To Encourage Biking, Cities Lose the Helmets

Re:To Encourage Biking, Cities Lose the Helmets by ekianjo on Sunday September 30, 2012 @11:02PM (#4595117)

I mean, I am not against helmets if it makes you or anyone else feel safer when biking or cycling, but making it mandatory is stupid. It is up to everyone to take their own responsibility and assume the consequences of their actions. I am appalled that in a country like the US which WAS known to value individual responsibility it has become mandatory to wear helmets when cycling.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:To Encourage Biking, Cities Lose the Helmets by petercooper on Monday October 01, 2012 @01:55AM (#4595528)

It is up to everyone to take their own responsibility and assume the consequences of their actions. [..] I am appalled that in a country like the US which WAS known to value individual responsibility it has become mandatory to wear helmets when cycling.

Though it's hardly a new development. Seat belts have been mandatory for decades. People complain about safety restrictions like these at first but seat belt laws have been around long enough to reduce the complaints to a mere mumble. So may it happen with helmet laws.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:To Encourage Biking, Cities Lose the Helmets by scotty79 on Monday October 01, 2012 @02:17AM (#4595590)

I don't really get what people have against seat-belts. Apart from "Nobody is going to tell me what I must do in MY car!" and some people thinking that being tossed out of your car is actually preferable scenario in most accidents.

I think there's too little data about road accidents publicly available. I think all documentation from police investigations of road accidents should be anonymized and made public after some time.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:To Encourage Biking, Cities Lose the Helmets by reinout on Monday October 01, 2012 @09:08AM (#4596734)

The number of people killed in traffic accidents in the Netherlands has dropped 80% since the 1972 high of 3000+/year. It is now at 640/year.

The main reason being given is seat belts for drivers and helmets for moped users. Info in Dutch from the official statistics bureau: http://www.cbs.nl/nl-NL/menu/themas/gezondheid-welzijn/publi...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:To Encourage Biking, Cities Lose the Helmets by stouset on Wednesday October 03, 2012 @04:58PM (#4609654)

One important distinction here is that the health benefits from cycling, even without a helmet, outweigh the dangers by a factor between 7-1 and 20-1, depending on the study.

Any policy which reduces the number of people who would otherwise choose to bicycle is de facto worse for people's health. If mandatory helmet laws decreases the number of bike trips by even one, it's a net loss.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:To Encourage Biking, Cities Lose the Helmets by biafra on Sunday September 30, 2012 @11:48PM (#4595218)

Is it really? In all the states of the US? Maybe the reason is to discourage people from cycling?

I use a bicycle to commute to work every day. I think, I really should get a helmet. But I do not think they should be mandatory. I have been run over (more like bumped into) by a car more than once. But I was lucky and had no injuries at all. With my motorcycle it is a whole different story I had two real accidents and thanks to my helmet I am still able to write this.

[ Parent | on HN ]