Headcase

The other day I was relaxing at a cafe when I found myself eavesdropping.

Headcase

Why did he feel the need to speak to the bicyclist and why did he assume the cyclist was somehow ignorant? Would this guy similarly attack other people doing things that he viewed as poor judgement? Or is it just bicyclists?

Headcase

I’m sick of the helmet hype. It’s time to hype up infrastructure until “cycle track” is in everyone’s vocabulary. I dream of the day this guy will ask the city what’s up with the street design that makes cyclists feel like they need to wear helmets.

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93 comments

  • Andrew Levitt November 21, 2014  

    If you think there’s a good chance of getting hit by a car, it’s not a helmet that you need. You need to not ride your bike there. A car will crush your soft body with or without a helmet.

  • Aubrey November 21, 2014  

    Thank you for this!! I wear a helmet religiously, but it’s only because I can’t control the CARS constantly around me. Wouldn’t have to if I didn’t have to ride with them

  • Claudia November 21, 2014  

    I usually wear a helmet, but when we lived in Berlin last year for 3 1/2 months, we rode without and loved it. I recently watched this TED talk (I’m sure many of you have already seen it): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07o-TASvIxY. It’s an interesting assessment of the whole helmet thing. Basically, I feel like you should have a choice, and I don’t need anyone lecturing me.

  • Michelle November 21, 2014  

    I was actually harassed on the trails by another rider for not wearing a helmet. He was actually standing at an intersection in such a way that he almost completely blocked my path — I thought of yelling at him back that he shouldn’t be a road hazard, but I only had time to yell back that it was my business before he was in the dust. It’s really ridiculous especially because people like this are criticizing you for one moment in time. I know some cyclists never wear helmets, but I’m sure many more typically wear a helmet but forgo it once in a while for whatever reason. To treat them like they’re somehow ignorant of head protection is ridiculous and intrusive.

    However, I really disagree with the comment about bike infrastructure, however poor or nonexistent, being the reason we wear helmets. I feel pretty certain that if I’m hit by a car, the helmet probably isn’t going to do me much good. But if I slip on the ice or blow a tire, I’m going to be damn glad there’s a helmet between my head and the pavement. We can put a lot of blame on poor infrastructure, but needing to wear a helmet is part of operating a bike, not a function of infrastructure quality.

  • Kagi November 21, 2014  

    These days I usually reply with “Did you take the lane on your way here? Do you even know what “take the lane” means? That’s way more important to your safety than wearing a helmet.” Not that I don’t totally agree with you on the need for separated infrastructure — but since right now we have none where I live…

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