— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
I don't wear a helmet in San Francisco. It's part laziness (carrying it around is annoying and locking it up will most certainly get it stolen) and part vanity (helmets make me sweaty and gross, and helmet hair is awful and my sex life is such that I cannot afford anymore handicaps), but it's in no part stupidity.
I wear helmets when it counts: mountain biking, when I'm plenty apt to crash into a tree or eat dirt due to general imbalance and ineptitude, or while heading out for a long road ride in Marin, when loose gravel, high speeds, and crazed BMW motorists have a knack for creating unsafe situations (also, I don't care how my beautifully-sculpted hair looks after any of these activities). But in SF while getting back and forth from work? Nope. Between lower speeds on both mine and the drivers part, coupled with straighter roads, bike lanes, and the sheer number of bikes on the street increasing our visibility, the risk factor just isn't there.
That's not to say I don't hear about my choice. The city's metermaids that are required to wear exceptionally dorky bike helmets while riding around in their fun lil' Cushmans are particularly vocal, smugly telling this non-revenue generating rider that “I should be wearing a helmet.” The San Francisco Bike Coalition is similarly in rider's faces, demanding that members bring helmets to the organization's events. I even once dated a girl who told me she wasn't sure she could date someone who “didn't value his life” because I don't strap on a lid before riding 5 blocks to Dolores Park.
But, it turns out, that San Francisco's bike advocates might be doing themselves a genuine disservice in promoting helmet usage, as helmets actually discourage people from getting on a bike. And for a city that aims to have 20% of all commuters on a bike by 2020, despite only 3.5% do so today, we could use all the help we get.
In the United States the notion that bike helmets promote health and safety by preventing head injuries is taken as pretty near God’s truth. Un-helmeted cyclists are regarded as irresponsible, like people who smoke. Cities are aggressive in helmet promotion.
But many European health experts have taken a very different view: Yes, there are studies that show that if you fall off a bicycle at a certain speed and hit your head, a helmet can reduce your risk of serious head injury. But such falls off bikes are rare — exceedingly so in mature urban cycling systems.
On the other hand, many researchers say, if you force or pressure people to wear helmets, you discourage them from riding bicycles. That means more obesity, heart disease and diabetes. And — Catch-22 — a result is fewer ordinary cyclists on the road, which makes it harder to develop a safe bicycling network. The safest biking cities are places like Amsterdam and Copenhagen, where middle-aged commuters are mainstay riders and the fraction of adults in helmets is minuscule.“Pushing helmets really kills cycling and bike-sharing in particular because it promotes a sense of danger that just isn’t justified — in fact, cycling has many health benefits,” says Piet de Jong, a professor in the department of applied finance and actuarial studies at Macquarie University in Sydney. He studied the issue with mathematical modeling, and concludes that the benefits may outweigh the risks by 20 to 1.
As San Francisco moves to install its 50 station/500 bikes bike-sharing program, the issue of helmets could be the difference between its success or failure. In cities where helmets are mandatory, participation in the program is low (just 150 rides a day in Melbourne, Australia), whereas it soars in cities were it is optional (5,000 rides a day in Dublin). As a biking coordinator in Minniapolis said, “I just want it to be seen as something that a normal person can do. You don’t need special gear. You just get on a bike and you just go.”
Comments (29)
ATGATT dawg. ATGATT. Not really. I’d love to see helmet laws go away for motorcycles too. I rode around like a crazed banshee in Texas with no helmet. Maybe I want to go out in flames of gory glory? maybe that? leave me alone. My brains. My body. My choice. Pro-Helmet-Choice.
that’s a pretty big leap there, “I don’t want to wear a helmet, so I just wont bike”
One of the better pieces that I’ve seen here on UA. If you wear a helmet while riding your bike in the city,we really hope that you wear one while showering or walking up and down stairs as well. Also you should mention the testing(or lack there of) that these helmets must go thru. The majority of bike crashes are single bike events,usually drunk biking. The SFBC seems to encourage drunk biking by hosting events that alcohol is served(Tour de fat,ect.) and no one has ever asked me or other if we were to drunk to bike home after. So maybe the SFBC is just trying to cover there own butts. Who knows. What amazes me is the helmet wearing hi vis cyclist that seems so worried about safety then blows thru stop signs/lights or they wear a helmet then ride with no hands. I have found (and a few studies) that wearing a helmet ENCOURAGES cars to drive closer to the cyclist.
Just grow your hair really long and use lots of thick hairspray. It’s basically the same thing as a helmet.
this is garbage. mountain biking is lame.
Furthermore the only times I have ever been hit by a car(3 times) i was wearing a helmet all those times.. instead of blankly saying that my helmet saved my life, i have come to the conclusion that my helmet might have CAUSED me to get hit. I’l take the extra 3 inches of roadway that cars will give me if helmet free then them on my ass thinking im Lance armstrong if i do wear one.
Wait a minute …I got hit by a car the night before Bay to breakers this year and was not wearing a helmet then. Forgot about that time.
Let us not forget that we are being sold a product. Some of the pro helmet debaters are in fact in the industry that has a goal of selling you their product. The anti helmet crowd is not making funds of of your decision. I know 2 bike shop owners in this town that don’t wear helmets yet i have heard them and questioned why they were using “scare ‘tactics to push helmets on riders,their answer? They make money off it.
the next person that tells me to wear a helmet will be punched in the face as i laugh & take throw their lid in the street. MIND YOUR OWN FUCKING BUSINESS, people.
Utter lunacy. Anyone who argues that not wearing a helmet is safer than wearing a helmet is a certifiable fruitcake.
That’s crazy. Every accident I’ve ever been in has been in the city and I’d be dead today if I hadn’t been wearing my helmet. There’s a helmet law in the city, I believe, but it isn’t enforced. It should be.
I think the point of the article is that helmet laws do more harm than good by decreasing cycling rates, especially for cities with bike share programs. Overall, it seems that society (and individuals) benefits from more cycling - more then we are harmed by cycling crashes. NZ is an interesting case study if you care to read: http://www.cycle-helmets.com/nz-clarke-2012.pdf As the article pointed out Mexico City just repealed their helmet law as an attempt to increase the use of the bike share program. We can all watch how it works out.
kudos to kevmo for posting on this contentious topic (and not wearing a helmet).
There’s definitely a risk when cycling, but I think here in SF we’ve been doing a better job limiting that risk. There’s green bike lanes on market and other streets, cyclists are required to have a flashing red tail light, and the number of bikes lanes is steadily increasing. All great things :)
As for cycling without a helmet… I’d say it depends on the area you’re riding. At GGP on a sunday I’d say it’s probably fine to not wear a helmet and ride at a slowish pace. 9:30am on a Tuesday riding down Market towards the Ferry building… probably want to wear one at that time. It’s one of those things I’d like to have and not need than need and not have. I’m hoping that every time I go on a ride nothing happens and I make it to my destination. I don’t wear a helmet when I’m walking down the street since it’s a fairly regulated area (sidewalks, stoplights/stop signs, crosswalks, traffic is moderately slow). However, when I go out cycling since you’re traveling a bit faster and you don’t have nearly the same type of safety nets as pedestrians. If you’ve ever seen someone’s head hit the ground after an accident, I’d venture to guess that you’d want to start wearing a helmet.
I’ve noticed going helmetless is on the rise in just the last 6 months. Terrible trend. Mostly a Mission thing.
You anti-helmet people sound like my dad in the 80’s complaining about seat belts confining him and wrinkling his shirts. I agree no helmet law should be enforced, but I’m gonna protect my brain. There is nothing safe about riding in the City. Accidents are accidents, not just a result of reckless behavior.
Does feel nice when I do forget to wear a helmet. Kinda like barebacking and just as ill advised.
SF is not a “mature urban cycling system.”
Anti-helmet guys sounds like a bunch of republicans.. Go join a tea party or some shit.
This is a brilliant article and great discussion of a thought-provoking topic. One of my favorites of yours, KevMo
In Berlin I was the only cyclist to wear a helmet. There are tons of cyclists in that city, but it’s not necessarily a good thing: most of them ride on the sidewalk! (Grrr!). Makes me think: people who don’t tend to wear helmets are more likely to suck at other forms of bike etiquette (i.e. bike SAFETY).
We should increase RESPONSIBLE cycling, even if no more than 3.5% of humans seem to be physically capable of it.
Paris’ Velib rental/bike share program has 50000 to 70000 rentals per day. Very few Velib riders are wearing helmets, but I think it’s irresponsible.
You don’t “Need” your helmet 99.999% of the time until you do, just like a seat belt. You can do low speed but a car at 30MPH can broadside you and splat your brains on his windshield in a split second. With a helmet, you have a fighting chance.
If you’re worried about messing up your hair, just know that bad hair is the new cool.
if you feel unsafe on a bike, wear a helmet. if you’re a kid on a bike, wear a helmet. if your texting & walking, wear a helmet. if your talking on your iphone in the ‘loin, wear a helmet. if you’re wearing fancy shoes & are walking on the tiles down mission street, wear a helmet. if you’re poor, wear a helmet (so you don’t tie up the emergency services that belong to HERR DOKTOR SAFETY MONITOR). or you can get off the nuts of grown fucking people that know how to ride a bike.
I thought there was gonna be free ice cream here???
to each his own, but a helmet saved my life after I was hit in the bikelane by a car making a sudden right turn into an alley…I went over the hood and landed headfirst on the street. The entire forehead area of my helmet had caved in and I was told by the EMTs that I would likely have been dead had I not been wearing it. I only started wearing it after taking a nasty smack on my helmet-less head after being doored a few months earlier.
if you want to be safer on a bike: turn your fucking head every once in a while to see what’s beside you or behind you, shout out your intentions (left side! right side! behind you!), ring a bell (but i fuckin’ hate ‘em & shouting is more efficient), don’t be in a hurry, don’t be an asshole, plan a mellow route, ride predictably, create distance between you and everything else on the road that can kill you. and if you still smack your head after doing all of these things, maybe you were meant to die.
I’ve seen statistics which indicate that riders who crash while wearing helmets are at increased risk for neck injuries. If it were a choice of dying of brain trauma or being in a wheelchair for the rest of my life, I wold prefer the first option.
FWIW, the two times i’ve biffed it while riding, my head hit the pavement and got saved by the helmet.
I wouldn’t say “the risk isn’t there” on SF bike commuter roads; you can still get hit by a car or doored by an unattentive passenger and flip over your bike pretty hard, even at a slow speed. Still, I 100% agree that no one can force or demand or should pressure others into wearing a helmet.
There is no reason not to have mandatory helmet laws. 80% of serious bike injuries are head injuries, and 90% don’t involve another bike, car or pedestrian. Nothing will improve bike safety more than mandatory helmet laws. Bike lanes have a miniscule impact on safety when compared to helmets. Vanity and stupidity (more or less the same thing) drives anti-helmet sentiments.
30 years of riding…no helmet, no accidents. Why? Because I’ve mastered the art of not crashing.