Four out of five young people do not wear a bicycle helmet while cycling and will not do so in the future. The main reason for not wearing a helmet, according to young people, is that they do not consider it necessary, according to research by the TeamAlert foundation.

The bicycle is one of the most used means of transport in the Netherlands and plays a prominent role in Dutch traffic. This means that cyclists have a large share in the number of road deaths. In 2019, for example, 203 cyclists died, including 17 young people. One of the ways to reduce this number is to wear a bicycle helmet. The Institute for Road Safety Research (SWOV) estimates that wearing a bicycle helmet can save 85 road fatalities per year.

In general, the cyclist has a negative attitude towards wearing a bicycle helmet. TeamAlert Foundation conducted quantitative research into how young people view the bicycle helmet. The survey, with 514 respondents, shows that four out of five young people never wear a bicycle helmet while cycling. Only 1,2% of the respondents wear a helmet on a regular bicycle or e-bike, mainly because their employer (for example a food delivery person) requires it. The remaining group of young people (19%) wear a helmet on the racing bike or mountain bike.

'Nobody wears a bicycle helmet'
The main reason that young people give for not wearing a bicycle helmet is that they find this unnecessary. Young people believe that the chance of an accident is small and that the speeds on a city bike are quite low. In addition, a large majority of young people find the bicycle helmet inconvenient to carry and look stupid. Four out of five young people will not wear a helmet in the future, only 5% of the respondents want to do so.

An important reason for young people not to wear a bicycle helmet is that others around them do not. Four out of five young people do not know anyone in their environment who uses a bicycle helmet. If they know someone who does wear a helmet, they are cyclists or vulnerable elderly people. Only 10% of the young people surveyed have someone close to them who considers it important that they wear a helmet.

Young people do have the feeling that a bicycle helmet will protect them should they have an accident with a car while cycling. 85,6% of the young people questioned think the bicycle helmet is safe. Most young people also estimate that a helmet can help prevent head injuries after an accident. Yet most young people think that they do not have to wear a helmet, because cycling is not dangerous enough for that, among other things. Young people are therefore aware of the advantages of the helmet, but these do not outweigh the disadvantages of actually wearing a helmet.

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