Oddly, I started writing this up just before it cropped up recently in the news again, and again. I’ve very recently had a change of heart with regard to cycle helmets, and probably not in the direction you’d expect. I’ve always worn one (well apart from when I was a kid which was before they really existed), always thought legislation like in Australia was a good thing (my argument and reasoning being that if you had to wear one by law then that does away with the problem of worrying you look like a twat and being ridiculed - more an issue for kids) and I’ve always pretty much thought that anyone who doesn’t wear one is an idiot; kind of.
And so I wanted to (reasonably) quickly write this post so that should I get knocked down and killed you’ll know why I didn’t have a helmet on.
I should come clean though: As much as I wish this decision was as a result of using my design engineering background to assess the limitations of cycle helmet designs (has anyone ever seen a photo of a helmet showing crushing inside?) or my statistical experience to review the evidence available and come to my own conclusions, it’s not. Quite simply the reason I’m no longer wearing one is because I realised I just didn’t want to anymore and - rarely for me - this was actually a decision I was free to make.