Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Sir Bradley Wiggins: Cycle helmets should be compulsory, and iPods banned while riding bike

Meanwhile Laura Trott says cycle training should be on the National Curriculum

Sir Bradley Wiggins says that cyclists should be required by law to wear helmets and banned from listening to music through headphones while they are riding a bike.

The four-time Olympic gold medallist and first Briton to win the Tour de France was giving his opinion on an interview shown on the BBC children’s news programme, Newsround.

Speaking on the subject of cycle safety, the father of two said: “I think certain laws for cyclists need to be passed to protect us more than anything.

“Making helmets compulsory on the roads, making it illegal to maybe have an iPod in while you’re riding a bike, just little things like that would make a huge difference.”

Trott, winner of Olympic gold medals in the Omnium and team pursuit at London last year, repeated an appeal she made in May for a Briitish Cycling video in support of the Get Britain Cycling petition, saying that regular cycle training in schools would lead to improved safety.

“Not all cyclists are that safe on the road either, and I think that would help young kids especially if we could get it in the National Curriculum once a week,” she said.

It’s not the first time Wiggins has spoken about cycle helmets.

Last year, when he was told at a press conference that London cyclist Dan Harris had been killed when he was struck by a media bus outside the Olympic Park, he said: “Ultimately, if you get knocked off and you don’t have a helmet on, then you can’t argue. You can get killed if you don’t have a helmet on.

"You shouldn’t be riding along with iPods and phones and things on. You have lights on. Once there are laws passed for cyclists then you are protected and you can say, ‘well, I have done everything to be safe."

"It is dangerous and London is a busy city. There is a lot of traffic. I think we have to help ourselves sometimes."

Later that day, Wiggins said on Twitter that he wasn’t calling for compulsory helmet laws: "Just to confirm I haven't called for helmets to be made the law as reports suggest. I suggested it may be the way to go to give cyclists more protection legally I [sic] involved In an accident. I wasn't on me soap box CALLING, was asked what I thought."

His latest comments, however, suggest that he is in favour of compulsion.

Mark Cavendish is another high profile cyclist who has said that cyclists shouldn’t listen to music while they ride.

Asked in 2011 by TV personality John Inverdale at an event hosted by the charity Right To Play whether he liked to do so, Cavendish gave the firm reply: “Don’t cycle with an iPod in, it’s dangerous!”

Cycling organisations such as CTC opposese helmet compulsion, saying that it should be a matter of individual choice.

Yesterday, talking about the case of a teenage boy left brain damaged after being struck by a van while out riding - he wasn't wearing a helmet because he didn't want to mess up his hairstyle - CTC's Campaigns Director, Roger Geffen, said: "My heart goes out to Ryan Smith and his family. 

"What they are going through now must be unimaginable.

"However, faced with heart-rending stories like this, decision-makers need to remember that the only known impact of helmet laws is to drastically reduce cycle use, typically by over 30%, with much deeper reductions for teenage cycling."

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

Add new comment

152 comments

Avatar
crazy-legs | 11 years ago
0 likes

Dear Bradley,

Please STFU and concentrate on riding your bike, you're quite good at that.
Otherwise, you don't have a clue. Seem to remember that you were wearing a helmet when that woman drove into you as she exited the garage? The cause of the collision wasn't you wearing/not wearing a helmet, it was her shit driving. Let's fix that first, then worry about helmets.

Thanks awfully.

Avatar
Leviathan replied to crazy-legs | 11 years ago
0 likes
crazy-legs wrote:

Dear Bradley,

Please STFU and concentrate on riding your bike, you're quite good at that.
Otherwise, you don't have a clue.

How many crashes have you had, Crazy Legs? Less than Sir Brad I suggest. The idea that he is not qualified to comment, or should STFU is ridiculous. Don't resort to ad hominem attacks it makes you sound childish.

Meanwhile I don't support compulsion but I do always wear a helmet when commuting or training. I would gladly pick out a new shiny helmet for shopping trips if legislation came in and we saw a drop in deaths. I would make it bmx styly to go with street clothes not aero-venty for my road kit. Any excuse for new kit. Helmets are cool.

Avatar
mattbibbings | 11 years ago
0 likes

To wear a helmet or not?

Darwin was right.

Avatar
pjclinch replied to mattbibbings | 11 years ago
0 likes
mattbibbings wrote:

To wear a helmet or not?

Darwin was right.

Darwin's theory certainly gives a good account of why people may have evolved a hard protective skull that prevents them being killed any time they fall over...

Avatar
A V Lowe | 11 years ago
0 likes

Wiggins is not worth listening to on this issue - after his Olympic (and TfF?) wins he is pictured riding sans helmet with his son sans helmet. Sounds like he changes his position to suit what he's been told to say. Cavendish seems to speak his own opinion, and stick to it.

And why just cyclists and ipods. Almost every road user has 2 key safety systems which should be kept fully working when they are moving around on the road.

Eyes provide the major input route for information about your next move and also tell other road users that you have seen them, and, using inherent social and cultural norms, feed a non-verbal message on priority/permission on how you interact with other road users. Just as tinted windows are banned on cars, so mirror and dark glass eyewear should be banned for pedestrians and cyclists.

Ears likewise, drivers who drive with windows totally shut and music playing loud are as bad as cyclists with earphones and pedestrians using mobile phones. THe universal road safety message "You have safety kit with over 4 million years of development and proof that it works, so don't switch it off" And before someone makes a clever remark about the blind and the deaf - if all road users are looking and hearing it becomes clear that one road user is not locking in and you act accordingly - no eye contact - make a noise. No reaction to a noise like a warning bell or horn then get a visual connection.

Helmets - well that same development process has eliminated most bodies that cannot survive falling over or running into a rock or a tree at running speeds - so at 20mph the protective system of the skull is at only 30% of its impact capacity - compared to a styrene helmet which is at 260% of its impact capacity.

As the Dutch rightly say "Nothing, is better than a cycle helmet"

Avatar
PhilRuss replied to A V Lowe | 11 years ago
0 likes

[[[[ A.V.Lowe quotes the Dutch as saying "Nothing better than a helmet." Hmmm.. I knew a Dutch girl who mostly wore a cap, and she told me, "Any helmet is better than no helmet at all!" After a while I realised what she meant...took me a while, though.
P.R.

Avatar
antonio | 11 years ago
0 likes

Danger is all around us, outdoors, indoors, in cars, we should all wear a helmet from the day we are born, permanently!

Avatar
Ghedebrav replied to antonio | 11 years ago
0 likes
antonio wrote:

Danger is all around us, outdoors, indoors, in cars, we should all wear a helmet from the day we are born, permanently!

Exactly! Never leave the house.

And if you have to, remember your hi-vis jacket.

Avatar
Mart | 11 years ago
0 likes

It has also been proved that car drivers and passengers are at an equal/greater risk of head injuries and serious brain trauma than cyclists during an accident.
Where is the call for compulsory helmets for cars? and those radios/cd players need to be banned from cars, to much of a distraction.
Wiggins is starting to loosing credibility when talking on issues he has not researched.

Avatar
Al__S | 11 years ago
0 likes

compulsory helmets for pedestrians and car occupants! Huge rates of head injuries to pedestrians and car occupants could be slashed by making everyionewear a helmet all the time!

Once more, Wiggins has shown he's clueless on this issue.

(for the record: I wear a helmet when engaging in cycle-sport. I don't when I'm pottering around town)

Avatar
pjclinch | 11 years ago
0 likes

"Little things like that"... Deary, deary me  20

"Little things" like helmet laws with a proven track record of costing money to produce no safety improvement and significantly reduce numbers of cyclists.

Note to the meejah: if you want a clueful soundbite about cycling safety from a gold medal winning track star who has enjoyed success in the Tour de France you want Chris Boardman, because he actually knows what he's talking about.

Avatar
pz1800 | 11 years ago
0 likes

IF cycle training stopped riders being stupid it would be a great idea. I would like to see compulsory cycle safety training for drivers as part of their training as well.

Avatar
hood replied to pz1800 | 11 years ago
0 likes
pz1800 wrote:

IF cycle training stopped riders being stupid it would be a great idea. I would like to see compulsory cycle safety training for drivers as part of their training as well.

lol, i think cycle training should be taught at school. but i suddenly had a thought.
if we train drivers and give them numerous tests and then give them a license to drive a 1 ton piece of metal around does that make them good drivers?!

DOH!

Avatar
andybwhite | 11 years ago
0 likes

What do those who say it's dangerous the wear headphones think about deaf cyclists? Should deaf cyclists be banned? What about in car music? Surely that should be banned for the same reason. I frankly can't see the difference in these arguments.

These are all arguments about making the victim culpable for the acts done to them by the carelessness/recklessness of other road users. In my mind such arguments will one day be seen for what they are: predjudicial and on a par with sexism, homophobia and racism; all things that were one acceptable but no longer are. Anti cycling rhetoric will one day go the same way.

Avatar
BBB replied to andybwhite | 11 years ago
0 likes
andybwhite wrote:

...What about in car music? Surely that should be banned for the same reason. I frankly can't see the difference in these arguments.

These are all arguments about making the victim culpable for the acts done to them by the carelessness/recklessness of other road users. In my mind such arguments will one day be seen for what they are: predjudicial and on a par with sexism, homophobia and racism; all things that were one acceptable but no longer are. Anti cycling rhetoric will one day go the same way.

1+

I find it shocking that from doctors, politicians to pro cyclists no one has balls to say anything negative about idiots drivers in this country (in case it may offend a large part of the population?) and instead bang on about helmets, high-viz clothing and Ipods.

It's no different from suggesting that women should be wearing baggy trousers instead of mini skirts to avoid being raped.
Like doctors and other "experts" Wiggins should stick with what he does best for living and nor trying to be an expert on traffic safety. We have too many of them already.

Avatar
bendertherobot | 11 years ago
0 likes

Time to get the deaf off our roads.

Avatar
rich22222 | 11 years ago
0 likes

Wearing ear phones saved my life.

Avatar
Aapje | 11 years ago
0 likes

Too bad that doctor was full of it. He has no clue if the helmet did that, he just made it up.

Avatar
Gashead | 11 years ago
0 likes

Listening to music with noise isolating headphones is idiocy but in order to prevent thinking about stopping I have safely run along thousands of country miles listening to 5 Live with open headphones. Pedestrians listening to music cross in front of my path every single day, relying on engine rumble and peripheral vision. Equally dangerous as are drivers with boom, boom, boom stereos unaware of emergency vehicles.

Avatar
Nzlucas | 11 years ago
0 likes

It it helps reduce the chance I will be a vegetable and i need to be fed apple sauce for the rest of my life then i will wear one.

After my GF was hit in June the Doctor in A&E said the difference to her walking out of there and him shaving the side of her head ready for the neurosurgeon was the helmet she was wearing... which had a big crack in it.

As for wearing headphones, that just freaks me out it London as cars wizz by unannouced.

Avatar
kie7077 replied to Nzlucas | 11 years ago
0 likes

She knows this how? Fact is, she's guessing. I've hit my head extremely hard off of tarmac, I was knocked out, I didn't die, I didn't get brain damage, just concussion. The head is tougher than you think and I still dont want to wear a helmet, the sweat doesnt evaporate off my head when I'm wearing one and the straps are horribly uncomfortable. Most of the times ive come off the bike its my hands or knees that get hurt, not my head.

so, if you want to make helmets mandatory, pedestrians 1st, then cyclists, walking is equally dangerous.

Avatar
andybwhite | 11 years ago
0 likes

Soundbites are great for starting debates!

Interestingly he said helmets should be compulsory for cycling on the road. He didn't say on they should be worn on cycle paths - presumably that would mean joggers and walkers would need to wear them too.

However, in such circumstances what would one do if the cycle path took to the road for 50m would one have to don a helmet for that stretch?

IMHO the whole debate about helmets is an unenforceable nonsense. The stats don't back up the notion that they save lives as deaths are attributed to head injuries even when the other injuries are unsurvivable. Deaths from head injuries most often occur among pedestrians and car drivers so frankly they should be first in the queue for helmets. I could go on, but arguing against the small minded pro-helmet brigade is boring.

I think Brad should have been careful to avoid this debate on a children's program as, irrespective of what he really thinks, in such circumstances there is only one message he could give that is acceptable to the media and that is telling children to wear a helmet and they will be safe. This is such a shame as children need to learn to make their own risk assessments and then make appropriate choices.

Avatar
Annabella replied to andybwhite | 11 years ago
0 likes

Yes helmets should be compulsory it could save so many lifes, I wear mine all the time thank goodness I do as ive had some near misses.

Avatar
a.jumper replied to Annabella | 11 years ago
0 likes
Annabella wrote:

Yes helmets should be compulsory it could save so many lifes.

It could but won't. See the studies linked above. Any benefit to the remaining cyclists from head injury protection seems to be outweighed by the earlier deaths of those who stop cycling and the reduction in "safety in numbers" as a result of helmet laws.

Avatar
mrmo | 11 years ago
0 likes

helmets, ipods, who cares. Sort the cause of accidents out and stop victim blaming!

Do something about the crap drivers!!!!!!!!!

Avatar
Marky Legs | 11 years ago
0 likes

Totally agree about the use of ipods etc... you can't hear what is around you, what is coming up behind you. You need to be aware of your environment and those people listening to ipods/phones etc have no idea about there surroundings!!

As for helmets, you never know when you're going to bump your head!!! Wear one

Avatar
nicstevenson | 11 years ago
0 likes

Completely agree that listening to music is a) odd as it takes you away from enjoying the activity itself (same for runners) and b) potentially dangerous in some situations... but I do use one iPhone earphone with Google maps directions to get to new places sometimes: can't imagine most cops being inteersted in the difference if this ever were to happen.

On helmets? Don't feed the troll - even if he is a legend and a kngiht of realm!

Avatar
Paul J | 11 years ago
0 likes

Bradley did not receive his medal for having any extra level of clue about road safety.

Avatar
Forester replied to Paul J | 11 years ago
0 likes

The trouble is, most people think 'It couldn't happen to me'- flying through the air at 20mph is not the time to think 'I wish I'd worn my helmet' so more power to Brad.

Avatar
pure climber | 11 years ago
0 likes

Cycling to work, through central London this morning, I had been thinking compulsory basic training at primary them more advanced training at secondary school would be a start to making cyclist safer. Every day it astounds me that more cyclists are not killed on the road, not through the fault of cars and lorries but through the unnecessary dangers many cyclists put themselves in. If cyclist do not respect their own saftey it is difficult to expect other raod users to respect them.

Pages

Latest Comments