Shouty Helmet wearer

[mmcnay]

Hello,

To introduce myself. I don't wear a helmet when riding, but my wife does. And so does my young son. My choice not to, her choice to. And our choice for our son.

Yesterday afternoon, I was cycling with my son, on a cycle path next to a busy road. A young man on a passing road bike, wearing team colours and a streamlined helmet, shouted that I should be wearing a helmet like my son was. He was loud, his face creased in self-righteousness. I told him to mind his own business. He sped off, the coward, giving me the finger.

This is the second time this has happened - a shouty helmet wearer has queried a choice I make about my own safety - a choice that has no effect on anyone but me - or my family who respect my decision and the rationale behind it. Both times when I was with my young son. Both times by people on road bikes who don't stop to engage, they just shout and keep moving. Cowards.

This isn't just about wearing a helmet. This is about choices and tolerance of others. If you want to shout at me about my decision not to comply with your standards - Do it when I'm on my own, when I don't have a child to look out for. Shouting at me makes me more determined not to give in. If you want to query my decision, then stop me and have a chat. A reasoned chat about dangers and statistics is more likely to be successful.

Better still, mind your own business. We are all imperfect humans and cyclists. So spend your energy on becoming a better human or cyclist and not forcing your opinions on people who don't do it like you do.

Anyway, rant over.

Happy cycling!

[mattheus]

I've had the same. Idiots.

(I am often a "roadie in team colours". but not always (-: )

[millimole]

I've never had a comment about my choice of headgear.
I wonder if it's related to the rest of the outfit?
Do riders in 'all the gear' get these comments if they're unhelmeted much more than riders in casual attire?
(As you might have guessed, I tend towards everyday clothing and flat cap)

I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my wobbly using hovercraft full of eels.

[pwa]

I'm afraid that in this era of social media and "realithy TV" some people think they have a right to mouth off about anything, whether it is their business or not.

[LollyKat]

I've had the same. Idiots.

Same here - I usually just ignore them, or better still smile and wave. Occasionally I've pointed out that cycle helmets didn't exist when I learnt to ride in the 1950s.

[Mike Sales]

I wonder if helmet wearers ever get shouted at by non-believers?

[mjr]

I've never had a comment about my choice of headgear.
I wonder if it's related to the rest of the outfit?
Do riders in 'all the gear' get these comments if they're unhelmeted much more than riders in casual attire?
(As you might have guessed, I tend towards everyday clothing and flat cap)

Not as far as I can tell. It may be related to the bike and/or the location, as I feel it happens to me much more in England but away from Norfolk and the fens, and slightly more if I'm riding a road bike or hybrid than if I'm riding a roadster or folding bike.

I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my gormless idiot phone.

Has something infected your phone?

I wonder if helmet wearers ever get shouted at by non-believers?

I've been both over the years and it seems to be very much only users shouting at non-users in this country.

Abroad, I've been part of a touring group which had a Dutch woman shout at us that "the Tour de France is that way" which I suspect was aimed at the 80%ish helmet users among us but that's about the only time I've ever been in earshot of anything like that!

It's far less common than motorists shouting at cyclists, though.

[Tangled Metal]

Happened to my partner when a bunch of riders from a Kendal cycle club (Kendal on the jerseys) went past and one guy told my partner off for not wearing helmet.

A little up the road and I was waiting, helmetless, and annoyed waiting for a comment. Luckily he didn't say a word. I was fuming since I heard him say it.

We were 5 minutes down the road from the canal towpath we popped off and about another 5 minutes along that from home. We'd only been checking up on a house for sale and hardly critical to wear anything on our heads. Spur of the moment ride out to check it out.

I regret not contacting the club.

Another related issue was how our kids head made a comment about our son not riding to and from school with a helmet on. It was a comment made in his school report! How bad is that? If he doesn't want to wear a helmet for the few minutes it takes to get to school or from school then be doesn't have to. It's a route down safe back allies and dead end roads. He walks if icy or any hint of being slippy. It's safe. He's also riding at walking pace next to one of us.

BTW I suspect I won't get such a comment from strangers on bikes being a few cms under 2m and male. I've never had one before except from non cycling work colleagues and a boss at work. I don't mind that because you can tell them the truth about helmets. These roadies and other opinionated cyclists kind of hit and run.

BTW the pace they were riding they wouldn't lose me before I'd said my piece.

[Wanlock Dod]

In my experience folks are much more tolerant of people on bikes not wearing helmets than they are of cyclists not wearing helmets.
Normal clothes = no helmet expected
Lycra = helmet expected

[Cugel]

I wonder if helmet wearers ever get shouted at by non-believers?

Ha ha - I never raise the subject myself with other cyclists but if a would be helmet zealot makes the attempt to do a helmet-fascist upon me, as with the fellow the OP mentions, I enjoy the ensuing word-wrastle immensely! If they go red and purple i' the fizzog as I explain to them their fashion-victim status, all well & good.

Of course, I can catch the ride-by helmet zealot who shouts his order about my lack of a Mekon-head hat, so they cannot avoid my return-lecksha about their own foolish "choice" of hat. Perhaps I will digress and also inform them of their poor pedalling style, bad choice of bicycle or even their obvious lack of cycling ability. This also is great tease-fun, for me at least.

Helmet fascists should reap what they sow, doncha think?

Cugel

[Vorpal]

I've been shouted at a time or two. I actually prefer that to being lectured because bloody cyclists who don't wear helmets cause everyone's insurance rates to go up

[cyclemad]

but isn't it better/safer to wear a correctly fitted cycle helmet rather than nothing at all?

[Mike Sales]

but isn't it better/safer to wear a correctly fitted cycle helmet rather than nothing at all?

The evidence says not.

The enduring popularity of helmets as a proposed major intervention for increased road safety may therefore lie not with their direct benefits—which seem too modest to capture compared with other strategies—but more with the cultural, psychological, and political aspects of popular debate around risk.

https://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.f3817.full?ijkey=I5vHBog6FhaaLzX&keytype=ref

[Vorpal]

but isn't it better/safer to wear a correctly fitted cycle helmet rather than nothing at all?

Not necessarily. There is some evidence that cyclists who wear helmets take more risks and/or have more crashes.

See viewtopic.php?f=41&t=132247
or viewtopic.php?f=41&t=126849

https://www.cyclehelmets.org/ has extensive information about the research and data available about the usefulness of helmets.

[Wanlock Dod]

but isn't it better/safer to wear a correctly fitted cycle helmet rather than nothing at all?

There is a school of thought that suggests helmet promotion is nothing more than a distraction away from genuinely helpful interventions as far as cyclist safety is concerned.