Minister not wearing a helmet on Liveline right now.

Cabaal

monument wrote: »

Just tuned in before the end -- somebody from one of the charities was on saying cycling is basically a sport and like other sports you need helmets.

Walking and running are also sports, gona need some helmets for them too

Chips Lovell

Just listening to it now. My head is in my hands here.

"But what about the high viz jackets...."

I see Eamon Ryan on his bike around town a lot. He rides a big heavy hybrid and never seems to be going very fast. He is obvious a dangerous thrill seeker.

Jawgap

el tonto wrote: »

Just listening to it now. My head is in my hands here.

"But what about the high viz jackets...."

I see Eamon Ryan on his bike around town a lot. He rides a big heavy hybrid and never seems to be going very fast. He is obvious a dangerous thrill seeker.

I overtook John Gormley once - every other time he's dropped me!

I did have the courtesy to restrain myself from uttering something unpleasant and took the opportunity to thank him for the Cycle to Work Scheme.


.....for the record, he was wearing a helmet (and very impractical rain-coat!)

Chips Lovell

"I broke a bone in my wrist. I was looking at a wee girl in a mini skirt. I went over the handlebars..."

Jawgap

el tonto wrote: »

"I broke a bone in my wrist. I was looking at a wee girl in a mini skirt. I went over the handlebars..."

her handlebars or yours?

ThisRegard

el tonto wrote: »

"I broke a bone in my wrist. I was looking at a wee girl in a mini skirt. I went over the handlebars..."

That was classic wasn't it, I think that guy was just making the story up to suit his pro helmet agenda, he's the same guy who said the doctor said he must have been wearing a helmet because he was lucky to be alive.

irishgrover

I was in Amsterdam last weekend...
..obviously the place was full of cyclists. What i found interesting was the of all the thousands of people I saw, not one was wearing a hi vis or a helmet.
Does anyone know what the stats are re probability of death when cycling there?

Obviously, there is a culture and infrastructure there that supports cycling infinity better then here. But I'd be interested in knowing that if that infrastructure, with a complete absence of helmets and hi vis clothing, has much better death probability factors...

Chips Lovell

Jawgap wrote: »

her handlebars or yours?

My handlebars Joe.

Chips Lovell

I have seen Eamon Ryan field calls on his mobile while cycling.

EDIT: Which I'm guilty of myself sometimes.

Chips Lovell

"I own a bike shop. Everyone should buy a helmet...."

Hermy

el tonto wrote: »

"I broke a bone in my wrist. I was looking at a wee girl in a mini skirt. I went over the handlebars..."

I suppose he was implying that a helmet would have obstructed his view of said wee girl and thus prevented him going over the handlebars.
Moral of the story - always wear a helmet.

Jawgap

el tonto wrote: »

I have seen Eamon Ryan field calls on his mobile while cycling.

EDIT: Which I'm guilty of myself sometimes.

What about Dan Boyle - I'm sure I've seen him twitter while on his bike......

Idleater

irishgrover wrote: »

Does anyone know what the stats are re probability of death when cycling there?

Don't know of the statistics, but it is not overly bad. Like you say the road infrastructure, laws and attitudes of drivers are conditioned there to take cyclists into account.

Basically, they have equivalent rights as pedestrians i.e. vulnerable road users that are essentially always in the right. Lights/no lights, hi-viz/no hi-viz, bell, no bell, one way street/two way street, left side of road/right side of road etc. if you are in a vehicle you are responsible for seeing the cyclist.

As you were in Amsterdam, you would have seen the lunacy that cyclists get up to on the streets, so you have to imagine the training that drivers do to take them into account.

petethedrummer

irishgrover wrote: »

I was in Amsterdam last weekend...
..obviously the place was full of cyclists. What i found interesting was the of all the thousands of people I saw, not one was wearing a hi vis or a helmet.
Does anyone know what the stats are re probability of death when cycling there?

http://www.bikexprt.com/research/pasanen/helsinki.htm
http://cfit.independent.gov.uk/pubs/2001/ebp/ebp/stage1/04.htm

CramCycle

el tonto wrote: »

"I own a bike shop. Everyone should buy a helmet...."

From CRC or Wiggle?:eek:

cdaly_

el tonto wrote: »

I have seen Eamon Ryan field calls on his mobile while cycling..

Apparently that's legal.

Was talking to my sister on her mobile while she was out horse-riding. In the course of the call she suddenly yells and then continues talking. Turned out the horse had spooked at something, done the thing horses do when spooked, my sister hopped off and did the thing riders do with spooked horses all while continuing the conversation on the mobile.

Oh, and she was wearing a helmet...

monument

Here's the MP3 of Liveline yesterday, just the section on cycling helmets:

http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2010/pc/pod-v-02091025m25slivelinecycling.mp3

CramCycle

God I hate Liveline

concussion

Aaaaaaghh!! I just listened to that tripe...why, why did I click the link??

n-dawg

My helmet came in really handy yesterday....

I had to do some shopping and bought too much so it wouldn't all fit in my backpack. So I clipped my helmet to the bag and put all the extra things in it. Saved me having to buy a 22c bag that would probably break half way home.

1st time its come in handy...

High Nellie

It bothers me that the kind of people who choose not to wear helmets are still allowed to vote.
However, the growing culture of 'regulation' and political correctness is worse and the fact that people are talking so much about it is evidence of this. 'Regulation' on helmets (i.e. law) is the next step. Carry it to a logical conclusion and pedestrians should wear helmets as more of these get killed from head injuries following colissions with cars.

Bunnyhopper

High Nellie wrote: »

It bothers me that the kind of people who choose not to wear helmets are still allowed to vote.
However, the growing culture of 'regulation' and political correctness is worse …

Worse? Worse than wanting to deprive people of the vote because they look at the ambiguous evidence (and yes, the case is not clear-cut) and reach a decision that happens to be different from yours? And you're complaining about a culture of regulation? Mote, beam, etc.

High Nellie

Oops - it was meant to be sarcastic, but obviouslly failed.

henryinoz

No no no no no no nooooooooo

They made them compulsory in Australia and New Zealand 20 years ago, and the unintended consequence was a huge drop in cycling, and a huge drop in the general health of the population. Finally there's the beginnings of a movement to repeal the law. People drive SUVs to a gym now instead .

Don't EVER allow it to be regarded as desirable to wear one, or contributory negligence not to wear one.

Beasty

henryinoz wrote: »

No no no no no no nooooooooo

They made them compulsory in Australia and New Zealand 20 years ago, and the unintended consequence was a huge drop in cycling, and a huge drop in the general health of the population. Finally there's the beginnings of a movement to repeal the law. People drive SUVs to a gym now instead .

Don't EVER allow it to be regarded as desirable to wear one, or contributory negligence not to wear one.

I closed the other thread for a reason - don't go looking for more old threads to resurrect helmet debates - if you post this again I will ban you

Thanks

Beasty

Cabaal

el tonto wrote: »

Wearing leather pants would be the biggest prevention measure for injuries if my crash experience has anything to go by. Bloody road rash.

Clearly although we have no stats to backup your compaign it should be pushed on everyone

We need to get people to call LiveLine and start a petition about something so ilthough-out with no basis to back it up

Beasty

Sorry - forgot to say

Thread closed

Beasty