More Safety Options
This week, we'll wrap up the topic of extra accessories, mostly for safety. None of these is widely legally required (although your state may vary), but they can help.
Yet, many people don't do it. What's up with that?
In most places, they are not legally required for adults, although some municipals have their own ordinance. Most US states require children under a certain age to wear one, typically 16 (as in Maine) or 18. Connecticut requires everyone riding an eBike to wear one, but not a traditional bike. Some Canadian provinces may require it, as well as some other countries.
In deciding whether or not to wear one, you can do a deep dive into statistics and crash analysis, or just talk to an emergency room nurse who's seen his or her share of horrifying head injuries. Many cyclists have their own stories of how they're sure their helmet saved their life in a crash.
Wearing a helmet is one of those low likelihood, high consequence precautions. Chances are good that you aren't going to need it on any given ride, but if you do, you'll be glad you had it. I've been fortunate to never have had a major crash, but many cyclists are not so lucky. Even so, I have bumped my head in minor falls, such as slipping on wet leaves at the end of my driveway. I was glad I was wearing my helmet that day.
But, don't tell my mom, I still don't always wear one. Perhaps one day I'll regret it, but I just don't always feel like it, especially for casual rides or errands of only a few miles or less, or on really hot days. It feels obsessive to me to always make myself wear one no matter what, and I just don't like that. Among other reasons, I feel like I'm portraying cycling as so dangerous that you must always wear a helmet, and I don't like feeling that way either, because it's not, statistically.
On the other hand, if you are riding fast, or going on long rides over unfamiliar roads, or mountain biking, or practicing your mad BMX skillz, or are inexperienced and not confident of your bike handling (including kids), you should definitely wear one! At some point, it's about risk management and tolerance.
The reality is that there any many important safety things you can do to prevent crashing in the first place, which I have already covered in this blog. These include maintaining your bike well, riding legally and predictably, communicating your intentions, and making yourself visible. Bicycle educators speak of Five Layers of Bicycle Safety, and helmets are part of the last one, "passive protection", to mitigate consequences if all else fails. It is like wearing a seat belt in a car, or a life jacket on a boat.
One caveat I should mention is that bicycle helmets are typically designed more for solo falls than for high speed hits by cars. Sure, it may help in that case too, or not. Again, other things are important to keep you from crashing in the first place.
You should have some practical advice about choosing and using a helmet, but I thought it might be more valuable in this space to give you some personal ruminations, rather than the practical advice you can find repeated in a lot of places. One source for more info is this concise brochure from the Bicycle Coalition of Maine on exactly those topics. Do have a read. It really could save your life.
Cycling gloves will protect your hands from "road rash" in a crash.
Shoes that are not open-toed. Especially with higher intensity riding, exposed feet in sandals or flip-flops can get really messed up in a crash. I know someone who missed almost an entire summer on his bike as a kid for this reason.
Here are some other clothing consideration which are more in the category of preventing a crash.
Bright colors will help you be seen better by motorists. At night, bright colors can also be helpful, reflective material even more so, but only if you are well within the beam of car lights. See last week's article on lights for more about the limits of reflectivity.
Ever get your shoelace caught in the chain? Avoid loose clothing that could get caught up in the chain or wheel spokes.
Without a doubt, you need to be able to see what's going on behind you in certain situations. You need to look before you move further left into the roadway, such as to avoid a parked car or debris. It's useful to start looking well before you have to make such a move, so if it's not safe yet, maybe you can slow down a bit to wait for a car to pass. Sometimes it's nice to just to know what's going on behind you.
A mirror is convenient for general awareness, so you can get an idea of the situation without turning your head. But sometimes turning your head is better. Why? Two reasons.
Like any mirror, bike mirrors have blind spots, and like car mirrors, they are just over your shoulder. A quick glance in a mirror may not capture a vehicle (or another cyclist) there. Like changing lanes in a car, it is essential to do a shoulder check before you move, even if you have just looked in your mirror.
There is another less obvious but highly useful benefit of a shoulder check: it can also get the attention of a motorist behind you and clue them in that you might be about to do something different. Of course, for a drastic move like a lane change, a left turn hand signal helps too. (Communicate! Communicate!) On the other hand, if you aren't really considering moving, just wanting to look, a mirror allows that without the head turn, preventing possibly making someone think you're about to do something that you're not.
You have several options for attaching a mirror. You can buy bike mirrors that mount to your handlebars, or possibly elsewhere on the frame. You can also buy them that attach to your helmet, or even clip onto your eyeglasses, if you wear those. People vary widely in which kind seem to work best for them, so you may have to experiment.
And there you have it. Despite what you may have heard, cycling safety is almost entirely in your hands. You have a wide variety of options for keeping yourself safe, through your behavior as well as your equipment.
Helmets
Ask anyone what they know about bike safety, and "wear a helmet" is commonly agreed to be an important thing you have to do to be safe. Even if someone knows nothing else about bike safety, they know that.Yet, many people don't do it. What's up with that?
In most places, they are not legally required for adults, although some municipals have their own ordinance. Most US states require children under a certain age to wear one, typically 16 (as in Maine) or 18. Connecticut requires everyone riding an eBike to wear one, but not a traditional bike. Some Canadian provinces may require it, as well as some other countries.
In deciding whether or not to wear one, you can do a deep dive into statistics and crash analysis, or just talk to an emergency room nurse who's seen his or her share of horrifying head injuries. Many cyclists have their own stories of how they're sure their helmet saved their life in a crash.
Wearing a helmet is one of those low likelihood, high consequence precautions. Chances are good that you aren't going to need it on any given ride, but if you do, you'll be glad you had it. I've been fortunate to never have had a major crash, but many cyclists are not so lucky. Even so, I have bumped my head in minor falls, such as slipping on wet leaves at the end of my driveway. I was glad I was wearing my helmet that day.
But, don't tell my mom, I still don't always wear one. Perhaps one day I'll regret it, but I just don't always feel like it, especially for casual rides or errands of only a few miles or less, or on really hot days. It feels obsessive to me to always make myself wear one no matter what, and I just don't like that. Among other reasons, I feel like I'm portraying cycling as so dangerous that you must always wear a helmet, and I don't like feeling that way either, because it's not, statistically.
On the other hand, if you are riding fast, or going on long rides over unfamiliar roads, or mountain biking, or practicing your mad BMX skillz, or are inexperienced and not confident of your bike handling (including kids), you should definitely wear one! At some point, it's about risk management and tolerance.
The reality is that there any many important safety things you can do to prevent crashing in the first place, which I have already covered in this blog. These include maintaining your bike well, riding legally and predictably, communicating your intentions, and making yourself visible. Bicycle educators speak of Five Layers of Bicycle Safety, and helmets are part of the last one, "passive protection", to mitigate consequences if all else fails. It is like wearing a seat belt in a car, or a life jacket on a boat.
One caveat I should mention is that bicycle helmets are typically designed more for solo falls than for high speed hits by cars. Sure, it may help in that case too, or not. Again, other things are important to keep you from crashing in the first place.
You should have some practical advice about choosing and using a helmet, but I thought it might be more valuable in this space to give you some personal ruminations, rather than the practical advice you can find repeated in a lot of places. One source for more info is this concise brochure from the Bicycle Coalition of Maine on exactly those topics. Do have a read. It really could save your life.
Clothing
Two more articles of clothing merit mention in the category of injury mitigation.Cycling gloves will protect your hands from "road rash" in a crash.
Shoes that are not open-toed. Especially with higher intensity riding, exposed feet in sandals or flip-flops can get really messed up in a crash. I know someone who missed almost an entire summer on his bike as a kid for this reason.
Here are some other clothing consideration which are more in the category of preventing a crash.
Bright colors will help you be seen better by motorists. At night, bright colors can also be helpful, reflective material even more so, but only if you are well within the beam of car lights. See last week's article on lights for more about the limits of reflectivity.
Ever get your shoelace caught in the chain? Avoid loose clothing that could get caught up in the chain or wheel spokes.
- If your shoes have long laces, double-knot them or tuck the ends into your shoes. (Or buy shoes with velcro!)
- If you are wearing long pants and your bike does not have a chain guard, there are a variety of options for keeping your pant legs out of the way. You can tuck them into your socks, or wrap a rubber band around them. You can also buy velcro ankle straps from bike shops that will do the same thing. (And often these will include reflective material for visibility!)
- Watch out for strings that may hang down from backpacks or shoulder straps from panniers (side bags).
- Biking in a long skirt? Some bikes have skirt guards (mostly European, unfortunately for those of us west of the Atlantic), or you can make your own. Many women just find a way to hitch their skirt up under them.
"Bright and tight" is a good phrase to remember about clothing.
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| Reflective ankle straps - tight AND bright! |
Mirrors
After helmets, mirrors are maybe the piece of equipment that frequent cyclists most often argue about. Some cyclists swear by their mirror and would never be without one. Others are fine with just looking over their shoulder when necessary, and may even feel that others are overly dependent on mirrors.Without a doubt, you need to be able to see what's going on behind you in certain situations. You need to look before you move further left into the roadway, such as to avoid a parked car or debris. It's useful to start looking well before you have to make such a move, so if it's not safe yet, maybe you can slow down a bit to wait for a car to pass. Sometimes it's nice to just to know what's going on behind you.
A mirror is convenient for general awareness, so you can get an idea of the situation without turning your head. But sometimes turning your head is better. Why? Two reasons.
Like any mirror, bike mirrors have blind spots, and like car mirrors, they are just over your shoulder. A quick glance in a mirror may not capture a vehicle (or another cyclist) there. Like changing lanes in a car, it is essential to do a shoulder check before you move, even if you have just looked in your mirror.
There is another less obvious but highly useful benefit of a shoulder check: it can also get the attention of a motorist behind you and clue them in that you might be about to do something different. Of course, for a drastic move like a lane change, a left turn hand signal helps too. (Communicate! Communicate!) On the other hand, if you aren't really considering moving, just wanting to look, a mirror allows that without the head turn, preventing possibly making someone think you're about to do something that you're not.
You have several options for attaching a mirror. You can buy bike mirrors that mount to your handlebars, or possibly elsewhere on the frame. You can also buy them that attach to your helmet, or even clip onto your eyeglasses, if you wear those. People vary widely in which kind seem to work best for them, so you may have to experiment.
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| CyclingSavvy instructor Brian Watson demonstrates that if one mirror is good, two are even better! |
Bell
There's nothing quite like the classic "ring-ring" of a bike bell. These days there is an even greater variety of bells and horns that ding and toot. Besides being fun and pleasant to hear (in moderation!), the point is to alert others to your presence, especially on a path with pedestrians. Although you can certainly call out to people, a bell can be a pleasant alternative to your voice when you need to make your presence known. But don't be aggressive about it. Remember that ultimately, it is your job to yield to pedestrians, not their job to get out of your way. 😎And there you have it. Despite what you may have heard, cycling safety is almost entirely in your hands. You have a wide variety of options for keeping yourself safe, through your behavior as well as your equipment.
Be safe and have fun!
Regarding bike helmets: When people state their potential benefits and detriments, I find it interesting to apply the ideas to pedestrian helmets. For example:
ReplyDeleteAre bicyclists killed in crashes? Unfortunately yes, perhaps 900 American cyclists die per year. But as many as 6000 pedestrians are killed each year, and pedestrian deaths are actually higher than bicyclist deaths per mile traveled. Yet we don't use those numbers to recommend walking or jogging helmets.
Are some bicyclist deaths due to brain injuries? Yes, although percentage estimates vary. (Beware of claims of deaths that "involve" head injuries - that's not the same thing at all!) Data from Coronado et. al., "Surveillance for Traumatic Brain Injury Related Deaths" (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss6005a1.htm?s_cid=ss6005a1_w) plus data on total bike fatalities indicates about 45% of bike deaths are due to brain injury. But that data also shows about 40% of pedestrian deaths are due to brain injury, so pedestrian brain injury deaths far outnumber bicyclists'. That fact isn't used to promote pedestrian helmets.
Do emergency room nurses see serious bike head injuries? Many probably do. But they must see many more serious pedestrian head injuries. They never tell pedestrians "You should have worn a helmet."
Are bike brain injuries a cost to society? Yes, but they are a tiny portion of society's medical costs. Brain injuries incurred while walking are much more common and thus a much higher cost burden. But we hear very little about protecting pedestrian brains.
Do bike helmets prevent _some_ injuries? Certainly - but walking helmets would probably prevent even more injuries, since head impacts are more common and impact speeds would tend to be lower. We don't use that fact to recommend walking or running helmets.
Do we hear anecdotes about "This dent proves my bike helmet saved my life - or at least prevented a brain injury"? Of course! But if walkers and joggers wore helmets, the numbers above show there would soon be many, many more dented helmets and many more anecdotes.
Would constant harping about the need for pedestrian helmets make people afraid of walking or running? Would it cause people to walk or jog less? Almost certainly, just as it almost certainly does with bicycling. Yet bicycling advocates are willing to scare people away from riding.
Overall, bicyclist comprise only 0.6% of America's brain injury fatalities, so the above logic could be applied to many other sources of brain injury. That tiny percentage does not seem to have been affected by decades of helmet promotion, helmet mandates or helmet use. How odd that such a tiny problem generates such adamant recommendations, so many laws and so much public scorn for those with different opinions!