to grant that a helmet would also be cheap insurance against head injury for activities that are proven more dangerous than bicycling — driving and walking, for example.
Wearing a helmet makes several potential statements whether the wearer intends to communicate or not. I interpret a helmet to indicate that the wearer believes the activity he’s engaged in presents a danger of a significant enough degree to warrant protection — an entirely reasonable choice.
I simply do not believe utility bicycling around the urban core of Springfield, Missouri presents enough danger to me to warrant wearing a helmet. Because I assume most people interpret the meaning of a helmet as I do, that suggests to me that wearing a helmet for a safe activity sends the message that I think the activity is unsafe. I acknowledge that there are other reasonable interpretations of helmet use.
I can no longer reconcile wearing a helmet when I feel safe with the message I intend to send as a bicycle advocate: Bicycling for basic transportation is a fun, safe, and healthy alternative to driving an automobile.
The following is a first stab at criteria for my wearing a helmet while utility bicycling in Springfield, Missouri. These are the situations in which I feel that wearing a helmet is warranted because the level of danger (never very great) has risen to the extent that the “cheap insurance” argument makes sense to me:
1. Slippery road conditions: I generally avoid riding on ice and snow. But there are other times when the road can be slippery, e.g. (but not limited to) wet leaves and rain after an extended dry period.
2. Poor road conditions: Sometimes the road presents obstacles such as large cracks and potholes. One interesting condition I encountered recently: walnuts on the road.
3. Darkness: I feel a lot less safe if I can’t see the the road conditions.
4. Riding on busy arteries: While I think a helmet is unlikely to protect me in a collision with a car, I feel safer wearing one on roads where I may have to ditch the bicycle to avoid collision.
If I happen to be riding without a helmet and encounter any of these four situations, I’m not going to worry about it. I ride a bicycle that puts me in an upright position so it’s easy to scan my surroundings. I ride at very modest speeds whether I’m wearing a helmet or not — usually 10 to 12 miles per hour.
Now, what do I think Carbon Trace readers ought to do?
Whatever you want. Whatever makes you comfortable. I no longer hold an opinion about the helmet choices of other bicyclists.
Comments 14
Bike paths.
By any objective criteria, bike paths are a likely fall hazard at low speed, which is also the design point for bike helmets. Wear a helmet if you ride a path. Other than that, I agree with Andy, though #4 is a bit of a personal foible since he hasn’t told me what his “ditch” criteria is and I’ve never encountered same in my riding. I’d surely like to hear Andy post about any ditching he’s ever done.
Posted 14 Nov 2009 at 1:57 pm ¶I’m still missing why iPhone posting doesn’t work here…
Posted 14 Nov 2009 at 1:58 pm ¶Steve… No clue on the iPhone thing.
I did right something about ditching awhile back, although I’ve never ditched. I should re-visit that.
re: trails… hmmmm… yes, maybe should add that to the list.
Posted 14 Nov 2009 at 3:09 pm ¶Andy,
Two thoughts….
1) Great post!
2) Ditching shouldn’t necessarily only be thought of in terms of leaving the bike. I can distinctly name three times in the past eight years where I’ve had to leave the roadway to avoid what I perceived as danger.
Posted 14 Nov 2009 at 8:25 pm ¶While I really want to hear Andy’s ditching criteria, I think it is problematic. The last time I ditched was when I was 14 and going for “Cycling Merit Badge” – and I’m 3 years older than Andy. I include Tracy’s definition in that count. Nowadays, the only circumstance I think would lead to a “ditch” would be a two-lane road and an oncoming car coming over to my side to pass something. Even in that case, it’s questionable if I would have the time to react and run off the road.
ON THE OTHER HAND, a search on the word “ditch” on this blog led to another reason for Andy to wear a helmet – “My Fashion Faux Pas and Publicity” was the post. That’d mean he puts his helmet on whenever he departs his bike to go into a store. ESPECIALLY if he’s going into a Bass Pro Shop. It makes sense to wear a helmet ON the bike if you need to take it along so you can wear it OFF the bike…
Posted 14 Nov 2009 at 9:16 pm ¶Steve and Tracy… Yes, I did, and do, see a slight advantage to the helmet as a conversation starter
I will write something about ditching soon. But, quickly, I do not mean leaving the bicycle; I mean leaving the road. It is a maneuver I have never actually used.
Posted 15 Nov 2009 at 10:01 am ¶I’m primarily a utility (transportation) cyclist, ride to work (10 miles one way) or downtown trips (.5 mile one way). Not sure what “sport cycling” means, but all my recreational (exercise) riding is on a road not multi-use path.
Agree, cycling on roads is not generally dangerous with little or no training, not even slightly dangerous with training, education and following road rules.
Your cognitive dissonance over wearing a helmet, the dangerous/safety message frame and being a bicycle advocate is interesting.
I wear sunglasses when it sunny not because I want to be racer poseur. I wear sunglasses for comfort, see the road better (reduce glare), reduce eye fatigue (headache) or prevent the random bug or rock in the eye. A helmet is just another piece of cycling equipment. I do not require a helmet but comfort and visibility factors compliments and outweighs the limited safety function.
Suggest less “advocate training”, a little more basic education, cycling skills, i.e. Traffic Cycling here is a local contact: http://tinyurl.com/yhfq7mk Then you’ll understating where helmet’s function or fail.
Apologies for “cheap insurance” analogy, it’s inexpensive insurance, a helmet has more value than it’s intended function.
Posted 15 Nov 2009 at 3:16 pm ¶danc… I did not mean to aim the “cheap insurance” argument at you. You were just the last one to mention it, as I recall
And I know David. We’re both on the STAR Team. And I’ve taken his Road One class, which I found worthwhile.
Posted 15 Nov 2009 at 5:10 pm ¶No foul on cheap, er “inexpensive insurance”.
Glad you’ve taken Road 1. Do you think the class has any value to general cyclists or should road, trails be engineered to encourage cycling with no education? Everyone knows how to bike, it’s as simple as balanc’ng! Right?
Is the helmet as “sign” of particiation in dangerous activity? I don’t buy it, the biggest risk factor is behavior. Consider John Adams: “Judgments about whether safety can be promoted by means of vehicle and road engineering, or by altering road user behaviour, depend on the views taken about the possibilities for making roads and vehicles more “foolproof” on the one hand, and for making human beings less “foolish” on the other. (“Risk and freedom”, page 10)”.
Posted 16 Nov 2009 at 6:54 pm ¶Not directly related to helmet wearing criteria but interesting: A bike expert’s “Tip of the helmet to my helmet”: http://www.bikexprt.com/bicycle/helmtrd1.htm
Like I wrote elsewhere: A lawyer asked me once when do you need a helmet? Answer: Before your head smacks the road, but you’ll never totally know when.
Posted 16 Nov 2009 at 9:08 pm ¶I’ve actually had more close calls on quiet streets than busy arteries. When motorists don’t expect traffic on a given street, they’re more inclined to look without seeing as they roll through a stop sign. (Not an argument for or against helmet use, just an observation.)
Your last statement is the best: “Whatever you want. Whatever makes you comfortable. I no longer hold an opinion about the helmet choices of other bicyclists.”
I get so tired of nannies and busybodies scolding everyone for not wearing helmets. One local bike blogger tried to get the whole community to pressure a popular bike shop manager to wear a helmet. He’s been commuting for three decades and knows the best practices of cycling. She’d been riding for two years and still insisted on riding straight in right-turn lanes to stay out of the way (I think she still does, despite attempts to educate her). On that same blog there have been numerous posts scolding people to wear helmets and not a single one offering advice on how to avoid crashes.
Posted 17 Nov 2009 at 7:18 am ¶danc… I think taking Road 1 or a similar class is a very good idea even for experienced bicyclists.
Keri… Of the three boned-headed things I’ve done in the past 6 years that caused me to wreck, two of them occurred on residential streets. I try not be bone-headed these days
Posted 17 Nov 2009 at 11:39 am ¶Andy – Nicely put, and it’s good to see that [so far] the comments have remained civilised & largely in the tone of your post!
I’m currently working on some legislation for mandatory helmets, and the view you’ve expressed here seems perfectly in line with what I was hoping to get passed into law.
Posted 21 Nov 2009 at 2:15 pm ¶Karl… Kinda like and anti-stoopid law
Posted 21 Nov 2009 at 4:04 pm ¶