Dutch guy here.

I haven't biked in the U.S, but from what I've seen, biking in the Netherlands is completely different.

- Cars drive slower. 50 km/h in city zones, many places that are restricted to 30 km/h.

- Our entire infrastructure is adapted to biking. Separate bike lanes, bikes get their own stoplights. We don't need to cut through four lanes of traffic just to make a left turn. We're not part of the normal car traffic on bigger roads.

- Motorists are used to people on bikes. At the very least they don't hate them like they seem to do in the U.S.

- Bikes are often considered equal to or even higher priority than cars. That means bikes get the right of way just as cars do. In many cases cars have to yield to bikes (roundabouts, etc).

There's simply no comparison to be made between the U.S and the Netherlands when it comes to road conditions for bikes. Making any claim that "the Dutch don't wear helmets so I don't need to either" is ridiculous¹

Other than that, when I see U.S bikers in full gear on their bikes, I always have to laugh a little. Spendex shorts, special shoes, helmet, fancy racing bike. I've said this before on HN, but I think they take biking way too serious. And, but this is just a guess, I wouldn't be surprised if fancy bike makes you go a lot faster than the old dinky bikes we ride around on. And speed == danger, which is why your link points out that most Dutch people getting into accidents are wearing helmets: because they're doing recreational biking on fancy fast bikes.

I don't think I'd ride a bike in a major U.S city. If I would, I'd wear a helmet.

¹) If my perception of biking in U.S cities is even slightly correct.

For a long time, you had to be pretty hardcore to cycle in traffic in the US. Politically radical, committed to fitness, whatever.

Even 10 years ago, drivers would scream insults out the window, throw things at me from moving cars, and then there's the genuinely life-threatening harassment. Just for daring to be on the road at all, instead of the sidewalk. This has changed radically in the last decade, in my experience.

On most roads at less than 30 mph, cycling at 10-15 mph is fine.

> Even 10 years ago, drivers would scream insults out the window, throw things at me from moving cars, and then there's the genuinely life-threatening harassment.

This is terrifying. I think removing idiot drivers from the road will do a lot more for bike safety than any helmet ever can.

In my town, they started putting in unprotected bike lanes and sharrows, and it has made a very major difference in driver behavior. This happens to me only about once a year now, instead of once every week or two.

The behavior of road users is the most important element in safety, by far.

> I wouldn't be surprised if fancy bike makes you go a lot faster than the old dinky bikes we ride around on.

Most people riding on the roads in the US for transportation are riding 20-30 year old bikes that are just as crappy as Dutch bikes. Think college kids, recent immigrants, or young people. Even rich people who want to commute via bike will often buy a "beater bike" made out of salvaged parts from old bicycles. But unlike the Netherlands, you have to carry a bike lock with you because if you don't lock your bike, someone WILL steal it. I don't think I saw a bike lock the entire time I was in the Netherlands.

The guys riding the fast bikes with all the gear are cycling for sport. Though they may be more prevalent in the US as a percentage of cyclists because fewer people use bikes for transportation over here. Regardless, I wouldn't ride here without a helmet.

You probably saw that wrong, because almost every bike is locked and everyone has had his/her bike stolen at least once. Most locks are part of the bike though and not a chainlock.

> I wouldn't be surprised if fancy bike makes you go a lot faster than the old dinky bikes we ride around on.

The cyclist is a bigger factor than the bike. I overtake plenty of racing bikes on my cargo bike.

Being from The Netherlands, this article confirms my initial suspicion.

Here, the only cyclists who wear a helmet are tourists (much more likely to get into an accident due to inexperience) and people riding a racing bike for exercise (much more likely to get into an accident due to high speed). Wearing a helmet while riding to work or something similar is completely unnecessary.

I mostly agree with the OP, but there's one difference that might be important: we are raised to ride bicycles at a very young age. When I was in high school I was often trying to ride home without using my hands, through traffic, intersections etc., and I usually succeeded. I don't think I would ever be this comfortable on a bike if I learned riding it at a later age. I did ride a bike in New York a year ago and I didn't feel unsafe at all, but when I see tourists ride bikes through Amsterdam, that's a different story.

For me, the experience of the cyclists is the most important factor for safety, and subsequently if wearing a helmet or not is warranted.

What's there to say? Like the article you linked to said: almost no one but sport bikers and tourists wear helmets.

I think the high safety in the Netherlands is mostly due to the driver education (In Holland, spending 40 hours training for your drivers license is not unusual, and you spend a lot of time in the most difficult situations around).

Another reason is that if someone gets killed on an intersection, people will have a good look if the safety in that spot can be improved. So a lot of the most dangerous places have been changed to make it safer.

Dutchie reporting in! Nobody wears a helmet here when they're riding their bike to work, schools, stores, etc. The average speed will be somewhere between 15-20 km/h and is relatively slow, next to that most bike paths are separated from the road so you'll only come in to contact with cars at crossings (and this is where most accidents probably occur). When people get on their MT/Racing bikes the speed increases dramatically to 30+ km/h (and most people wear a helmet) and other people on the road don't always expect those speeds coming from bike lanes so that's why you'll see more accidents. To summarize: Fix your infrastructure and you won't really need a helmet.

Northern German here: The reason is simple, the only people who wear helmets are the ones who know they are at risk anyway. Correlation != Causation.

EDIT: Yup, article confirms it.

In my city, the amount of trips taken by bike is over 26%, with another 12% public transport, and most younger people use bikes several times a day – but most don’t wear helmets, and most never had an issue with it, yet.

that's probably because the streets in the Netherlands are much safer. they often have cycle lanes segregated from traffic. and there is less congestion than other major cities. so bikes come into direct contact with cars far less often