Helmetless

It's 16:15 on a weekday and there are bicycles here on Gloucester Road. Look you can see one waiting to walk over the pedestrian crossing, and another going to the bike lane. Two pedestrians are stopping to talk just past the car parked over the dropped kerb. Nobody, walking or cycling, is wearing a helmet.

Further in towards town, again, two more cyclists, helmetless. They may be entering a bus/bike lane which is valid from 16:00 onwards, but that is no excuse. All the cars heading in to town are forced to use that bus lane to get past the turning Porsche blocking their lane.

Even further in, you can see a number of vehicles parked here, fifteen minutes into the operating hours of this, a showcase bus lane.

These cyclists using it do not have helmets and do not have insurance. If any of them were to hit a car parked in the bus lane, who would pay for the damage?

Body Armour: not just for cycling

There's been some recent news reports about schools cutting back on outdoor trips due to excessive fears about child safety.

We feel that this fear of danger from animals is misguided. Farms are no more dangerous than the city. For example, the City Farm in St Werburgh's, is a nice safe place to run around, the only hard part is getting over Ashley Down road on foot from Montpelier. The solution is obvious: drive.

Once there, it is no safer than walking round any part of the city. Full body armour will protect the small child from contact with animals.

There is a small risk of having their fingers bitten off while a goat eats some grass.

For this reason we recommend gloves.

Oxford 4: The intermittent value of helmets

Just along from the Oxford cycle path of dubious value was an ambulance and bicycle. What were they doing

Looking after the cyclist who had come off -no car involved, seemingly- and hit the kerb

After which a large amount of blood was deposited over the scene

Head injuries always bleed a lot, so that may not be a sign of a bad injury, just a messy one. But it does show that sometimes helmets do have a role to play.

Perhaps once the risks of going under a lorry or bus have been eliminated, its time to worry about what happens when you fall off .