Is it compulsory to wear a helmet when cycling?
The question recently arose (January 2022) in the French Senate of extending to all cyclists the obligation to wear a helmet, currently required only for children up to the age of 12.
As a cyclist who has been wearing a helmet for years, my first instinct was to say "yes, of course". Because, as I've personally experienced in a crash, wearing a helmet obviously improves cyclist safety. While it's not absolute protection (helmets are light), as the number of cyclists increases - which is what's happening at the moment - their safety will become an important and recurring issue.
I even wondered how anyone could be against wearing a helmet: on a daily basis, we wear our helmets.
shoes to protect your feet and don't you wear a helmet to protect your head when cycling?
To my great surprise, after some research, I found some good reasons:
- Accident studies show that the vast majority of head injuries to cyclists (excluding mountain bikers) are caused by side impacts (motor vehicles), for which wearing a helmet is of little use.
- Countries with a long culture of daily cycling (the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany, for example) have not made helmets compulsory. There must be a reason for this!
- Three countries in the world have made it compulsory: Australia, New Zealand and some provinces in Canada. The result, firstly, is that accidents have not fallen (obviously that's reason 1), but above all that cycling has fallen.
It's the opposite of what we're looking for: on our streets and roads, 1,000 unhelmeted cyclists are better than 1,000 motorists, and the benefits of cycling (in terms of public health versus a sedentary lifestyle, or reducing pollution) far outweigh the risks.
The conclusion is obvious: YES to wearing a helmet, on an individual basis, NO to its obligation.
Denis Chouquet-Stringer
CCC 6183
April 2022
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