It's not just skiers who should wear helmets James first started wearing a helmet on an Australian rowing camp in 1991, ahead of the Sydney Olympics. Cycling formed part of the team training regime, and as it was illegal to cycle without one, their coach marched them off to the bike shop to have them fitted. These strapping sportsmen weren't idiots; they knew the benefits of a helmet, but it took Australian legislation to make it a way of life. That's why we need a similar strategy here. I don't really care about the macho twits who duck in and out of city traffic wearing headphones but no helmet, without a thought for the mothers and girlfriends who will pick up their pieces. Perhaps even a policeman handing out fines wouldn't curb that level of selfish stupidity. If our son ever went cycling without a helmet, we'd operate a zero-tolerance policy that could well end up with his bike in a metal crusher. But it's not likely, because cycle safety is "normal" in our house, and always has been. Eighty per cent of cycling head injuries in the under-16s don't even involve another vehicle. It is more commonly a simple slide on a wet pavement, an unseen lamp post, or performing a trick for mates. If we start with kids, they will simply grow up into helmet-wearing adults. I've met mothers of injured teenagers who utterly despair that the state didn't help them out with mandatory cycling safety laws. Compulsory car seat belts were first suggested in Parliament in 1973, but didn't become law until 1983 and are now, of course, habitual for almost everybody. It has taken 30 years to change everyday behaviour. If we're to make the same improvements to bike and skiing safety we have to start with kids - now. Winter sports are actually leaving cycling in their wake. Ten years ago, virtually nobody wore ski helmets; today, more than 60 per cent of skiers and boarders wear protective headgear, including 80 to 90 per cent of children. The most reluctant demographic continues to be 18- to 24-year-olds, who wear helmets less than half the time. If her husband pulls through these first few days, Corinna Schumacher will spend the next few months in a haze of hospitals and hotels as she tries to understand the medics" jargon and maintain some normality for their two children. Theirs was a privileged yet private life of snow sport, equestrianism and motor racing. Michael would have felt that he knew his physical limits and, after 18 years of marriage, Corinna would have learnt to trust his judgment. She must have felt his danger days were over when he finally left Formula One in 2012. Even if she is angered by the fact that he may have ignored resort warnings to avoid off-piste runs due to obscured rocks, she can, for now, take heart in the fact that he wore a helmet. A good man does that for his family as much as for himself.