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Boris should lead by wearing a helmet, says injured cyclist
Elizabeth Hopkirk, Evening Standard25.06.08
A cyclist who suffered permanent brain injuries after a bike accident has accused Boris Johnson of setting a bad example by failing to wear a helmet.
Father-of-two Simon Turner, 41, spent three days in intensive care and doctors warned his wife Michele that he might not survive the injuries he sustained in the fall in Richmond Park.
Two years later, he has metal plates in his head, permanent pain, fatigue and tinnitus, and has lost his sense of smell, taste and the hearing in one ear as a result of the accident.
Today, he called on the Mayor to ensure he always wore a helmet when cycling in London.
Mr Johnson ditched his £16.99 helmet a month after being pressured into adopting a more "responsible" stance. Making an impassioned plea for personal choice, he confessed he did not want a sweaty head.
But Mr Turner hit out, saying: "If he thinks wearing a helmet is uncomfortable, tough luck. It's a lot more uncomfortable having metal plates in your head and a permanent headache. He should meet a few people who have had bangs on the head.
"It's a very bad example for the leader of a capital city to set. He's saying, 'Don't worry, take the risk.'"
Mr Turner, a surveyor from New Malden, had been cycling for years but took it up more seriously to get fit as he approached his 40th birthday.
One evening in July 2006 he was on his way home from a training ride in Richmond Park when he inexplicably blacked out and landed on his head.
He fractured the base of his skull and surgeons were forced to drain blood clots on his brain that threatened to kill him. As a result of the brain injury, he had to attend anger management classes and have therapy for a stutter he developed.
Mr Turner is convinced that a helmet would have significantly reduced his injuries. "A day doesn't go by when I don't wish I'd put a helmet on that day," he said. "I thought helmets made people look like plonkers but now I feel a plonker for having a head injury. I wanted to get fit for my 40th but instead I spent it in hospital.
"If I could change anything in my life it would be to go back to that day and put my cycle helmet on because my life, and that of my family, has changed forever. It's hard when you're walking around with your head throbbing and with tinnitus but you have to accept what's happened and get on with it." He has not been back on a bike since the accident because wearing a helmet is too painful but he hopes to join his 11-year-old daughter Sarah when she takes her cycling proficiency test in August.
Mr Turner's comments were supported by head injury charity Headway.
Chief executive Peter McCabe said: "High-profile personalities like David Cameron and Boris Johnson have a responsibility to set a good example. It is very disappointing to see Mr Cameron and Mr Johnson talk about 'trying to do better' and accepting the need to wear a helmet and then doing the opposite." Mr Johnson said neither side of the helmet debate had proved its argument conclusively.
In his Daily Telegraph column, he wrote: "In my efforts to do the right thing, I have ended up giving offence to both opposing factions. As soon as I started to wear a helmet, I was denounced as a wimp... As soon as I was pictured not wearing a helmet, I was attacked for 'sending out the wrong signal'."
Cyclists, he argued, should have the right to choose "hatless, sun-blessed, windswept liberty" or "helmeted security".
Reader views (8)
Well I was knocked off my bike last night by a hit and run driver, so I am hugely grateful I was wearing my bike helmet. It's cracked in 3 places, thankfully it wasn't my scull! I only have some bruises & grazes and a headache. Although I understand people will be put off by helmets, I think something could be done to increase awareness, especially for people on the roads.
I don't think you can use The Netherlands as a good example for non helmet wearers. I frequently visit & cycle there & due to their excellant cycle paths, which are shared with pedestrians & off the main road, I rarely have to consider cars.
FAO Alan Tucker - you can attach your helmet to your bike lock when you lock it up, no need to carry it around.
Last note - I work with Adults with Learning Disabilities & have been fortunate enough to meet people who have suffered head injuries as a result of not wearing a bike helmet - it really opens your eyes.
- Hannah, Kent
Simon Turner fell when he 'inexplicably blacked out'. Had this happened while he was walking he could have sustained a brain injury. Should pedestrians wear helmets?
- Terry, London
I'm with Boris on this. It's a personal choice and one that I make on a daily basis. Some cycle rides I will, some I won't. I weigh up from personal experience and judge on the 'risk'.
So, for example, I consider Simon Turner somewhat foolish for going training around Richmond Park without a helmet, and I'd suggest that Boris is considering a helmet more of a hindrance to cycling in Central London.
Richmond Park cycling is generally a reasonably-fast pace (20mph speed limit), often with a lot of other cyclists in close proximity (especially when cycling in a peleton). Other people's inexperience at these speeds can create situations which make things "happen too quickly to react". Cycle helmets are compulsory when racing, so if you're "in training" you may as well get used to one.
Popping to the shops or short distance commuting on a bike in Central London is a more sedate affair due to numerous red lights, traffic jams and pedestrians. To get a constant average speed up around 20mph is impossible.
So, as I say, am with Boris. Weigh up the risks just as Simon Turner did when he stepped up his cycling regime. I see plenty of people *not* following Boris' example every day, far more than those choosing to feel the breeze.
- Nick, Surbiton
Cyclists are always banging on about their rights and recently 3,000 of them have signed a petition to stop Boris opening bus lanes to motorbikes.
So yes all cyclists should have to wear a helmet by law, motorcyclists do when using the roads and so should cyclists.
- Lj, London
If Simon Turner cares to visit the Netherlands or other European countries wear cycling is no big deal, he will struggle to find anyone wearing a cycle helmet. If he visited Australia, he will find fewer people cycling since helmets were made compulsory. The nanny-state obsession in this country with cycling and helmet wearing could be extended to walking, driving and playing football - hardly dangerous pursuits but activities which some "expert" somewhere has found unsafe unless protective headgear is worn. Indeed, had Mr Turner been carrying out any of these activities when he had his blackout, his injuries could have been equally bad, if not worse. Boris is right - cyclists should have the right to choose.
- Austen, London
I am sorry for this man but he made the decision not to wear the helmet no one else. Boris or no he must take responsibility for his actions, or lack of them no-one else.
- Simon - Bucharest, bucharest - Romania
There is always a risk, but the risk of dying of a heart attack because you are unfit is higher than the risk of cycling.
Arriving somewhere and then having to carry a helmet around with you is not an incentive to cycle. I'm for choice.
- Alan Tucker, London
Compulsory helmet wearing in Australia has led to a huge drop in people cycling (and presumably more people in cars).
Believe me, once they make helmets compulsory, it will be knee and elbow protection next.
- George, London
