MikewsMITH2 wrote:I have been cycling for 50 years now and only bought a helmet last year. Main reason is as a parent I have always insisted my kids wear helmets. I don't know how effective they are, but I wouldn't forgive myself if they got a head injury while cycling and a helmet might've prevented it. As my son has got to the age when he believes he should decide for himself, it would be hypocritical to ask him to wear his if I didn't wear one. Cycling on the roads is much more dangerous than it was 50, 30, 20 or even 10 years ago. I don't ever want to find out whether helmets work, but my question is how many of you are that confident enough that they don't work, to take the risk of letting your kids ride without one?
Actually, I have great news for you - the roads are much safer than they were 10, 20, and especially 50 years ago (believe it or not). Both pedestrian and cyclist casualty rates are falling steadily from some really dire peaks in the past.
Interestingly, the pedestrian and cyclist casualty rates are very closely linked (almost a mirror image) despite the fact that cyclists have started wearing helmets, and pedestrians have not. The graphs continue to relate just as if helmets were making no difference!
As they are sometimes credited with preventing 85% of head injuries this seems a bit hard to reconcile.
As for your question, I'm not in that situation yet. At the moment, my other half is a dogmatic helmet insister, despite having a degree in physics she won't even consider the possibility that they might not prevent all injuries (a great frustration of mine!). However I have some time to work her around to reality. After that, I will follow the example above - use them for the learning to ride stage, but beyond that let them decide. Certainly I'd rather my kids rode twice as much without helmets, than half as much with them (and if it makes cycling look fun and safe and gets half the other kids around riding with them, they really will be much safer).
On the other hand if they want helmets and that's a requirement for riding, then I'll be equally happy to provide them.