Bicycle Network Victoria: Ride On magazine

Read about helmet laws in Australia

How to choose and fit a bicycle helmet

Speaking from experience

Feb-Mar 2011

Having sustained an acquired brain injury in 2007, while riding in very visible bike gear, including an approved helmet, I cannot stress how important it is to wear an approved helmet and to have it secured firmly and positioned so that the brain vault at the front of the skull is protected!

Ann Larsen, Maffra, VIC

Leave to riders' discretion

3 December 2009

I agree with Heinrich Benz that helmets should be optional. I realise that cycling on a road shared with cardrivers can be dangerous and it's a good idea to wear a helmet, however, there are many bicycle paths around Victoria where riders do not have to share the road with car drivers such as rail trails, Beach Road bicycle path, Mordialloc to Carrum and many others. On those paths the wearing of helmets should be left to the discretion of the rider. Also, if we can reeducate car drivers to be more aware of and willing to share the road with cyclists, we could make a safer riding environment for everybody, which in turn would encourage more people to ride bicycles. Road safety is a whole community issue. If cyclists were given more rights on the road, like they have in Europe, this would increase safety as well.

Gerda Vellinga

The case for helmets

October 09

Heinrich Benz’s opinion on helmets was clearly winding readers up, but just in case he was serious, I would like to point out that accidents are prevented by defensive cycling and a bit of good luck. In the event of coming off one’s bike, a rider without a helmet is much more likely to leave a sample of scalp on the road compared to one with a helmet in which case a sample of broken plastic and foam may be a reminder of how important helmets are! Death is not the only outcome of a head injury.

Dr Doron Gaddie

Hampton VIC

Helmet did its job

18 October 09

Re the letter from Heinrich Benz in the October-November edition of Ride On: yes, there is safety in numbers. Although my Sunday club rides are subject to the occasional abusive comment and provocative action by motorists there have been virtually no motor vehicle related accidents in the seven years of my membership. It is a different matter when we ride solo during the week. It does not matter how observant and proactive we are in our own safety, there are occasions when we cannot avoid a crash. I had one of these in early October. The driver emerged at such speed from a left side street that the collision was unavoidable. Apart from a broken clavicle and a rib, I sustained no other serious injury. But, my helmet is badly dented where the left side of my skull struck the road, and there are two fracture lines running through the padding. The helmet did its job to perfection. I shudder to think of the condition of my skull if I had elected not to wear that helmet.

Ray Clifford

Mooroolbark VIC

Head unscathed

19 October 09

I read with great surprise and disbelief the letter in Ride On (October-November) about how bicycle helmets don’t save lives. I would like to strongly repudiate such a claim as an experience reminded me on the weekend that bicycle helmets definitely do save lives. Two friends and I were riding in the ATB. Just before we got to Mount Martha from Mornington, my friend had a very nasty accident. He crashed going straight over his handlebars onto his head. The helmet was broken and cracked in many places but his head was unscathed, although his neck is a bit sore and he has broken his collarbone. But this is much better than the brain damage or even death that would have occurred if he weren’t wearing the helmet.

Jason Cherry

Mount Waverley VIC

Helmet saves head

October 09

Heinrich Benz (Ride On October-November 2009) thinks helmets should be optional. If I didn’t wear a helmet, I would not be writing this reply. Riding home from work several months ago, my (20-year-old) steel fork broke off the steerer tube and I “face-planted” on the road – my helmet cracked, my glasses were scraped, and I suffered some “exfoliation” which healed in a week or so. I treated the bike to a new carbon fork. Four weeks later, on an early morning ride, a driver did not see my two tail lights or my yellow jersey and arm warmers and ran me down from behind. My new helmet was cracked above my eye where I bounced off the windscreen wiper of the van, and I had a black eye to show for it. The skin you lose eventually grows back and broken bones knit. But after each accident I looked at the damage to my helmet and was grateful it wasn’t my head instead.

David Hart

Fairlight NSW

Lives saved

October 09

I could not believe the view expressed by Heinrich Benz (Ride On, October-November 2009) that helmets do not protect bicycle riders in urban traffic. What nonsense. I am one of many commuting cyclists in a busy capital city who is only alive today because my helmet took the impact of a large vehicle before my skull was cracked. Similarly friends that have been knocked off bikes and had their helmets hit gutters and roads are in the same boat. Of course a helmet cannot save lives in every situation, but the message we need to get out is that helmet wearing is not only the law, but it is sensible. Hanging a helmet on handlebars instead of your head, as I see some people do, is crazy. It’s hazardous enough on the roads without tempting fate.

Peter Anderson

Alphington VIC

Pro optional helmets

12 October 09

I applaud Heinrich Benz’s plea for helmets to be made optional. Of course helmets sometimes prevent serious injury as do sensible walking shoes, but do we insist on women always wearing these? Adults should be able to choose if and when they wear helmets, as is the case in almost all other nations. If BV is intent on achieving its goal of ‘getting more people riding more often’, and making bike riding the ‘cultural norm’ then compulsory helmet wearing will need to go. Otherwise, will the movement for shared public bicycles ever get the numbers? A survey would surely reveal that many people, particularly women at various stages and ages, would ride a bike if they could choose when to wear a helmet.

Lawrence Reddaway

Glen Iris VIC

Mind changed

12 October 09

I am writing in regard to a letter in Ride On (October-November 2009) from Heinrich Benz titled Make Helmets Optional. We all dislike laws governing our lives and every day there are laws made that seem to restrict our freedoms. Compulsory wearing of bicycle helmets seemed to me to be one of these laws when it was introduced some years ago, but I begrudgingly bought a helmet and proceeded to wear it in fear of losing some hard earned cash to the government through fines revenue. Sometime later when returning from an evening ride I hit the pavement after going over the handle bars at speed, the result being a buckled bike wheel, a little gravel rash and one very smashed bicycle helmet. Needless to say without the helmet it may have been my skull in that condition.

Michael Creek

Nhill VIC

Make helmets optional

September 09

Every time Ride On has a photo of a rider without a helmet, readers protest. In urban traffic, helmets do not protect bicycle riders – other riders do. The more people ride, the safer it is. The Danish, Dutch, Germans etc must be killed in droves as they are not wearing helmets for their daily commutes. So how come they manage to keep cycling participation between 9% to 28% of trips? I personally think helmet wearing should be left to the discretion of the sensible commuter.

Heinrich Benz

Bassendean WA

Helmet prevents serious injury

9 April 09

Hi Folks, a short recount which took place recently. Became more pertinent when I read your article on helmet fit and care in this month's issue of Ride On.

Riding along the bike track from the station pier back to the city and passing through the tram depot crossing which I have done hundreds of times when I went from horizontal to vertical in a millisecond; didn't even have time to get a hand out, it had been drizzling. l was amazed with how much force I struck the tram tracks; smashing across the right side of the helmet; luckily no major damage to myself; slight scratch on forehead and some sore spots. The helmet took full impact and saved me big time, if I had tightened the straps a little more probably wouldn't have even marked my face at all, helmet did its job but if I had checked and ensured a better fit would have been better; shows you can be complacent after decades of cycling and I was basically hardly moving! Take a closer look at your helmet; some good advice on how to get it right in Ride On.

Bob Carmichael

Keilor Downs VIC

Helmet saves head

24 March 08

With the recent warm weather I have noticed many bike riders riding without their helmets on. I would like my story to encourage the use of helmets.

Two weeks ago I had a bike accident. Witnesses tell me that I swerved to avoid something, hit the brakes and went over the handlebars. I sustained a broken collar bone, and four broken ribs, and was knocked out. My helmet was in 5 pieces. I was lucky. Not a bruise on the scone. I shudder to think how much worse I would be if I did not have my helmet.

David Beilby

North Carlton VIC

Helmet tampering worries

6 Dec 07

Dear Simon

In your review of the Bicycle Guardian Helmet-Mounted Brake Light (Ride On Dec 07 – Jan 08) it is not clear if you have drilled holes in the brake light or the helmet.  If holes have been drilled in the helmet, then the performance of the helmet in the case of an accident may be compromised.

Jan Chamberlain

Northcote, VIC

Thanks Jan for requesting clarification. The holes were drilled in the light casing. You are right to point out that tampering with a helmet, especially to the degree of drilling a hole in it, would compromise its ability to protect you in the event of a crash.

Simon Vincett, Editor