Madam, – Maureen Fallon (March 4th), on reading the excellent piece “The wheel deal for safe cycling” (Joanna Roberts, HEALTHPlus, March 1st), expresses concern that head injuries present a risk to cyclists. Responsible cyclists acknowledge this risk, but helmet-wearing by cyclists is a complex and controversial subject: even professionals disagree on what constitutes best practice.
First, making cycling attractive as a normal means of everyday transport will reap very significant obesity and cardio-vascular benefits for our citizens. Unfortunately, as shown in numerous international studies, over-emphasising helmet use acts as a barrier to cycling uptake since it sends out the erroneous message that cycling is a dangerous activity. A topical illustration is that the Dublin Bikes rental scheme has been an overwhelming success (and almost 1.7 million trips have yielded no significant collisions) while a similar scheme in Melbourne, where helmets are mandatory, was a complete flop due to lack of take-up. If we wish to improve cyclist safety, we need to increase cycling numbers so as to experience the “safety in numbers effect” and promote the professional training described in Ms Roberts’s article.
Second, it’s a myth that cycling is unusually dangerous. For example, the risk of head injury to pedestrians and car occupants in a collision is similar or even higher than that to cyclists. So far this year there have been 25 car occupant fatalities and no cyclist deaths; 11 pedestrians have lost their lives (Garda website). Does this tell us that drivers and pedestrians should wear helmets?
Finally, it’s important to note that helmets – deriving from bike racing designs – are not intended to protect a cyclist from collisions with heavy goods vehicles, cars or buses, but from falls. Let’s put our energy into improving driver and cyclist training and we will all benefit. – Yours, etc,