As a keen cyclist, I was very pleased to read about the launch of the capital's new bicycle hire scheme, "which makes 5,000 machines available to rent" (Just get on the seat and pedal: London bike hire scheme takes off, 31 July). But in the six photographs accompanying your article not a single rider, including your reporter and the mayor of London, was wearing a helmet.
I cycle every day to work as headteacher of a hospital school, where I am also a member of the multi-disciplinary brain injury rehabilitation team. The majority of children my team work with have suffered from traumatic brain injuries resulting from a nasty bang on the head, and a significant number have received their injuries from cycle accidents, while not wearing a helmet. Of course, many adult cyclists also put themselves similarly at risk.
The consequences of these injuries are often life-changing, including a range of newly developed learning difficulties – in the form of memory impairment, reduced powers of concentration, slower processing and organisational skills, and changes in behaviour – and, sometimes, seriously impaired physical abilities. Some of these may be short-term, but sadly in many cases they remain ongoing.
As you report, London "is one of the busiest places in the world: narrow streets clogged with double-decker buses, taxis and delivery trucks". There are some who feel that a cycle helmet is uncool or in some way unattractive, but I would like to assure these people that a helmet looks much better than a combination of tarmac, car paint and blood. Personally, I would no more cycle without a helmet than I would drive my car without wearing a seatbelt – and this, without doubt, is a practice that we should all adopt.
Until the government sees sense and decides to make the use of helmets compulsory, the wearing of them needs to be encouraged as much as possible by all, including the media – especially in these days of reduced NHS budgets, when we need to reduce the burden on its services. Many may question the effectiveness of helmets, but in 10 years in my current role I have never had a brain-injured patient who was wearing a helmet – except for one boy who had neglected to do up the straps.
I understand that a requirement to wear a helmet may limit casual cyclists using the hire scheme on impulse. A possible solution may be attaching helmets to the cycles, and the docking stations having dispensers that provide disposable plastic hairnets.
Of course a helmet does not make the wearer invincible, and cyclists need to ride with care, not shooting red lights on busy roads or putting pedestrians at risk. In the article you quote a taxi driver who "was not happy to see yet more cyclists wobbling around the city, potentially running red lights". My hope is that when cyclists ride responsibly they will be able to develop mutual respect with drivers and make the roads safer for all.
