“Hell Yes” and “Hell No” to bike helmets:
YES:
• Wearing a helmet while riding a bike is analogous to wearing a seatbelt while driving.
• Personal “saved by the helmet” stories and experiences.
• Sixty-three percent of bicyclists (USA, 2014) killed were not wearing helmets.
• Claims that wearing a helmet makes cycling appear dangerous, and may discourage cycling, are unproven.
NO:
• Enforced helmet laws have consistently caused substantial reductions in cycle use.
• Not a single person has died using (largely helmetless) city bike share.
• The health benefits of cycling are so much greater than the (relatively low) risks involved, that even if a helmet laws will cause only a very small reduction in cycle use, this would still almost certainly mean far more lives being lost through physical inactivity than helmets could possibly save.
• The presence of cyclists wearing helmets makes car drivers feel they are safer and propels them to drive 3 inches closer to these cyclists.
›› Other (specific) reasons why commuters and other recreational (slow speed) cyclists don’t
wear helmets in the Netherlands