Cycle helmet debate in today's Guardian

11/08/2008

The Guardian carries a blog today about cycle helmets and whether they are effective:

'Why on earth," says Anne Portehault, chaining her bicycle to a railing opposite the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, "would I want to put a cycle helmet over my hair? I would look ridiculous." Well, not ridiculous, I counter, but you would certainly look less chic and enviably coiffed than currently. The 39-year-old is angry enough that from the autumn, Parisian cyclists will be required to wear fluorescent jackets. "They only cost a couple of euros but they make anyone who dresses well - such as me - look absurd. That yucky yellow - I've got nothing to match it in my wardrobe. What am I going to do?"

But what about the danger of your brains spilling out of your head after being knocked over by one of the French capital's aggressive drivers? Isn't ridiculousness a small price to pay? I remind Portehault that it was nearly on this spot, outside the BHV department store on the Rue de Rivoli, in 1980 that the life of one of France's great penseurs, Roland Barthes, was brought to an end when he was run over by a van. "I pay a lot of attention to the traffic," replies Portehault. "I'm very careful when I cycle. So, no, I don't think looking ridiculous is worth it."

It's worth pointing out that it's not only Parisian women who worry about their hairdos being mangled by helmets. A young man chaining his bicycle to a lamppost, who declines to give me his name, says: "I've spent ages gelling my hair. I'm not going to ruin all that work, thanks very much." I find Marco Simioni, 45, a Paris-based architect and artist who originally hails from Vicenza, poised to ride off on a hired cycle. "I've only been cycling for four months and I try to be very careful, but it's true I run a risk not using a helmet. It's a risk I'm prepared to take."

I've come to Paris to find out why there is such a difference between French and British cyclists when it comes to wearing helmets. A few years ago, when I worked in Paris for the Guardian, I always wore a helmet when I cycled through the Marais to my office near the Opéra Garnier and looked in disdain at the flowing locks of my more hirsute fellow cyclists as they cheated death and looked glamorous. Now, thanks to mayor Bertrand Delanoë's bicycle rental scheme, Vélib, which was introduced just over a year ago, there are more Parisian locks flying in the wind than ever.

To read the article in full click here and post a comment and read what other people have to say by clicking here.