One thing is certain - a bike helmet protects your head. That's for sure! But does it make sense to make it a legal requirement to wear a helmet when cycling? We took a look at the pros and cons of making helmets compulsory and looked at a few statistics and studies.
First of all: Is it compulsory to wear a helmet in Germany?
In Germany, there is no law that makes it compulsory to wear a bicycle helmet - not even for children. Fortunately, it has to be said that it is very rare to see children on a bike or cargo bike without a helmet. There are currently only four countries in the world (Australia, Argentina, New Zealand and Cyprus) where helmets are compulsory. However, countries such as France and Croatia have introduced mandatory helmet use for children and young people.
What do you think? Should it be compulsory to wear a bicycle helmet?
That's not so easy to say: one important reason why helmets are not compulsory in Germany is that such a law interferes with personal rights. It is also assumed that many people would ride their bikes less if helmets were compulsory and would be inclined to leave their bikes at home.
✅ Advantages of a general helmet requirement:
The main benefit of making helmets compulsory is that there are fewer serious and minor head injuries among cyclists due to a higher wear rate.
It also reduces the likelihood of fatal accidents.
❌ Disadvantages of mandatory helmet use:
In recent years, the cycling trend has increased enormously. However, it is assumed that this trend would be slowed down if helmets were made compulsory, as many people would not want to wear a helmet for comfort and style reasons.(We can't understand that, there are great helmets out there;).
A helmet requirement actually has a detrimental effect on the general health aspect as a result of lack of exercise. Cycling has many positive health benefits and more exercise can easily be realized by cycling to work, for example. (Read more here: The 5 main reasons why cycling is so healthy).
Additional environmental costs due to (re)switching from bike to car for those who refuse to wear a helmet.
Personally, we are actually against a general legal obligation to wear a helmet. But you should appeal to common sense and there is no question that a helmet protects you from a muddy head. But when it comes to making helmets compulsory for children, we tend to say yes. What do you think? How do you feel about it? And if you are against helmets, what are the reasons? Feel free to send us a message to hello@allthatiwant.com.
Sources:
Jürgensohn et al: Safety potential of bicycle helmets, Ministry of Transport Baden-Württemberg, 2017
Quarks.de, Helmet obligation: What speaks for - and what speaks against. 2024.
