Originally Posted by
njkayaker
You'd have to dig a bit deeper in many of them to see what real data they are using.
As I said, "
You may disagree with their data or conclusions," but these are nevertheless professionals in the fields of medicine, safety, traffic, statistics, etc., issuing these recommendations in the context of data. They are not merely Some Guy on the Internet spouting off personal opinion, without qualifications in the relevant fields, which was my point.
It's possible that they are not all independent. Some of them might be using the same statistics (which goes towards my "echoing" comment).
That goes without saying and is why I provided links instead of merely quotes out of context. Indeed, some of these people may have biases that override their objective assessment, some may have financial or political interests that skew their findings, etc.
But, that is all strictly in the realm of worst-case hypotheticals. Without evidence to support such accusations, I will err on the side of assuming they are well-meaning and honest professionals taking the matter seriously--not infallible but at least qualified to make an educated recommendation based on study.
I should add that using the same statistics is not inherently bad if there is broad expert consensus asserting their validity.
This doesn't appear to be true for drivers generally (supported by insurance rates). It doesn't appear to be true of cyclists either.
In a large enough population, its easy to find "someone" as an example of anything.
But in the context of this discussion, you could argue it is not merely possible but common: many experienced cyclists choosing not to wear helmets
