Olympic news - should cyclists wear helmets or not?

With the saintly, Lord, Professor Sir Bradley Wiggins winning a Gold for Britain and being announced as our greatest Olympian ever, a debate has arisen over the wearing of helmets by cyclists. Bradley, recent winner of the Tour de France, has called for cycling helmets to be made compulsory. Now he's famous, people are taking notice. I love cycling. Did the London to Brighton a while ago and yes, I did wear a helmet. Occasionally it's true, I will rush out of the house and forget it but I now feel very undressed and vulnerable without it. I also have a friend who works with people who have brain injuries and she is totally and utterly convinced having seen people whose lives have been ruined through not wearing them, that we all should. The counter argument is that less people will cycle in Britain and we certainly don't have the highest numbers of cyclists in the world. Personally I think that's b******x. What stops more people cycling in London is small roads populated by aggressive drivers. I'm a car driver as well, but I do not shake my wrist at cyclists, cut them up or drive in their cycle lanes. That said, many cyclists here view themselves as sort of ninja Kings of the Road who dash in and out like maniacs and are about as welcome as a storm of bees in a jam factory. The Boris bikes are one of the best things to hit London in years and from what I can see anecdotally, the ranks are nearly always empty as loads of people use them every day. So, let's bring in compulsory helmets, save some of the NHS's hard earned cash with less accident cases taking up hospital beds and have more bike schemes. Go Bradley. Job done! By the way, a post wouldn't be a post without a writing plug so this is just to mention that I did a short story once which concerned two strangers who rode bikes and he accidentally chained his to hers outside a train station. It all ended happily ever after of course in that the People's Friend bought it for their magazine. You, though, can buy The Sanctuary from Astraea press by clicking this link..... I thank you!