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Jo
@beda.bsky.social

Helmets also protect you from falls and with the rise of ebikes making crash speeds higher the Dutch have been urged to start wearing helmets. The Dutch Institute for Road Safety found that if they mass adopted helmets there would be 85 fewer deaths yearly. www.theguardian.com/world/articl...

theguardian.com‘The brain is very vulnerable’: Dutch cyclists urged to wear helmets as road deaths riseHelmet-wearing is rare in this nation of bike riders but authorities are pushing people to think again
Liam Duffy
@liamduffy.dev

Yes, if you are a pensioner who could previously only cycle at 8mph on a good day and now comfortably rides at 15mph, it might be a good idea to wear a helmet. But that's where the lessons end here. The Dutch are top of the charts when it comes to public health outcomes (including head injuries!)

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Jochem Floor
@jochemfloor.bsky.social

Head injuries rise as a result of changing conditions. More dense traffic, extensive use of electric bikes, as well as novel (partly illegal) bike-like types of transportation, poor behaviour, demographics (aging), etc. Against many of these root causes a helmet is not the most effectice answer.

Liam Duffy
@liamduffy.dev

If head injuries for under 18s are rising, that probably has a lot to do with teenagers riding "fatbikes", which are basically unregistered illegal mopeds. Probably would be more productive to do something about that instead of policing helmet usage.