Sir, – I commend The Irish Times for an excellent series on cycling. How wonderful to see this activity given the prominence it deserves. What is not so admirable is the lack of basic safety advice contained in the series, notably a recommendation to wear a helmet at all times.
Undoubtedly for any piece of advice given to cyclists to wear a helmet there is will be some contrarian out there ready to quote an article from the British Medical Journal "proving" helmets make no difference in the event of an accident.
While I empathise with cyclists being lectured by journalists to wear helmets, especially journalists who last threw their leg over a bike when they were 10 years of age; having been in bike accidents I have lived to continue to write letters to The Irish Times thanks to the helmet worn at the time.
Helmets are not mandatory for cyclists in California if they are over the age of 18; they are for younger riders. But wearing at helmet is a best practice – it should not require a law to remind people to do so.
It amazes me that the Dublin Bikes scheme does not use bike stations that can utilise the latest in mobile app and geolocation technology to direct customers to the nearest place to buy or rent a helmet to use with their rented bike. This approach is used elsewhere in the world. I’ve seen it in Melbourne, on the bike stations of an equivalent system. Whatever about safety, surely a business opportunity beckons for such a feature in Dublin? – Yours , etc,
ULTAN Ó BROIN,
Half Moon Bay,
California, US.