Police stopped me & son to tell us should be wearing helmet

[Si]

Yep, my strategy would be to start from the acknowledgement that they are genuinely concerned for your well-being and trying to help you. Keep a smile on your face and explain in great detail your POV for that they either get it or they get bored and decide that giving this kind of advice is more trouble than it's worth.

If they won't listen to your POV then instead just ask them to justify theirs. Deconstruct (still with a smile on your face) everything that they say until they end up saying something that even they realise is totally stupid.

Or just say "thank you for your concern but you are ill-informed." and ride off, thus saving everyone's time.

[Edwards]

Another alternative would have been to say "That's nice" (in a Mrs Brown sort of way).

[Audax67]

Just another manifestation of the "wrap everything in cotton wool" mentality that afflicts society, which is in itself a consequence of the "somebody's got to be suable" mentality that obtained in the US once lawyers started working for a percentage of damages rather than a flat fee. Unsurprising that it dominates this side of the Atlantic too, given that kids sup imported US TV shows with their mothers' milk and the Internet shovels touchy-feely sign-this-petition indignation into everybody's brains with every visit to their favourite social nit-working sites.

As it happens I do wear a helmet, but I'd be very annoyed if anyone told me to put one on when I wasn't. It's my business, not theirs.

[jezer]

Oh dear, this is running the risk of becoming another helmet debate, and I suppose this is inevitable. I always wear one, having smashed two beyond repair over the years after hitting the tarmac. It is noticeable that on our club runs of up to fifty riders only two or three do not wear helmets. However, it has been proved time and again that compulsion deters people from taking up cycling, and the net loss to general health far exceeds any supposed benefit. Just check out those countries that have introduced such a law.

[kwackers]

having smashed two beyond repair over the years after hitting the tarmac

I've fallen off many times over the years and never once banged my bonce*.

Luck? Reflexes? Smaller/lighter head?

(*Apart from once as an 8 year old, I knocked myself out for a few hours although the impact was on my chin so an helmet wouldn't have happened. Thinking about it could have been a classic rotation injury!)

[thirdcrank]

They are clearly poorly educated on the subject of helmet efficiacy ...

I doubt if they will have received any training on the subject. The Highway Code is pretty explicit here: it's a document published with the approval of Parliament after consultation with interested organisations and the public so I think it's fair to describe it as public policy. The only thing that surprises me about the thread so far is that we haven't had anything from the "common sense" POV.

It's hard to know what to advise anybody to do at the roadside. Fortunately, I suspect that this type of thing is not frequent. The first advice must be to keep calm. Temper loss loses everything.

I don't think there's any doubt that the police can require pedal cyclists to stop.

163 Power of police to stop vehicles.

.....
(2)A person riding a cycle on a road must stop the cycle on being required to do so by a constable in uniform [F3or a traffic officer].
(3)If a person fails to comply with this section he is guilty of an offence.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/163

OTOH, once the rider has stopped the police probably have no more authority to lecture somebody about helmets than the loud mouth in a pub and more to the point, I can't think of any power to detain somebody for that purpose. On that basis you can make your excuses and leave (making the excuses being optional.) However, it's easy to make bullets for others to fire. There are all sorts of reasons why people may feel uncomfortable about taking that course, especially if accompanied by children. The last thing most normal people want is any sort of escalation. One risk is that if the officers thought that it was an offence to ride without a helmet, they would (wrongly) exercise the so-called general power of arrest. If they were not "real" police but PCSO's, then they might want to detain their "suspect" pending the arrival of the real thing. Special constables are often used in the policing of special events (as I believe this was) and although their powers as constables are the same as regular officers, their training isn't and some have a tendency to seek comfort and wisdom in getting everybody back to the police station.

The good news is that the compo for unlawful arrest tends to be swingeing, aggravated by the use of restraints like handcuffs and clocking up much faster than the meter in a London cab. The involvement of a child would but brass knobs on.

[kwackers]

163 Power of police to stop vehicles.
.....
(2)A person riding a cycle on a road must stop the cycle on being required to do so by a constable in uniform [F3or a traffic officer].

Is this a good reason to ride on the pavement?

[bovlomov]

Oh dear, this is running the risk of becoming another helmet debate,...

I don't think so. Quite a few of the posters here are helmet wearers. Unusually, there seems to be broad agreement: the episode shouldn't have happened. The debate is about how one should react.

I'm not sure how things are now, but there was a period when the majority of solved crimes were ones that had been committed AFTER the police arrived on the scene. That was to do with Stop and Search. It may equally apply to Stop and Lecture.

[willpom]

Special constables are often used in the policing of special events (as I believe this was) and although their powers as constables are the same as regular officers, their training isn't and some have a tendency to seek comfort and wisdom in getting everybody back to the police station.

This wasn't during the BBBR it was as we were making our way to it.

Full blown WPCs stopping me from their car, they pulled in ahead of me after signalling me to pull over. Obviously at the end of their shift as they pulled into Trinity Police Station once we decided to leave which was 50m away.

[kwackers]

Special constables are often used in the policing of special events (as I believe this was) and although their powers as constables are the same as regular officers, their training isn't and some have a tendency to seek comfort and wisdom in getting everybody back to the police station.

No he didn't! (Say that)

[Vorpal]

They are clearly poorly educated on the subject of helmet efficiacy ...

I doubt if they will have received any training on the subject. The Highway Code is pretty explicit here: it's a document published with the approval of Parliament after consultation with interested organisations and the public so I think it's fair to describe it as public policy. The only thing that surprises me about the thread so far is that we haven't had anything from the "common sense" POV.

I'm sure that you are correct. And it is exacerbated by the 'road safety' literature published in cooperation (most places) with the police forces, especially that aimed at school children, which is typically the always-wear-the-right-togs approach to keeping safe

[willpom]

Special constables are often used in the policing of special events (as I believe this was) and although their powers as constables are the same as regular officers, their training isn't and some have a tendency to seek comfort and wisdom in getting everybody back to the police station.

No he didn't! (Say that)

EDIT - Thirdcrank said that, sorry.

[The Mechanic]

what I can't understand is why people get so het up about helmets. Wear one if you want, don't if you don't. Otherwise, get a life.

[bovlomov]

what I can't understand is why people get so het up about helmets. Wear one if you want, don't if you don't. Otherwise, get a life.

Evidently these police officers don't agree. That's the point of the thread.

[kwackers]

what I can't understand is why people get so het up about helmets. Wear one if you want, don't if you don't. Otherwise, get a life.

Evidently these police officers don't agree. That's the point of the thread.

I don't understand why people with no interest in a subject feel the need to bother commenting!

Perhaps we should have another section - the "I don't give a toss - but" sub-forum.