Remember kids... always wear a helmet. (The almighty bikeradar helmet thread)

I tend to have a crash roughly every 2 years, which is the recommended replacement cycle for modern helmets- maybe Bothwells "controlling my mind via lasers" theory is, in fact, true?

@bradwiggins:
Just to confirm I haven't called for helmets to be made the law as reports suggest

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@bradwiggins
I suggested it may be the way to go to give cyclists more protection legally I involved In an accident

@bradwiggins
I wasn't on me soap box CALLING, was asked what I thought #myopiniondoesntcountformuch

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Bus or HGV at a junction and you are on a bike, you as the cyclist have the choice, it's not like you cant see a bus.

I just don't really see a difference.

Good tweets. Nice post.

suggestion that "helmet = legal protection" is still a huge can of worms.

I just don't really see a difference.

Bus = full of people, HGV = full of goods

HTH.

Bus = full of people, HGV = full of goods

HTH.

Are you saying people are bad?

BAD.

Bus = Windows and a box HGV = Bendy box more

The only evidence needed is common sense
Thank fuck for common sense.

Imagine if we only had science and logic - What a mess we would be in then.

100% commonsense FACT.

comparing the Wiggins quotes from last night and from here - http://www.thefootdown.co.uk/2012/07/12/bradley-wiggins-fred-perry-interview/

**What about the safety aspects that go along with that?
**Cycling is fantastic, it’s healthy and everything but people have to help themselves a little bit as well and they have to realise sometimes that they are on the road on a bike and there is a certain amount of responsibility they have to take like wearing a helmet, not wearing an iPod and all those things. I think certain laws may have to be passed as well, maybe having a rear light, wearing a helmet, once cyclists start helping themselves like that then they’ll have more protection and rights against drivers. If someone gets killed in a bus lane on a BoJo (Boris Bike) with no helmet and their iPod on then they haven’t really got a leg to stand on

He has kept a constant line on this to be fair. The statement looks like a fairly textbook one that he's had preprepared for while.

^^^ wraps self in bubble wrap

suffocates

Remember kids... Bubble wrap is not a toy. Never wrap yourself in it and, ooo, I don't know, roll down a massive hill or throw yourself down a flight of stairs just for shits and giggles.

It's a dangerous world out there - let's take it one careful step at a time.

We wrapped my nephew in it when he was a baby, he was uninjured on his journey down the stairs.

[QUOTE]If someone gets killed ... then they haven’t really got a leg to stand on

[/QUOTE]

erm...

Is a handsfree kit really expensive?

Handsfree is cheap, but ineffective. The greater problem with phoning while driving is not the physical act of holding the handset, but the mental distraction of trying to hold a conversation with a distant party.

The only evidence needed is common sense

Epic fail of the day. Common sense is wrong far too often to be relied on for making public policy, even if it right often enough to guide personal behaviour.

So what you're saying is that you started wearing a helmet, and then mysteriously, for no good reason, two weeks later you had a crash? Sounds well dodgy. I've only ever had one crash (touch wood) and that was when I got doored by pax getting out of a cab into the road without looking. I was wearing a helmet at the time. Having heard your story, my suspicions are definitely aroused.

Can we definitely rule out conspiracy? What if the helmet manufacturers put tiny brain-manipulating electrodes in helmets that make wearers crash more often so they'll tell everybody about how their helmet saved their life and keep buying more and more of them?

I think the bastard manufacturer's maybe using some hallucinogenic glues, that fuzz your brain, for 3 or 4 hours, so that hey are undetectable by the time you are seen at A & E...

Common sense is wrong far too often

Common Sense is also a fallacy. It is something that is far too subjective and culturally specific to be common at all.

If anyone uses the phrase, it should be noted that the sense (or perceived knowledge of the fact in question) they are referring to is only common to those with the same or similar background, education and experiences as themselves, at least in the discussed area or subject.

Anyway, derail.

Handsfree is cheap, but ineffective. The greater problem with phoning while driving is not the physical act of holding the handset, but the mental distraction of trying to hold a conversation with a distant party.

my work just gave us the 'company driving policy' involving the usual statistics etc, then told us we can't use any phones, including hands free when driving for work. Fair enough I thought, but what about sat navs? No, that's ok we think. Eating a sandwich? er, that's not covered either. I guess the phone is the only thing they would be blamed for in an accident, sigh.

interestingly the beeb seem to have chopped the mention of helmets off of Wiggo's interview in the news since he put out tweet saying he'd been misquoted....

If I decide not to catch up on the last 24 hrs of this thread, will I have missed anything new?

Wiggins was taken out of context is the take home message.

Wiggins was talking out his arse because he was pissed is the take home message.

ftfy

I've been lying in bed trying to get to sleep by listening to BBC Radio London (usually works) and there's yet another ill-informed discussion about cycle safety.

When the third caller in a row (none of them cyclists) declared that we ought to be wearing helmets and the presenter said we go too fast and then another caller moaned about how we don't use the segregated lanes provided, I cracked and phoned in.

Not sure how successfully I got my points across but I tried to convey the complexity of these issues and the simple truths.

Two wheels bad innit.

MissMouse. How did your points go down with the presenter and subsequent callers-in? Do you think they helped the discussion and dispell common misconceptions?