I yelled at a commuter today...

[emily_in_nc]

...and I feel bad about it, but at the time, I just reacted out of fear, with my "mother hen" hat on.

This morning as I was driving to work, this guy with full rear panniers and rear rack was commuting on a VERY busy road that has no shoulders part of the way due to construction of new lanes on either side. He was absolutely booking to get to a safer part of the road where cars could get around him, since he was having to take the lane through the construction zone. I happened to be the only car behind him right at the time as the rest got stopped at a light behind me.

He did not have a helmet on, which shocked me, considering the road he was riding on. However, as I got closer, I noticed that it was strapped to his rear rack.

When I got to where I could safely pass him, I rolled down the passenger window and yelled at him "Why aren't you wearing your helmet?!" He yelled something back (most likely "I forgot!"), but I couldn't make it out exactly. By then I was already past him and headed on to work.

I have a "Share the Road" bumper sticker on my car and am very, very supportive of bike commuting (wish I could do it, but I live too far from work and there are no safe roads close to my workplace), but I seriously feared for this guy's safety riding the road he was on even had he been wearing a helmet. Without one, it seemed almost suicidal, and my instincts just kicked in. Of course I felt guilty about yelling at him afterwards, but I also felt that unless he forgot it only until I mentioned it, he should have already have pulled over at some point (there were other areas prior to the construction zone where he could have safely done that) and put his helmet on, not just kept on going like a bat out of hell.

My heart was beating so fast when I got to work -- too many cyclists have been hit and injured or killed in our area in the past year for me to take something like this likely. I hope I didn't upset him too much, and I wouldn't have yelled had I been right beside him at a stop sign or something, but he had already veered off onto the closed lane under construction, so he would have never heard me unless I'd yelled.

What do you folks who commute think? Should I have just kept my window rolled up and my opinions/fears to myself?

Thanks,
Emily

[PamNY]

I don't commute, but I don't see any reason why you shouldn't yell at him when you are clearly correct.

The only downside would be if you distracted him, thereby putting him in more danger.

I wouldn't feel guilty; it was an honest (and potentially helpful) reaction.

Pam

[Veronica]

I would have not yelled. If a person (adult) is not wearing a helmet, that's their business.

Do you yell at people who are overweight and buying junk at the grocery store?

Do you yell at smokers?

Do you yell at people who drink to excess, do drugs, have unsafe sex, drive too fast, or any of the plethora of "bad for you" activities?

It's not that I think helmets are a bad idea, but who are we to impose our ideas of what's safe on another adult? Cause hey, if we're imposing, than I'm in charge, it's going to be MY way.

Veronica

[Blueberry]

I would have not yelled. If a person (adult) is not wearing a helmet, that's their business.

The only time I would is if, like this guy, the person has a helmet and may have forgotten to put it on. Similarly, I'll remind folks if a helmet isn't fastened.

To me that says the person wants to wear one, and might need a little prodding reminder

CA

[7rider]

I am coming to the realization that a helmet won't make you "safer" on a bike. Adequate and clean bike lanes, a well-maintained machine, courteous drivers (courteous cyclists), driver and cyclist education....those things can make you "safer." A helmet merely protects your noggin from when an unsafe situation comes home to roost.
I agree with Veronica. There are plenty of folks doing what we would see as jaw-droppingly stupid. I've been criticized far too many times trying to be everybody's mother to bother wasting my breath.
I, too, have seen more than my share of cyclist carrying their helmets - on their handlebars, clipped to a backpack, etc. Often, they are teenagers, and I suspect their folks made them get one, and couldn't leave the house without one, but they're just too "cool" to actuallly wear it. Sometimes, I do remind them "You know...they work better when they're actually ON your head!" I've even stopped and adjusted folks' poorly placed helmets as they sat on their head!
Maybe I need to work on that "I'm not everyone's mother" bit a little more!

[Crankin]

I would have yelled...
I understand that I shouldn't for all of the reasons given, but I always say something to unhelmeted riders. Once, I said something to my neighbor, who was riding down the wrong side of the road, unhelmeted, with his kids.
And frankly, I would like to say something to people engaging in other unhealthy habits (like stuffing french fries into their mouths when they are 100 lbs. overweight). I know I shouldn't be policing other people's bad habits, but I sure feel like it!

[Grog]

I understand your urge to yell at him. I am "impressed" by the carelessness of many cyclists and other users of the road around me every day as I commute to work. (No-helmets are the tip of the iceberg.)

This being said... I think there is a significant risk of startling a cyclist when yelling at him or her from a car. Especially if the conditions of the road are not so good and there are potholes, pylons, etc.

How would you have felt if he swerved as you yelled to him and he turned his head to you to figure out what you said, hit a deep pothole and effectively fell from his bicycle, hitting his (unprotected) head? (Not to say how he would have felt.)

There are millions of reasons why people don't wear helmets, or wear them properly. My own pet peeve is people who wear a helmet with the best of intentions, but the helmet is too small, too big, or crooked on their head, effectively putting them in as much danger as if they were not wearing a helmet at all. Whenever I have a chance to discuss the matter with various people, I do (and they get bored of it pretty quick). Who knows, perhaps the helmet he had strapped to his bike had been pooped in by his dog? I'm making this up, but for me the bottom line is that it's their problem - and their loved one's. If a cyclist (or pedestrian or motorist) is not directly endangering my life by her actions, I leave it up to them... and, more importantly, avoid putting their life in danger more than it already is...

I just got a bunch of "You'd look hotter with a helmet" stickers. They would work great on a bumper. If you'd like one I'll send you one right away (PM me your mailing address!).

[Veronica]

I

I just got a bunch of "You'd look hotter with a helmet" stickers. They would work great on a bumper. If you'd like one I'll send you one right away (PM me your mailing address!).

I wish they said you'd look cooler, because then I'd put one up in my classroom. I don't want my 5th graders thinking about being hot.

Veronica

[Tuckervill]

I wish they said you'd look cooler, because then I'd put one up in my classroom. I don't want my 5th graders thinking about being hot.

Veronica

Yeah, and down here where I live, looking "hotter" is a definite drawback, since one of the main objections to helmets is being hot.

Karen

[bounceswoosh]

While I was driving yesterday, I saw a woman riding against traffic in the bike lane. It really freaked me out. One, I'm looking for oncoming traffic to my left, not to my right. Two, what if there's someone else in the bike lane riding *with* traffic like they're supposed to?

I didn't say anything; not sure what I could have said that really would have registered. When I was a kid, my dad encouraged me to go against traffic on bikes and on foot to be more visible, but I didn't feel comfortable with it even as a kid, and now as a driver it just freaks me out.

[tpage]

the first week I started commuting to school I did not wear my helmet. It was just too hot. August in Mississippi is unbearable even when you are aclimated. Anyway I was reading a magazine about head injuries associated with cyclists and I began to think about just one small hit on the head and I might not be able to remember or recognize my children. So if nothing else moves you to wear a helmet, just think about the thought of not remembering the people you love, and it is because you were too lazy to put on a helmet.

[Tri Girl]

I have a friend who rides a recumbent trike. He never wears a helmet. His opinion is that he's so low to the ground that a fall wouldn't be very far (and his trike is quite stable). When I asked about a car hitting him, he said "if a car hits me, a helmet won't help me much when I'm barely above their tire height- I'll more than likely be dead anyway." He does occasionally get yelled at to put a helmet on anyway.
I can see his point. There is an old man in my neighborhood that rides his bike around without a helmet. He's never going more than 5-10 mph and has the best time tootling around. I'd like to see him wear a helmet, but it's his choice.
I'll always wear a helmet. After taking a spill at almost 20mph and going down head first, I know how important it is to protect my noggin. But it's still my choice in the end.

What makes me want to yell at bikers more than anything is the ones who ride on the wrong side of the road. I want to tell them to get on the other side, because I fear for their safety. I never do, but I want to at least educate them.

[fatbottomedgurl]

On Wednesday I waited at an intersection where a woman on a beach cruiser rode from the sidewalk into the street, across the crosswalk, and up to the sidewalk on the other side. She didn't look to see if it was clear, she had no helmet, she had a chihuahua in her handlebar basket and she was texting on her cell phone the whole time. She was absolutely oblivious. I didn't say a word. Obviously she had no brains to protect.