Madam, – I must take issue with some of the opinions expressed by Emmet Mordaunt (March 9th) on the issue of picturing cyclists without helmets in the newspaper.
It is not correct to say that cycling is “not dangerous” as there are times when cycling does involve risk and cyclists do sometimes suffer serious injuries and even death as a result of becoming involved in accidents. While Mr Mordaunt may be a very skilful cyclist and capable of safely cycling without the use of a helmet, many others, including myself, may not be so skilled.
I recently had cause to be grateful that I was wearing a cycling helmet, when I struck a bad pothole and fell from my bike while cycling on a main road. I had a heavy fall from the bike, suffering injury to my shoulder and hip, and in the process struck my helmeted head hard on the tarmacadam surface. I dread to think what my injuries might have been had I not been wearing the helmet.
As a retired garda, I have also had some experience during my career in the Garda Síochána of being involved in the investigation of accidents where, on a number of occasions, serious and sometimes fatal head injuries were sustained by cyclists who had not been wearing helmets. In my opinion some of those serious injuries and loss of life could have been prevented by the wearing of cycling helmets. I would advise that the wearing of cycling helmets as a safe cycling measure should be promoted as strongly as possible. – Yours, etc,