The pictures from the article show not a single person wearing a helmet... there is a lesson here I'd like the Australian regulaors to learn.
There is nothing wrong with wearing a helmet - I've come off my bike before and its made a potentially very bad situation painful rather than life-threatening - and really look, on the list of worries of cyclist, having to wear a helmet is the least of our worries.
(The law about "not riding on a footpath" is probably more annoying - occasionally, you need to, when its the only safe option).
However, what is an issue in Australia with cyclist is attitude particularly with car drivers. Until that changes, it will always discourage potential cyclists.
Whether it's cars who will literally chase you down and scream about how they "deserve to be on the road and you don't", or people who open doors into the bike lane without checking for cyclist etc.
Ironically, I find it actually tends to be the lower socio-economic areas that find the concept of cycling most puzzling.
In the more expensive areas, cycling seems to be more of a thing - sadly, road cycling is a rich man's hobby here - when you have groups of Cervelo and Bianchi's out on weekends, those people often tend to be a bit more considerate when you're on the road yourself during the week.
I do wish cycling was more mainstream, or at least car drivers better educated - but I don't think that removing helmets is the way to do that.
I haven't fallen off since I was a teenager, messing around. I trip over while walking more often, and have been a passenger in two car accidents. People in many countries don't feel unsafe cycling, so don't wear a helmet. I think the statistics back them up, in countries like the Netherlands.
New hydraulic disc brakes (Avid Codes, I think), happened to brake on the front a little too hard, and not enough on the rear.
I suppose it really depends on how much you ride - if you ride a lot, eventually you're going to have a scrape (hopefully minor). You can't predict everything that's going to happen on the road.
only on giving people the choice: feel safer with one, wear one, if you don't don't.
Sure, you can argue that it's a bit nanny-state (and I know in certain countries, that's not a very popular stance), but it's also a bit of public health/safety.
Yes, sure, it's not as convenient wearing a seatbelt all the time, or wearing a helmet all the time, but over here, where we have government healthcare, it would probably cost them additional money if they had to cover potentially preventable accidents.
Also, I don't disagree that head accidents aren't the most common bike injury.
However, think about it - you graze your knees, or you break your arm - they're painful but not usually life threatening.
You hit your head, get a concussion, suffer some kind of brain damage - you are very much screwed.
Guy at my church, his brother in law is a cyclist. He got attacked by magpies, fell off and suffered a head injury. He can't work at the moment, and is in rehab at home.
Sure, the chance may be low, but do you really want to take it?
I would glad take a grazed knee over a head injury any day of the year. Hence why helmets are mandatory here, and not say, knee guards.
And if the government if funding your healthcare, you can bet it costs them a pretty dime to care for you for the rest of your life, if you were to suffer a disability from a head injury.
I'm all for wearing helmets and encouraging their use, but it's more complicated than "Helmets are safe, they should be mandatory".
Permitting riding on footpaths where appropriate was one of our recommendations.
Riding without a helmet, perhaps in the CBD or in conjunction with an improved bike hire scheme, was one of my proposals that didn't win consensus with the group.
We made about 30ish recommendations all up, and almost all were endorsed by the Premier for trial.
The whole process was very eye-opening. I drive to work, but I would ride if it were safer. I hope we'll gradually see improved infrastructure here in Adelaide, at least by the time my children are at riding age.
Whereas in Amsterdam, people want to leave their heads free because its mostly pretty cold, and you want to wear a proper head covering - like a beany or scarf - and this isn't always compatible with bike helments.
However, I've observed many times over people wearing helmets in Amsterdam. Its not a generalized circumstance that Amsterdam bike riders don't wear helmets - its just in this selection of pictures. Also, the average distances and speeds of the bike riders in Amsterdam are likely to be a lot smaller than those of Australia, where you have all the space in the world. A lot of people in Amsterdam don't ride much more than a kilometer or so, and at much reduced speeds than you would find on your average Australian road.
Biking in Amsterdam is pretty safe. But this is mostly because of the infrastructure, and more importantly because dutch drivers are used to cyclers on the roads. Most bike accidents in Amsterdam are caused by foreign drivers that are not used to looking out for bikes. I imagine this the number one reason biking is less safe in American cities.
Also many tourists and a lot of expats! I also see more and more kids riding on the front / back of bikes wearing helmets, their parents usually going helmetless.
1) https://www.aaafoundation.org/sites/default/files/bikeuse_PB... 2) https://www.google.com/search?q=amsterdam+cyclist&espv=2&tbm...
Join me on my bike commute in Sydney sometime. This town of 5 million is crammed into hills and bays, there's a traffic light every 100 meters for most of the way, the roads are jammed during rush hour and there are zero dedicated bike lanes along my route: either you dodge cars on the road, or you dodge pedestrians on shared pedestrian/bike sidewalks.
Thankfully, Clover Moore put in cycleways with kerbs in the CBD - Sydney drivers unfortunately have a somewhat deserved reputation for being notoriously ill-mannered.
And now the State government wants to tear up the cycleways to make room for....more car lanes...sigh...
Sydney taxi drivers are the worst though...
(I've had... about three serious bike accidents - fell on my head once (ow), broke my arm (ow), and drove into a rock I didn't see, causing a cut on my arm (pain. And plenty of blood).
But, three accidents, of which only one would've warranted a helmet, none of which happened in the past 15 years, are not nearly enough reason for me to wear a helmet on my bicycle. And that's how everyone else feels, too. Statistics will back me up (tens of millions of bike rides a year, only a handful of fatal head-injuries)
A quick bike helmet image search produce a multitude of helmets that looks aimed at either high speed or off-road riding.