Vorpal wrote:reohn2 wrote:The utility cyclist wrote:All helmet wearers and those that push for people to wear them whilst cycling do massive harm to society as a whole never mind other people riding bikes helmeted or not. That's not opinion, it's a fact.
That's only fact in part,the other part is opinion.
There is some evidence that helmet promotion puts people off cycling. But the relationship is neither clear, nor definitive.
IMO, it is more a reflection of the culture of risk aversion. That is what harms society, not helmet wearers.
I do have some sympathy for TUC's view on this matter, however, as I do think that focus on the topic has harmed cycle campaigning.
Fact is that helmet wearing continues to promote more helmet wearing, helmet wearing weakens how current laws are applied, in fact there is a blatent flouting of the law and discrimination against people on cycles for not conforming to what is not far off de facto law due to the insidious way helmet wearing/promotion has wormed its way into our and others society.
helmet wearers continue to normalise helmet wearing, those not are often attacked, ridiculed, ostracised and at worst blamed for their injury or death and we know as a fact that justice has been perverted due to the whole helmet wearing mantra, that criminals have gotten off completely scot-free due to the way police, CPS and even judges have acted due to the thinking toward cycle helmets/wearing.
Have you forgotten one of the reasons the MET gave for not even referring his killer to CPS? I even spoke to a lady earlier this year who was smashed into by an errant motorist, had a head/brain injury and had her compensation reduced by 30% due to not wearing a helmet, that kind of thing is perverse, never applied in any other part of society and the driver wasn't even prosecuted, sound familiar?
This is due to the onus of safety being pushed onto the vulnerable, the focus has been completely and unlawfully shifted, and yet the numbers of KSIs of people riding bikes in the UK has increased circa 50% since the mid 00s with zero increase in journeys, a small increase in miles travelled (same number of journeys just a bit further), and it was in the mid 00s that helmet wearing/promotion really took off, this was aided in a huge chunk by the change in rules within the UCI and from that that affected all amateur racing and from that club riding. The rest is from hard pushing by EU Road safety dept which has previously insisted (in their Road Safety document of recent years) that UK is safer for cycling due to how much helmet wearing we have compared to Netherlands and Denmark, based on number of deaths alone
Additionally the push by government at local level at least, schools, the victim blaming BS from the dept of transport, THINK, Headway and so many other groups, all having a big negative effect on safe/r cycling.