Originally posted by John C. Ratliff
But I've measured, and all UV-B is removed; I presume that UV-A is also removed because a person cannot tan under a window, be it a car window or other window. So really, sometimes people are simply trying to make us afraid of our environment.

Actually, you can get sunburned through virtually any window you care to mention. I've got the melanomas to prove it!

My favorite helmet is a black Giro Torero I got on sale for $17 last year at Nashbar. It's just as safe as the expensive models and maybe even moreso, due to better coverage and less pointy aero things in back that could catch on something in a roll. OTOH, I have a Giro Pneumo in my den that just sits there, because I don't think the coverage is as good, and the newer Roc Loc is harder to get my ponytail through, and also it looks funny on me--sits too high and makes me look like a real bike geek. OK when I can average 20 mph maybe I'll wear it. :(

But the point is, some of the best helmets really are not very expensive.

Originally posted by caroljm36
But the point is, some of the best helmets really are not very expensive.

What does this have to do with the culture of fear?
:confused:

Originally posted by Chris L
Actually, you can get sunburned through virtually any window you care to mention. I've got the melanomas to prove it!

Chris L is right. http://www.cancerwa.asn.au/preventing/publications/UVGLASS1.pdf
http://www.arpansa.gov.au/is_upf.htm
the american assoc. of Dermatologists would also concur.

Originally posted by closetbiker
What does this have to do with the culture of fear?
:confused:

Did he mean to post it to another thread dealing specifically with helmets? I'm confused too.

Originally posted by closetbiker
Always perplexed at others (non-cyclists mostly) mentioning to me how dangerous cycling is, so I've kept track of things I've read that disprove such notions.
Whether people tell me point-blank, or whether I can sense the fear of cycling in their comments, I live continually surrounded by the fearful.

I am the only person in the entire central offices of the state agency I work for that bicycles to work, and I am certain I am the first to try it. I am convinced that people's fear of cycling stems directly from their experiences driving. Drivers live in constant anxiety.

But cycling on the road, for me, is a very different experience from driving. Instead of becoming anxious, I get exhilirated. Instead of being worn-out, I get energized. Instead of being fearful, I arrive confident, with a calm mind.

Cycling is really a different world altogether, producing a different state of mind. So I can't relate to people's fearful comments. But I can respond to them.

I can ask people why they risk their lives in an activity that kills about 40,000 participants every year in America alone. I can ask why they subject their bodies to higher concentrations of air pollution as they sit in gridlock on the freeways. I can ask what they are doing to prevent dying from heart attack or stroke. I can ask why they cause so much damage to the environment instead of preserving it for their children.

I could ask, but I don't.

Isn't it interesting that someones fear of vulnerability is someone else's heightened awarness of their surroundings and that helps avoid collisions happening?

As posted on the doctors prescribing exercise thread, isn't it interesting that motorists fears aren't centered on a near certainty (heart disease) but on a remote possibility (hitting a cyclist)?

How is it that we fear such a helpful group (cyclists)?

Originally posted by closetbiker
What does this have to do with the culture of fear?
:confused:


whoa, don't know WHAT happened there...wrong thread, MY bad... :o

Originally posted by closetbiker
As posted on the doctors prescribing exercise thread, isn't it interesting that motorists fears aren't centered on a near certainty (heart disease) but on a remote possibility (hitting a cyclist)?

Could it be that motorists' fears are simply based on something "different"? To be honest, I don't think most drivers could give a flying f*** about hitting a cyclist, particularly the way most people drive around here. However, how many newspaper articles do people read that amount to nothing more than anti-cyclist trolls? There have been plenty pointed out on this forum to begin with.

Once we lose the assumption that their views are based on any kind of rational fact (or are even their own), we might understand things better. As I pointed out in my (soon to be published) rant in the "parental supervision" thread, why is it any of their business if cycling is dangerous? Nobody said they had to do it. And how do they even know?

The fact is, it's not the fear of cycling being dangerous that we're dealing with here, it's the fear of something different.

Thanks for the information on UV-A penetrating glass. I guess I was correct about UV-B, but not UV-A. The link was very helpful. Just the same, I think I'll take my meter out and give it a test someday.

Closetbiker, you mentioned Nixon and people reacting to fear above. Yes, Nixon was correct in the short-term perhaps, but look at what happened to this paranoid guy who was our President. I think his example, and his life, bear out my basic premise that living in a culture of fear is not a healthy outlook.

We can do the same, if we focus on the problems of bicycling. It perpetuates the myth that bicycling is an unhealthy activity. I'm about to post a new thread, about a drunken driver who just yesterday killed two bicyclists in Portland and critically injured a third. That made the headlines. But the auto accidents that also occured in Oregon in the last several days did not.

My thought is that the more people we get engaging in bicycling, the better and healthier it will be for all of us.

John

Originally posted by John C. Ratliff
...a drunken driver who just yesterday killed two bicyclists in Portland and critically injured a third. That made the headlines. But the auto accidents that also occured in Oregon in the last several days did not.

This is exactly the point. Cycling accidents are put under a magnifying glass to play upon the fears of the uneducated, while the deadly mayhem of motoring is swept under the rug. The occasional news story of a fatal car crash is reported, but usually the cause given is drunk driving, teenage carelessness, reckless speeding, the weather, a holiday weekend or even poorly designed roads. Never do we stop to question that driving itself may be putting people at risk.

Originally posted by Chris L
The fact is, it's the fear of something different.

:thumbup: and no mototrist likes being held up for 5 seconds by an easily intimidated tiny minority!

Originally posted by John C. Ratliff living in a culture of fear is not a healthy outlook.

Fear is a base emotion that we all have and my concern is only when the perception of fear is out of line with it's usefulness. To use fear to heighten awarness and avoid danger, is good. To ignore a danger because there is no fear of it, is bad.

As I posted on the doctor's should prescribe exercise thread:

I've posted fatality stats by Failure Analysis Associates, Inc. found on the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute website where that shows cycling is safer than living! A good explanation for this can be found at http://kenkifer.com/bikepages/health/risks.htm where Ken says, "Based on these figures, bicycling is nearly six times as safe as living! What does that mean? It means that the risk of dying from some other cause (more about these other risks later) is six times as great as the risk from bicycling on an hourly basis, even though we face these other risks 24 hours a day, not just the one or two hours that a regular cyclist would spend on a bicycle."

so it seems peoples fears of cycling and lazier fair attitudes towards driving are out of step with reality.

Originally posted by John C. Ratliff My thought is that the more people we get engaging in bicycling, the better and healthier it will be for all of us.

:thumbup: You bet!

Originally posted by JDP
I agree. My Dad's parents both died in their 60's from heart disease. My Dad, in his 60's now, has already had a heart attack. Fortunately it was mild but he doesn't lead a sedentary lifestyle. In my case, sitting on the couch is much more dangerous and a crappy way to go.

Well said.