Germans and risk—they don’t mix well. I’ll let you in on a secret: I’m not done writing about bicycles yet. Because safety measures are getting completely out of hand in my home country.
While browsing through my favorite bookstore (specifically, the children’s book section), I briefly consider buying a picture book about children’s modes of transportation. Trikes, tractors, scooters, and the like. On page 1, there’s a picture of a balance bike (my son Max already has one of these two-wheelers) and the sentence: “Children must always wear a helmet when riding a balance bike.”
Book closed. Back on the shelf. A helmet? On a balance bike?
At the campground and on the streets around my parents’ house (apologies: it should say “sidewalks”; those kids aren’t allowed on the street—far too dangerous—because we’re talking about the kind of kids who are “Wahlberliners” who’ve drifted in from the Rhineland, and they’re very cautious, or so I think) I see the proof. Parents wearing helmets (and no, not on a road bike), and on every balance bike or tricycle, a little person with a pink or blue helmet. Even when they’re sitting in the bike seat next to Mom or Dad: yep. Helmet-head.
It’s a bizarre sight. And I assume it must be mandatory, I think to myself. When I look it up, Wikipedia (and the German government as well) says: “In Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, there are no legal requirements to wear bicycle helmets in road traffic.”
I’m stunned. They’re all doing this voluntarily?
In fact, the German Bundestag has rejected a call for a “helmet mandate” due to “‘Überregulierung’ (too many nonsensical laws and rules) and another reason: if helmets were made mandatory, fewer people would ride bikes, and it would become even more dangerous for those who remain—the only ones brave enough to brave car traffic.”
So now I’m completely confused. Why all those covered heads, then? Next time, I’m going to sit down with a group of parents for a serious discussion.
Of course, I can’t invite all those “Helmet Germans” to the Netherlands. But I’d really love to see their shocked faces when they realize that we just let our hair blow in the wind here.
