SmallFront

I haven't read this thread from the start, but I read 20 pages of it, beginning at page 240.

I am surprised how much a parallel this is to the long-gone debate of seat belts and helmets for motorcycles. It's the same arguments the anti-helmet people use as people back in the day used to argue against seat belts and motorcycle helmets. Some people will have to be dragged into the present. I especially like how they drag some obscure studies to the front, and with a bit of selective reading and quoting, they think they have made a watertight argument. It's exactly the same as not only the seatbelt and MC helmet discussion, but to an extent also with, say, ABS brakes (I can brake myself, thank you very much), airbags (I don't need no stinking air bags) and basically any safety feature mandated by law. If it takes mandatory legislation to make people safer, so be it. Hell, around here we are only allowed to use a cell phone handsfree if we are in a car, on a motorcycle, or on a bike.

Same thing with lights on your bike: Yes, if you get run over by a truck, you are the one getting hurt the most, yet everywhere in the western world, there is legislation to have lights on your bike after dark.

That said, yes, I'm a hypocrite: I don't always wear a helmet, mostly because the one I have is old and really not nice to wear anymore. I am aware I need to get another one, and if mandated, I would likely just go out and buy a nice new one that isn't as tatty. I will, soon, though.

My kid always wears a helmet. No exception.


Edit: It's not mandated around my parts, but I think it would actually be a good idea. Kids nowadays usually always wear a helmet. It's the old buggers like me and people older than me that are resisting it for a variety of reasons.