When summer comes, it presents me with a significant challenge. What should I wear when I am out and about on my bike? Times have changed and so has the climate. Like most people my age, growing up was a time when the Sun was a thing to worship. Sunburn was a badge of honour. Of course, I am much more careful and sunsmart these days.
Skin cancers are primarily caused by too much exposure to UV radiation from the sun. Skin cancer is the most common cancer affecting New Zealanders. To put it into perspective, about as many New Zealanders die each year from melanoma skin cancers as die on our roads. Skin cancer is just as preventable as road deaths, if not more so.
(There is something rather fitting in that comparison to road deaths but let’s stay on topic). What a conundrum; for a person who uses a bicycle for transport. I take the sun safety message very seriously. I also pride myself on being a law abiding citizen. I also know that I am a risk averse person. So every time I ride to the library on a sunny day, wearing nothing but a sun hat, I am breaking the law. But my fear of sun exposure scares me more than going on a slow, easy ride on a bicycle.
I think some choice on the matter would be a good idea. I don’t want to be treated like a criminal. And if the research is true, we may find that we are over-stating the safety benefits of helmets. The added bonus could be that cycling may appear just a bit more normal.
Cycling-the non-vehicular way.
You can wear a thin cloth sun protecting hat and plonk your helmet over the top of it. Those ones that have a neck and ear flaps.
I am very keen on wearing my helmet. Expecially after the ambulance men who carried me off to the emergency dept (with severe contusions), expressed relief that I was wearing a helmet when I went over the bonnet of the car that did a U turn in front of me without warning. They said that it was very distressing to attend a bike accident where the rider was not wearing a helmet, because of the consequences of not doing so.
The anecdotes and irritations about helmets will flow freely on this post. But it is all introspective, and needlessly divisive.
We need someone to go to the Minister of Transport and make him aware of the situation. My understanding is that this is “just” a regulation. To get it changed would probably only require a letter from the Minister to the NZTA. It’s not a big deal requiring a majority vote in parliament and a huge publicity campaign.
In fact no-one will notice if the regulation was relaxed, and IMHO most NZers couldn’t care less either way. Why? Because utility cycling (where the odd bare head might show up in sunhat or showercap) is still considered by most to be a fringe/cringe activity, ugh.
We could then all get on with confronting the real enemy to cycling – the tsunami of traffic. Now this is serious stuff, but another topic.
A “helpful” member of the public suggested I should wear a helmet while I was out unicycling yesterday. This despite the fact I was dawdling along on a bike-path at walking pace like she was.
I’m beginning to believe this “climate-of-fear” theory bike-bloggers speak of.
Research out of Australia suggests that motorists would benefit from wearing helmets.
“Car crashes remain a significant source of head injury in the community. Car occupants have an annual hospital admission rate of around 90 per 100,000 population. Of drivers who are admitted to hospital, the most serious injury is usually to the head (O’Conner and Trembath, 1994).
Read more here….
http://www.copenhagenize.com/2009/10/australian-helmet-science-for-motorists.html
we rode the “Green Route” down to Devonport this morning, plenty of cyclists about and at least 50% not wearing helmets, is the helmet issue the biggie we think it is?
when was the last time someone was prosecuted for not wearing a helmet?
Julie – according to the law you have to wear your helmet properly. Hats reduce the effectiveness of the helmet and you are therefore not wearing your helmet properly.
If wearing a helmet makes you feel safer, that’s great. I can’t say I think wearing a hat AND a helmet is going to normalise cycling for most people though.
Well, the helmet topic got good stirring up in the NZ Herald and Dominion Post newspapers today!
Here is said Herald article.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10784602
If you want to read endless “helmet saved my life stories” try the comments in the Stuff/Dompost article:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/6395656/Helmet-law-halves-cyclist-numbers
It’s a shame we have to subscribe to read the original article in the NZMJ.