TEDxCopenhagen - Mikael Colville-Andersen - Why We Shouldn't Bike with a Helmet

Copenhagen's bicycle ambassador talks about how important the bicycle is for liveable cities and how bicycle helmets are threatening bicycle culture.

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Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• TEDx
• TEDxCopenhagen
• bicycle
• helmet
• colville
• cycle chic

[MilitantOldLady]

Stop trying to make everything safe!

You are holding up evolution by allowing the idiots to survive!

[mrKoncpom]

I am using a helmet.

Why? It has become a fashy accesory, and cycling through the woods i love to dodge the smaller branches. Helmet in a city? Pfffff...

[rlwieneke]

Only safe helmet to wear while biking would be a motorcycle helmet.

[SteveH3820]

I wear a helmet because I am a natural klutz. I have had 2 accidents, one with a car and one without, that probably would have left me brain dead or just dead if I hadn't had a helmet. I can definitely see that if I lived in the city and commuted to work, that I wouldn't want to wear a helmet. I live in Minneapolis and inner city bicycling is exploding and I love it. We just need to make our cities more bike friendly.

[aikighost]

@fdkahfliafh And I don't wear a helmet because Id rather not cycle than have to wear one.

[harshbarj]

Some facts from Wikipedia.

"There is an active scientific debate, with no consensus, on whether helmets are useful for cyclists in general, and on whether any benefits are outweighed by their disadvantages."

"In the USA, two-thirds of cyclists admitted to hospital have a head injury. Ninety per cent of cyclist deaths are caused by collisions with motor vehicles"

"Wearing helmets may make cyclists feel safer and thus take more risks."

all from Wikipedia's bicycle helmet article. look it up.

[harshbarj]

@fdkahfliafh , actually you CAN argue against actually wearing one. The odds of dying in a bicycle crash is 1 in 4919. Your odds of dying while walking down the street, one in 626. and 1 in 84 in a car. Do people wear helmets while walking or driving a car? Then why should they on a bicycle. It's the safest form of transit we have.

The numbers quoted are from National Safety Council and released in 2005.

I live in the Us and proudly don't wear a helmet. Cycle Chic forever!

[fdkahfliafh]

He makes a good point. Although you can argue against helmet advocacy, you can't argue against actually wearing one. I just bought a new helmet because mine cracked last time I fell. My head is fine thanks to the helmet. Helmets may not save you from death when you get hit by a car, but they keep minor accidents from becoming major ones.

[bigepi]

He wasted two and a half years 'researching' what? 'Laboratory' which one all of them?

Which helmets all of them? I don't mind wearing a helmet, mind you I have never fallen onto it but I have had many a magpie swoop into which would otherwise have been my naked head. I have wondered if they do work, since they are quite hard.

The statistics are fantasy, it's an academics favourite game called draw the lines between the dots that don't exist. Is the helmet to blame or the marketing.

[MrMarafi]

If London had cycle paths and cycle lanes REAL ones not the blue paint crap. Then i would get rid of my helmet and only use it for roller blading. Sadly with London roads i would not cycle without my helmet!

[stingyzx]

@MilitantOldLady Unfortunately the idiots are driving 2 ton vehicles and no helmet makes you die easier.

[agroundhere]

I'm presently recovering from a mild concussion from a New Years Day fall in Palm Beach. Without my now cracked helmet I'd be posting this from a hospital. The road rash is almost healed. Falls are part of the adventure but a serious injury is not.