Stopping the dangerization
of cycling through helmet promotions is particularly difficult
because the hysteria surrounding bicycle helmets is based on emotional
(mostly fear) messaging. On our side, we’ve got data, facts,
researchers, experts and all the wonks you can shake a stick at. That’s
great, but in this age when media and politicians shun facts for drama,
we’re at a disadvantage until we can shape our message into
something that sticks.
At least that was the case until a few weeks
ago when Mikael Colville-Andersen
nailed it at a TEDx conference in Copenhagen.
Watch
the video for some of the stickiest messaging of our side of this
issue we’ve heard; sound bites that will stay with you. Nice job
Mikael!
You can find more great bicycle messages from
Mikael on his popular websites: www.copenhagenize.com
and www.copenhagencyclechic.com
.
The Problem with Bicycle Helmets
Shock-horror bicycle helmet promotions have escalated to the point
where those not familiar with bicycling believe that if you so much as
swing your leg over a bicycle you will smash your head open. Helmet
rhetoric that sets bicycling out as far more dangerous than it is, has
done immeasurable harm to efforts for increasing bicycling.
To adjust your perspective on the dangers of bicycling, be sure to take this fun Bicycle Safety Quiz.
Mandatory helmet laws often follow the spread of these myths, adding
the weight of the law to the idea that bicycling is more dangerous than
any other form of transportation. In fact, as you will have found in the
above Quiz, if these laws took a realistic approach to their attempt to
prevent head injuries, all pedestrians and car drivers would be
required to wear helmets as well. And, it seems, wearing a helmet inside
the house should also become mandatory.
Please understand that we support people who want to wear helmets and
even encouraging the use of helmets if it helps certain bicyclists
bicycle more often. We simply expect the reasoning behind wearing
helmets to be factual so that people who choose to wear a helmet
understand the limit of safety that helmet will provide them. Combining
this understanding with the facts about how safe bicycling truly is will
do wonders for efforts to increase bicycling. See this web page for a
good overview of reasons to question overzealous helmet propaganda: http://www.cyclehelmets.org/mf.html?1012.
You will also find important papers linked from that site. Here are some more we recommend :
ECF CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE DANGERISATION OF CYCLING THROUGH HELMET PROMOTIONS
One Street has been helping our partners at the European Cyclists' Federation (ECF) with
their Helmet Working Group and campaign to stop the dangerisation of
cycling through helmet promotions because of the severe reduction
of cycling in areas where these promotions are prominent. Some of the
initial successes for the campaign include:
ECF brochure on the dangerisation of cycling through helmet promotions
This popular button (badge) for the hundreds of helpers for the campaign:
This sticker for our bikes:
ECF is now developing their Helmets web page to serve leaders of ECF
member organizations who are responding to threats from shock-horror
helmet promotions and helmet laws. Take a look and keep checking back as
they continue to build the page: http://www.ecf.com/3500_1
SAFETY IN NUMBERS
Safety in numbers is a critical concept regarding the helmet problem. Just as we point to studies that show decreases in cycling caused by helmet laws,
we also must point to the positive increases in safety caused by
increases in bicycling. These studies show this profound discovery:
This graph, created by CTC and ECF for their campaign, does a great
job of demonstrating disparities between helmet wearing percentages and
cyclists' safety:
CAMPAIGN PLANNING & MORE TALKING POINTS
Fortunately, more and more high-level analysts are questioning the
helmet propaganda and finding the earlier figures to be false. Below are
some more tips on how to fight helmet laws if the threat ever comes to
your community. Also, make sure to visit our Campaign Planning
page to plan out a comprehensive campaign that will stop the law and,
ideally, guide the effort to improve bicycle safety towards preventing
crashes.
1) Helmets do not prevent crashes! Improved road and
pathway conditions, driver education, better protections for cyclists
and increased numbers of bicyclists through safety in numbers, prevent
crashes. Too often government officials, health practitioners and even
insurance companies grasp at helmet laws as a lazy solution, following
the misinformation that has proliferated about helmets decreasing head
injuries.
2) Helmets do not prevent major head injuries (see
the efficacy paper above) – While helmets help to prevent minor head
injuries such as minor skull fractures and lacerations, they cannot
prevent major head injuries caused by brain trauma inside the skull.
They have also proven to be of little use in car-bike crashes.
3) Helmet laws are another barrier - Potential
cyclists see many barriers to starting cycling. Mandatory helmet laws
add to this list and thus prevent many new riders from starting. These
laws have also been proven to decrease numbers of current cyclists thus
increasing the potential for crashes by hindering safety in numbers . This is the main point on this site: http://www.cyclehelmets.org/ which also has lots of other good resources.
4) Helmet laws also set in place a ready-made blame the victim reaction
- Each time a helmetless cyclist is in a crash, their bare head becomes
the focus even if the driver deliberately ran them over and they died
not from head injuries, but internal injuries.
Remember that whenever one of these laws is presented, it is from a
lazy knee jerk reaction, either to a recent crash or fear mongering
rhetoric. They always divert discussions away from the real remedy -
making the bicycling environment safer in order to prevent crashes. Any
time we hear of efforts to make crashing safer, we must respond
immediately and demand that they instead work to prevent crashes!
MORE RESOURCES
Spain’s Helmet Results Poster Paper and the Poster ->
Helmet Law Outcomes Summary
REPEALING BICYCLE HELMET LAWS
We are always seeking successful examples of campaigns that resulted
in the repeal of bicycle helmet laws. We know they're out there! If you
have any good info on such a repeal, please email it to Sue Knaup:
sue{at}onestreet.org. Even if the repeal occured through simple actions
from law makers, it will be an inspiration to those oppressed by these
laws.
Here are the two big repeals we know of:
We can also offer these current efforts to repeal bicycle helmet laws:
Push to repeal New Zealand's bicycle helmet law
The battle in Austin, Texas to repeal the bicycle helmet law and prevent an all-ages amendment
Source: www.OneStreet.org