Dave225 Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 One could compare it to the mad situation regarding motorcycle helmets in the UK. These are mandatory on the grounds of safety but not required if you are a Sikh on the grounds of religion. Similarly all vehicle occupants must wear a seatbelt but not if you are driving a bus or a passenger in a bus in a city. Safety is a wonderful thing but never allow it to be clouded by the H&S jobsworthy's. Now before anyone jumps all over me I am not against anything that will make me safer. However, I am not convinced that merely making helmets a mandatory practice will have significant effect on the total accident rate. All the surveys I have looked at show that wearing a helmet helps with head injuries in an accident, which I accept but none actually show how many injuries apart from head were recorded either wearing a helmet or not. Bluntly wearing a helmet is not going to help you too much if you are hit by a big 4X4 at 50 mph. There is also a large range of protection offered by helmets, often associated with price, and fashion appears to be a big selling point in choice, especially among the young. Plus there is also the case that wearing one makes the rider more ambitious in taking risks on the road and may in fact lead to a greater chance of having an accident. I admit that many cyclists here in Edinburgh either do not know the Highway Code, or ignore it assuming the brightly coloured helmet they are wearing is a talisman against all ills. Plus I am not too sure that the wearing of a helmet by a 3 year old while pushing a toddler scooter on the pavement is really necessary, but then again I was never fashion conscious, plus I never had a scooter. I did have a bike for years with no helmet and did fall off but managed to survive somehow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BKen1 Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 macclad - 2013-08-13 10:57 PM do you have to use bike safety hats on push bikes. The current position is you have to wear a helmet in towns (Casco Urbano) only, not the countryside (Campo) there are proposals to make it compulsory every where to wear a helmet and as you see from the article not popular and is not going to have an easy passage in Parliament. http://www.ctc.org.uk/spanish-traffic-authority-proposes-compulsory-helmets-and-other-anti-cycling-measures Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 BKen1 - 2013-08-21 9:10 AM macclad - 2013-08-13 10:57 PM do you have to use bike safety hats on push bikes. The current position is you have to wear a helmet in towns (Casco Urbano) only, not the countryside (Campo) ... Brian My understanding is that the current position in Spain is the opposite to what you've said - that cycle-helmets DO NOT have to be worn in an urban environment and (with certain exceptions) DO have to be worn outside towns and cities. I refer you to my earlier posting of 16 August 2013 1:53 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BKen1 Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Derek Uzzell - 2013-08-21 10:32 AM BKen1 - 2013-08-21 9:10 AM macclad - 2013-08-13 10:57 PM do you have to use bike safety hats on push bikes. The current position is you have to wear a helmet in towns (Casco Urbano) only, not the countryside (Campo) ... Brian My understanding is that the current position in Spain is the opposite to what you've said - that cycle-helmets DO NOT have to be worn in an urban environment and (with certain exceptions) DO have to be worn outside towns and cities. I refer you to my earlier posting of 16 August 2013 1:53 PM Your right Derek got it the wrong way round ......in town no ...out of town yes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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