"Helmets are required for E-Bikes"

[eddieo]

"Helmets are required for E-Bikes" according to an article in German motorhome magazine. Thought you might be interested in what is going on E Bike wise in Germany...


(dodgy translation thanks to Goggle )

"Accident investigators Dekra require helmets are required for e-bikes.

The electric bikes are currently experiencing an unexpected boom. After 150,000 e-bikes sold in the year 2009, the industry later this year to crack the 200,000 mark. With increasing proliferation of hybrid bikes, but also the risk of accidents on the road, the experts warned. According to crash tests, they argue for a legal helmet law for e-bike riders."

"With an electric bike, it is even possible for an untrained driver who speeds up to reach 45 kilometers per hour. Therefore, the pace of Bikes by traffic, easy to underestimate," admits Jörg Ahlgren, chief of the accident analysis of Dekra to consider. "Unusual is also that the electrically-driven approach bicycle almost silently. Therefore, e-bike riders, even at increased risk of accidents."

In crash tests showed that even can lead a collision at a speed 40 against an opening car door to serious head and chest injuries. As a consequence of the accident, experts recommend at least for the fast e-bike, the electrical pedal assistance to 45 km / h is sufficient to introduce a law to wear helmets.

However, it was already a matter of common sense to wear a helmet, even without legal compulsion. For each accident or fall, there is a high risk of serious head injuries. Moreover, should electric bike riders to be aware of their high speeds and schedule that drivers estimate their speed may be incorrect. For motorists, it was necessary to adjust their driving behavior and the fact that e-bikes are faster than normal bicycles.

 

[Mussels]

IIRC they are required for the faster class in Germany but not normal ebikes.
I like the statement that an untrained driver can reach speeds of 45kph, they can do that on a standard pushbike just as easily. Or is there a new 30mph class of ebike that I haven't heard of yet?

 

[Jimod]

"Helmets are required for E-Bikes" according to an article in German motorhome magazine. Thought you might be interested in what is going on E Bike wise in Germany...

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Reading your article, it seems that some people are wanting helmets to be made a legal requirement. Not quite what you say in your title is it. I hope it NEVER becomes a legal requirement in this country.

 

[flecc]

That article obviously refers to the high speed class in Germany, power assistance up to 40 kph (25 mph). This also has provision for up to 500 watts motor power rating since May 2010. This class is already subject to extra rules, registration, number plate and insurance, so is moped like anyway.

The normal e-bike class in Germany is like the EU one, 250 watts and pedelec only, but Germany uniquely has a 24 kph assist limit, not the EU 25 kph, not that it makes much difference of course. You won't see helmet compulsion on those.
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[jbond]

And in the UK if you have an electric bike/scooter that does 30mph, it's a moped so needs helmet, CBT, L plate, insurance, tax disk, number plates, V5 etc etc. However, tax, congestion charge, Westminster parking are all free. And insurance is likely to be cheap. I believe there's two classes of these electric bikes with the low power being equivalent to a 16-year old friendly 50cc moped, and the high class equivalent to a 125cc learner bike. I have no idea how a Mavizen would be treated but I'd guess equivalent to a 400cc motorcycle.

I was in a pub and got talking to somebody who asked me about the Aurora. He said he'd seen an electric pushbike doing 30mph on the old A10. We both agreed that that was taking the **** a bit. This all reminds me of the scare stories about mini-motos during the fad 4-5 years ago. Lots of kids upsetting everyone but although the Police threatened all kinds of action, I never actually heard of anyone having their minimoto crushed. If you look like a bicycle and ride like a bicyclist and don't get stupid, I can't see anyone getting upset out in the real world of real consequences.

 

[flecc]

This all reminds me of the scare stories about mini-motos during the fad 4-5 years ago. Lots of kids upsetting everyone but although the Police threatened all kinds of action, I never actually heard of anyone having their minimoto crushed.

After all threats and no action, we actually did have one crushed in the London Borough of Croydon. The child owner was a persistent offender who had been repeatedly warned, as had his parents.
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[Mike63]

I hope it NEVER becomes a legal requirement in this countr

....why not ?
.....Mike

 

[Jimod]

....why not ?
.....Mike

Are you being serious? If so, I think the government meddle too much into peoples affairs. If they make helmets compulsory what's to stop them making hi viz lycra compulsory. What about makig hi viz compulsory for pedestrians as well? Where would you stop? Why can't I, as an adult, make my own choices? Do you need the Government to tell you what to do? Shoe laces come loose and cause accidents, maybe we should get velcro shoes made compulsory. Wear a helmet if you choose but let me make my own mind up.

 

[eddieo]

and the rest of us have to stump up the money for your stupidity via NI contributions and the health service which is overburdened through stupidity already...

 

[Scimitar]

That's what (national) insurance is for...

Aside from that, I don't want to be busted simply for nipping down the shops sans helmet, a journey that was/is perfectly [1] safe at 'normal' bicycle speeds and if I choose to do it helmetless I wouldn't be daft enough to do it full throttle. The throttle works both ways...


[1] Perfectly, as in millions of people do it every year and for over a century and how many end up with broken heads? A vanishingly small percentage, I'd guess.

 

[Jimod]

and the rest of us have to stump up the money for your stupidity via NI contributions and the health service which is overburdened through stupidity already...

I pay for my own NI thanks. Do you take EVERY precaution to stop yourself from having an accident? Velcro shoes and Hi viz when you leave the house? Do you ALWAYS wear safety glasses when strimming the lawn? Why am I stupid for making my own choices in life? The stupid people are those who want more petty laws which affect their every move. The REAL stupid believe that compulsory safety equipment makes them immune from harm. How did we ever live in the past, No ABS on cars and no helmets on pushbikes. Yet here I am, still alive.

Maybe we should ban pushbikes, then no-one would ever get hurt on them. Might even save a few bob on my NI payments because the stupid people who cycle on roads won't be getting hurt.

Where would your interfering stop?

 

[eddieo]

You can do what you want, but dont expect me to pick up the tab.....sign a waver that if you have a head injury while cycling you will pay the bill yourself?

I am struggling with my 17 year old son to get him to wear a Hi Vi cycling to and from school, he wears a lid so not entirely daft. but trying to get him to understand that a lot of car drivers simply do not "see" cyclists until it is to late is difficult...I am not going to try with you, as your paranoia is obviously beyond reason.

 

[Alex728]

This all reminds me of the scare stories about mini-motos during the fad 4-5 years ago. Lots of kids upsetting everyone but although the Police threatened all kinds of action, I never actually heard of anyone having their minimoto crushed.

in Thames Valley and Avon and Somerset force areas there was definitely enforcement and seizure of some of these illegal bikes. I was a bit younger when all this was going on (I'd say it was a bit more than 5 years ago), and though too old for this sort of shenanigans one toy I did have was a radio scanner, and cops didn't have Airwave then

I always used to hear them dealing with kids riding these things illegally. not just SNT (local bobbies) but a few specialist Traffic units as well. there were genuine and real concerns over a combination of poor riding skills, vehicle quality and lack of consideration for other road users leading to folk being hurt.

 

[CheKmx]

Strewth! Aussie academic calls for repeal of country's compulsory bike helmet laws | road.cc | The website for pedal powered people: Road cycling, commuting, leisure cycling and racing. Voted the UK's number 1 cycling website at the 2010 BikeBiz.

 

[jbond]

I wonder if I'm sticking my head in the sand when I say I don't understand what injuries a typical cycle helmet is supposed to prevent? As a motorcyclist, I wear a full face helmet all the time and over many years I've had a very few incidents where the chin bar hit the road hard enough to crack it. People close to me have hit things hard enough with the sides and top of a M/C helmet to crack them. So even if it wasn't compulsory, I wouldn't ride without a full face helmet.

But then I look at a typical cycle helmet and it doesn't look like it would help at all except when head butting something with the top of your head in a nice clean action that doesn't involve any sideways or dragging action. The protection looks so minimal and the fixings so weak that it doesn't feel like it would help a whole lot in the typical traffic 15mph accident. By the time you've skinned your knees, hands, elbows, shoulders, ankles[1], and perhaps even face, the chances of bashing your head in a way that a cycle helmet would help seem small. So if your idea of fun is 40mph off road downhill, then wear a motocross helmet. But for going down the shops?

[1]And shins. Why is it that some bit of a bicycle always seems to crack into your shins? Bicycles seem to be covered in pointy bits.

 

[eddieo]

many years a go my car was hit by a stolen car, and I ended up in traction in a large ortopedic ward in St Georges hospital south London. Out of the 40 odd young men in there I think 38 where off motorbikes, with me the only car and the chap opposite me...wait for it...who had cycled into the hospital to visit a friend, and on the way home been run over by an old lady who pushed him up the road under the front of her car, he was back in the same ward 2 hours later, two beds away from his mate....

Many of the motorcyclists would be crippled for life, to me this means that with increased speed comes increased risk. I just think you need to do the best you can to be "seen" as "Oh! Sorry! I didn't see you!" ain't a lot of good when you have been run over.

 

[Blew it]

...who had cycled into the hospital to visit a friend, and on the way home been run over by an old lady who pushed him up the road under the front of her car, he was back in the same ward 2 hours later, two beds away from his mate....

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Was he wearing a helmet?

 

[eddieo]

Was he wearing a helmet?

Nooooo......at least not in bed anyway

 

[flecc]

The Netherlands, highest rate of cycling in the world, lowest rate of cycle helmet wearing in the world of any advanced country, lowest rate of cycling accident injuries in the world.

London cyclist deaths 13 in last year of detailed information, all wearing helmets, 7 crushed under left-turning truck back wheels.

Common sense and judgement saves lives by not having the accident in the first place. Those who substitute common sense and judgement with a helmet are the real idiots. This is proved by all those helmet protagonists who post how helmets have repeatedly saved them from death or serious injury, seemingly oblivious to the benefits of avoiding those accidents in the first place.
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[z0mb13e]

I love bicycle helmet debates. Always seem so polarised! <sits back, opens pop corn>

The thing about paying for your own national insurance seems a bit short sighted. After all the idea is that the majority of the healthy pay for the minority of the unwell or unlucky. It is there should you ever need it without having to sell your house to pay for your own treatment should you ever need it.