Good suggestion. I’m a cyclist and sometimes I walk around wearing my bike helmet. Some people give me funny looks, but I don’t care. To regularly wear helmets, you have to recognize that avoiding TBI is more important than looking slightly silly or messing up your hair. Unfortunately most people don’t get this. I think if helmets become more popular people will find that they don’t actually mind the look, as you suggested in another comment.
Risk compensation is one potential problem with wearing a helmet. An example was mentioned in the original post: drivers passing cyclists who wear helmets closer. Also concerning is that cyclists ride more dangerously if they wear helmets (here’s an article which I haven’t read in full, but it discusses this issue). I imagine seat belts have a similar effect, as might drivers wearing helmets. Based on this idea backwards, I’ve read a proposal to add a spike to steering wheels to reduce dangerous driving.
Also worth noting is that avoiding long commutes and drives improves safety. Risk (probably) increases monotonically with duration.
One last suggestion would be to drive with a dashcam to make yourself slightly safer. I ride my bike with a very obvious helmet cam and I have observed that some drivers seem to drive safer around me when they notice it. I’m recording them, so if they make a bad move they’ll be much worse off in court. I also think the camera makes me ride safer for the same reasons.
I ride my bike with a very obvious helmet cam and I have observed that some drivers seem to drive safer around me
This is a great safety hack.
You have given me an idea for a research paper (which I will never do). You get two types of helmet cams, one that looks like a helmet cam, and one that doesn’t. But if someone else puts the helmet cam on you, you can’t tell which it is although anyone looking at you could. You then randomly assign which bicyclists wear which type of helmet cam and test how the type of cam effects nearby drivers.
This could only disprove or fail to disprove the absence of any noticeable effect on other drivers, since them behaving differently might make you behave differently, by, say, subconsciously inferring from their behavior that you are in the helmet-wearing group.
Risk compensation is one potential problem with wearing a helmet… I imagine seat belts have a similar effect, as might drivers wearing helmets. Based on this idea backwards, I’ve read a proposal to add a spike to steering wheels to reduce dangerous driving.
I recommend watching car crash compilations. They definitely help you feel the risk of driving on an emotional level. I feel I’ve learned some things that improve my driving safety, but probably the biggest safety gain is I just tend to drive more cautiously due to car collisions being very present in my mind.
Great suggestion. I’ve watched a fair number of these, along with bike crash videos. The mental simulation value is fairly high, because you won’t be in every situation on the road, and you should have some idea about what happens if you take certain actions.
Good suggestion. I’m a cyclist and sometimes I walk around wearing my bike helmet. Some people give me funny looks, but I don’t care. To regularly wear helmets, you have to recognize that avoiding TBI is more important than looking slightly silly or messing up your hair. Unfortunately most people don’t get this. I think if helmets become more popular people will find that they don’t actually mind the look, as you suggested in another comment.
Risk compensation is one potential problem with wearing a helmet. An example was mentioned in the original post: drivers passing cyclists who wear helmets closer. Also concerning is that cyclists ride more dangerously if they wear helmets (here’s an article which I haven’t read in full, but it discusses this issue). I imagine seat belts have a similar effect, as might drivers wearing helmets. Based on this idea backwards, I’ve read a proposal to add a spike to steering wheels to reduce dangerous driving.
Also worth noting is that avoiding long commutes and drives improves safety. Risk (probably) increases monotonically with duration.
One last suggestion would be to drive with a dashcam to make yourself slightly safer. I ride my bike with a very obvious helmet cam and I have observed that some drivers seem to drive safer around me when they notice it. I’m recording them, so if they make a bad move they’ll be much worse off in court. I also think the camera makes me ride safer for the same reasons.
This is a great safety hack.
You have given me an idea for a research paper (which I will never do). You get two types of helmet cams, one that looks like a helmet cam, and one that doesn’t. But if someone else puts the helmet cam on you, you can’t tell which it is although anyone looking at you could. You then randomly assign which bicyclists wear which type of helmet cam and test how the type of cam effects nearby drivers.
This could only disprove or fail to disprove the absence of any noticeable effect on other drivers, since them behaving differently might make you behave differently, by, say, subconsciously inferring from their behavior that you are in the helmet-wearing group.
Good point.
A key question might be: How hard is it to convince a company who already manufactures helmets with visible cams to run such a study?
I recommend watching car crash compilations. They definitely help you feel the risk of driving on an emotional level. I feel I’ve learned some things that improve my driving safety, but probably the biggest safety gain is I just tend to drive more cautiously due to car collisions being very present in my mind.
Great suggestion. I’ve watched a fair number of these, along with bike crash videos. The mental simulation value is fairly high, because you won’t be in every situation on the road, and you should have some idea about what happens if you take certain actions.