Lloyd Alter, June 7, 2012
A few years back, I used to think bike helmets were a good idea, and used to even write posts suggesting that bike activists like Matthew Modine should wear them. Mikael Colville-Anderson of Copenhagenize wasn't impressed, and called me "a darling of the helmet industry" and the Fox News of the bicycle world. Over the years I have become convinced that he was right, that helmets can marginalize and isolate urban commuting cyclists, who are no more likely to crack their heads than pedestrians or drivers. That they can scare people from cycling, just like the car manufacturers fought against mandatory seat belts because they thought it would tell people that driving is dangerous. That we have a right to ride in our city without armouring ourselves against cars. That normal urban cycling doesn't need special clothes and equipment, just a bike.
Toronto bike activist James Schwartz, who blogs at the Urban Country, has gone through the same transformation and writes an ode to his former bicycle helmet. He writes:
After going through the logic, James concludes:
Read it all at the Urban Country.Now before everyone goes wild in the comments, by coincidence Charles Komanoff said much the same thing in Streetsblog. He summarizes the problems with the arguments for helmets in three points:
And he backs it up with numbers at Streetsblog. Being perfectly honest, I feel safer with a helmet and unlike James will continue to wear it when it is not too hot and sweaty. But not wearing one has become a political statement, for better or worse. Source: treehugger.com Related articles: NYC Mayor: Bike Helmets Are Nice, But Separated Bike Lanes Are More Important How did we revise the compulsory helmet law in Israel? מחקרים: חוק הקסדה עלול לסכן רוכבי אופניים לקראת דיון בכנסת: שינוי חוק קסדה לרוכבי אופניים תמצית הטיעונים בעד השינוי בחוק הקסדה
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