Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas has said cyclists should be forced to wear helmets.
The cycling professional, from Cardiff, Wales, said there was “no reason” not to wear a helmet when biking through the streets of London.
If Geraint Thomas wants to wear a helmet, then that’s fine. What is not fine is insisting that the law be changed to suit his preferences. There is a gulf between “no reason not to” and “compulsory”. That gulf being an overweening authoritarian state. It is up to the individual to decide for themselves and to take the risk they feel is appropriate – and, yes, accept the consequences of their actions. It is not for the state nor is it for Mr Thomas to decide on behalf of others.
Doesn’t the same principle apply to car seatbelts and motorcycle helmets? I always wore a seatbelt before it was compulsory. The motorcycle helmet law was passed before I started riding. I always wear a cycle helmet. My cycle helmet may have saved my life when I wrote a off a Ford Fiesta with my head. All these matters should be a matter of personal preference really. I suppose we can’t have a perfect world.
It does. And those laws were the thin end of a very nasty wedge where the law is being abused to protect us from ourselves.
And given that more drivers than cyclists die from head injuries every year, what about helmets for them too?
I wear a helmet when I cycle but I’d hate for them to be compulsory. Most of the time when I’m cycling I’m going slower than Usain Bolt in full flight. Does anybody seriously want to tell him he should wear a helmet?
By the way, I wear a helmet because it was one of the conditions of the travel insurance when I went on holiday. Once I’d bought the helmet I thought I might as well wear it. I’m not convinced that it makes me appreciably safer but I doubt if it makes me less safe, so why not?
It may, it may not. It all depends on the situation. I’m sure that in some cases it’ll make a difference. In others it wont. You pays your money, you takes your choice – the important bit being that it’s your choice.
Well.
I’ve fallen off my bike while wearing a helmet several times and I haven’t hurt my head yet.
(I didn’t fall on my head but what’s that got to do with it? :-D)
And yes, the important thing is that currently it’s my choice. I hope it remains so.
I did fall head first. A car turned right directly across my path and my helmet broke the windscreen and bent the ‘A’ pillar. The car was written off as was my Raleigh 531 racing bike. So I agree that it should be a personal choice whether to wear one but I would definitely recommend it.
Recommend is absolutely fine. I would always recommend that riders of motorcycles wear a helmet. I object to the fact that they are compulsory, though.
Visit Copenhagen or Amsterdam. Very few cyclists wear helmets and quite often people ride Piaggio Scooters without helmets either.
But your body organs are state property for use in transplants.
You are simply the current custodian of them.
It follows that failure to take proper care, such as not wearing a helmet, is not just reckless, it is “endangering state property” and hence treason. Penalty for which is….early harvest. So they win even if you don’t get knocked over.
The NHS, our national treasure.
It’s sarcasm today, but mebbe not for much longer.
Don’t give ’em ideas.