Helmets

Do you wear a helmet while you ride?

Should you even? The debate has been raging (in a fairly quiet way) for years. I remember complaining bitterly when my parents tried to make me ride in one, citing logical arguments about restricting my vision and the danger of falling and getting a strap caught round my chin and many others I can’t even remember. Now I feel weird riding without a helmet, like driving a car without a seatbelt, or leaving home without a mobile phone I feel like something’s not right and I’m almost naked. I have seen one crash which would have been a lot worse without a helmet, where it was smashed virtually from someone’s head, and I’ve bumped my own many times misjudging low branches. I’ve probably benefitted from the protection it gives me and certainly have liked the rain protection, if nothing else. On the other hand I’ve caught it in trees and had my head wrenched back as I go and ended up with a tender spot on my head after riding all day with a twisted strap. Although all of the helmet adventures are off road I still always wear one to work and I guess even if the most powerful man in the world disagrees with me I’ll probably keep wearing one.

However, if you are going to wear a helmet please, at least, wear it right. I’ve seen too many badly fitted helmets, sitting high up on the back of someone’s head or just not covering any part of your head you might want to protect. I came across this tragic story on my internet travels. Obviously there’s nothing light to be said about someone dying, so it serves as a warning. I can’t imagine her helmet would have fallen off if it had been worn correctly, and an old helmet will not help if it’s on the verge of falling apart anyway. A helmet won’t make you invincible but it might make the difference between a headache and a hospital if you’re wearing it right. You wouldn’t drive a car with the seatbelt simply looped over one arm, or expect to be saved from a bullet with a kevlar jacket just resting in your lap. On that note it surprised me a bit that the TfL cycling ads I mentioned a while ago featured no models in helmets.

You might even find yourself wearing technology that the Pros will one day get to experience. Oh no that can't be right. Except it seems it is.

You’re going to need your helmet more and more if there are more inventions to allow you to use electronic devices on your bike. Here’s another one to let you use your iPhone (which is getting a lot of unexpected mentions on this blog) on your bike. Soon you’ll be riding along updating your Twitter, playing Air Hockey and measuring your bike fit, as well as texting and watching You Tube videos of bike crashes. With your head bent forward to see the screen it’ll be your helmet that hits the lorry first.

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In an unprecedented Post Script it's been brought to my attentuion rather late that today is "Ding Day" where London cyclists are being encouraged to greet each other with a cheerful ring on their bell. I don't have a bell, nor am I likely to be riding home tonight, but it would certainly make me happy to hear cyclists across London dinging at each other. So far I've not heard a single ding...