CYCLE helmets prevent many serious head injuries and save lives. Evidence from New Zealand shows that a law compelling cyclists to wear helmets led to a 19 per cent fall in the number of head injuries. That's not surprising. Anything that reduces the impact of a crash on our bodies saves lives: look at helmets for motorcyclists and seat belts for people in cars.
Yet the British Medical Association argues against making cycle helmets compulsory. It says that helmet laws in Australia led to a fall in the number of cyclists. The BMA wants to encourage people to travel by bike, seeing cycling as the perfect antidote to a sedentary lifestyle.
There are other reasons, too, why the BMA is right to be cautious. The fundamental problem for cyclists is that they are vulnerable—and wearing a helmet doesn't help much. It may even lead to a false sense of security. A helmet won't prevent you being mangled under the wheels of a truck.
Head injuries are a serious but small part of a bigger problem. Two papers published in 1994 in the British Medical Journal (vol 308, p 1534 and p 1537) illustrate this point. A study of a thousand cyclists who were treated in a Cambridge hospital showed that cycle helmets reduced head injuries, and the study's authors suggested making helmets compulsory. Yet only 3 per cent of the cyclists had head injuries that kept them in hospital overnight. Many more had broken bones.
By concentrating on head injuries we risk losing sight of the real danger. The second BMJ paper looked at 178 cyclists who died in London between 1985 and 1992. All but five were killed by motor vehicles: 75 were the victims of trucks and 74 were hit by cars. Cycling is safe on its own. It's other vehicles that are the danger.
Partial body protection will not make a huge dent in this death toll. Cyclists must be physically separated from other traffic, and that means building networks of safe cycle routes in every city. That isn't cheap or easy, and it requires a lot more resources than have been invested by most British cities, where the best that cyclists can hope for is a strip of coloured tarmac along the side of the road.
To be effective, cycle networks have to allow cyclists to travel around town without having to share their road space with speeding motor vehicles. And they should not have to make huge detours either. Otherwise nobody will want to use the dedicated lanes. On busy roads, cyclists should have at least a kerb to keep other traffic at bay. They also need special phases at traffic lights to help them cross busy traffic lanes. Where streets with light traffic form part of the network, measures such as road humps are needed to limit the speed of motor vehicles.
Cycling is healthy and it can ease the pressure on other forms of transport. Building proper cycle routes will encourage people to take it up.