United States penchant for bike helmets

I am sure many of the other threads here touch on this topic to some degree but I would like to see this thread focus on the topic specifically.  Why do you feel that aside from what the rest of the world  sees as the norm, riding sans helmets, that all of the US feels inclined to always don a brain bucket and condone others when not doing the same?

Amsterdam

India

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China

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Permalink Reply by Aaron Bussey on September 3, 2015 at 2:31pm
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Permalink Reply by Matt Talbert on September 4, 2015 at 2:44am

Saying you are "a safe rider and don't need to wear a helmet" is a vacuous statement. I consider myself a very safe rider. Cautious when commuting, experience in pace lines and have raced in many crits. In every scenario I wear a helmet (USAC won't even allow you to race if you don't wear a helmet so it's not like it's a choice there). Despite my experiences in high risk riding, I one day just wiped out on an easy solo ride on the North Branch Trail on the Oakton decent. If I was not wearing my helmet that day I would have severe brain damage AT BEST. I likely could have been dead without it. Even with the helmet I walked away with a very minor concussion. I keep my cracked helmet to show the neighborhood kids what could happen to their skull. Just as the safest drivers get into car accidents, the safest cyclist could wipe out badly in the safest conditions. It happens and it's just not worth risking one of the most important parts of the human body.

Permalink Reply by Aaron Bussey on September 4, 2015 at 3:21am

Not many helmets till you get to London.

Permalink Reply by Irvin Steinert on September 4, 2015 at 4:13am

Interesting, In the Berlin video:

  • bikes are left unlocked (see opening sequence where bikes are leaned against some bollards)
  • the sidewalk seems like a popular place to ride
  • some of the bike lanes are actually part of the sidewalk
Permalink Reply by Rich S on September 8, 2015 at 5:34am

I took this photo in Vienna a few years ago. I love that so many people are on the sidewalk yet no one is walking in the bike lane. 

Vienna Bike Lane 1

Permalink Reply by Aaron Bussey on September 4, 2015 at 4:20am

Im not 100% sure but the bikes that seem unlocked might be using a rear wheel lock similar to the ones I saw while biking in Zurich.

Permalink Reply by Joe Guzzardo on September 4, 2015 at 5:32pm

I wear a bike helmet principally because I have a mirror affixed to it. It offers me a heads up display of who's behind me and with a slight turn of my head to the left, I've covered my blind spot. I hope I never find myself in a situation where I need the benefit of the helmet itself but I use the mirror all the time. 

Permalink Reply by Shawn Evans on September 5, 2015 at 10:53pm

The Mirrycle bike mirror is about $20. Fits tight in the handlebars (you can hit things and it doesn't fall out or even move much) and has great optic quality. Adjustable, too.

Permalink Reply by Michelle S on September 5, 2015 at 9:42am

I don't think it's completely accurate that the rest of the world's bicyclists don't generally wear helmets. The photos posted on sites like Copenhagenize are misleading because the author's militant anti-helmet stance leads him to never publish a photo that includes a helmet. In my personal observations in the last few years in European countries, I'd guess on average that about a quarter to close to half of people on bikes wear helmets, depending on the city. And yes, this even holds true in places like Copenhagen and Amsterdam. Here's a photo of a crowd on bikes in Copenhagen in 2013 from Jonathan Maus of Bike Portland (and here's a link to the entire set of his photos).

Also, there are plenty of official campaigns in these European countries trying to get more people to wear helmets, even though often the infrastructure is already decent, and they're improving it. For example, there was a bizarre pro-helmet campaign in Germany this past spring that used... Darth Vader in posters exhorting people to wear helmets while riding bikes. In a medical clinic in France this summer, I noticed a PSA poster warning people never to ride bikes without a helmet. (Next to it was a poster about skiing -- did it advise ski helmet use? Nope. "Get your bindings adjusted properly before hitting the slopes.")

A little off the subject, but I'll toss this out -- my biggest takeaway from observing why bicycling in European cities is more comfortable than in Chicago is 25% better infrastructure and 75% more respectful behavior of drivers toward all other road users.

Permalink Reply by Aaron Bussey on September 5, 2015 at 9:54am
Who is the author you are referring to with the militant anti helmet stance?
Permalink Reply by Michelle S on September 5, 2015 at 10:04am

Sorry, I should have said the Copenhagen Cycle Chic website, which is the one that has all the photos of people bicycling in Copenhagen, but it's the same author for both.

I don't wear a helmet myself in most circumstances but feel everyone can decide for themselves what they wish to do, and I don't support militance on either side of the issue.

Permalink Reply by Tricolor on September 8, 2015 at 10:20am
I arrived in Trondheim this afternoon after a few days on the Norway/Sweden border and there are dedicated bike paths everywhere in very heavy use. Everyone is in street clothes, riding a flat bared mountain or hybrid bike and I've seen more Teslas and Nissan Leafs (seperatly; I was having a contest between the two and gave up when they both went over twenty) than I have riders with helmets. It's a little chaotic with pedestrians but there's no real animosity, and riders are mildly brisk but nothing like the pace on the lakefront in the morning.
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