James Styring, Cyclox chairman

SOME Australian friends have just visited. In a brief 24 hours we packed in the best of Oxford: a lunchtime picnic punting from Magdalen Bridge, a few hours in the Natural History Museum and Pitt Rivers, an evening in the Rusty Bicycle and the Magdalen Arms – and the following day, a sun-fuelled 12-mile bike ride from East Oxford to the Alice in Wonderland wishing well at St Margaret’s Church, half a mile beyond Binsey Village.

We’d assembled outside the house on five steeds designed for varying purposes. The 13-year-old boy wobbled on my road bike, dad bounced on the full susser. In a flash of ingenuity, I modded my Brompton so that it could be ridden by the 11-year-old girl. Dropping the seat post and folding the handlebars down towards her so she could reach the brakes, she looked like she was riding some kind of Mad Max low rider. She got all the way there and back though, bless her, in a display of true Aussie grit.

Back outside the house, we were just about to set off when she piped up, “What about helmets?” (In Australia, cycling rates plummeted after helmets became compulsory.) Their mum explained that helmets aren’t compulsory in the UK as the children’s jaws dropped. I get that. I had the same reaction when I first got into cycling as an adult. It’s drummed into you that you have to wear a helmet and so you do. For years, I felt guilty and nervous. Gradually, I stopped bothering for short city journeys. These days I only wear a helmet if I’m off around Otmoor at 20mph, or going mountain biking in the Chilterns. This is what makes me feel safe, and it’s all that helmets are designed to protect you from. Impacts at cycling speeds – up to 20-odd mph – they can cope with. But helmets don’t offer much protection against crashes at 30 or 40 mph. Back outside the house again, I only had two helmets and we rode to Binsey without them. We crossed a few main roads on foot and the rest of the way took quiet backstreets and mainly the waterways to get across the city. It was an idyllic ride. Would helmets have marred the ride? Not especially. Did we need them to pootle on slow, car-free routes? No more than if we were walking.

The knee-jerk reaction of many, mainly non-cyclists, at the sight of helmetless riders is shock. But in Holland and Denmark, where accident rates are lower but not much lower, helmets are rare. It’s a good thing that there’s a choice in the UK. Prohibition would have ended that delightful Binsey ride. Kids fall off more than adults and their heads are more fragile, so I’d advise helmets for them. For adults, the choice is yours. But you needn’t feel bad if you choose not to.

A trauma doctor would think you’re mad not to. A public health doctor would see the benefits of cycling per se as greatly outweighing the potential risks of riding with no helmet.

ae:onyerbike@oxfordmail.co.uk