Originally Posted by
sudo bike
It isn't my business what people choose - I'm simply trying to provide sources of information so that people can make their own choice, and forwarding my situation and what choices I've made and why...
...Again, it is not an end-all-be-all thing. People can be stupid with or without a helmet, and donning one does not instantly make a person more unsafe or an idiot. But surely you must be able to see why overestimating the ability of a piece of safety equipment is a bad idea?
In short, I don't know. I'm probably a bit more conservative, somewhat out of experience and somewhat out of the shock of finding out how little a helmet really does and how vulnerable we still are with or without it (something I foolishly hadn't really given much thought to). As I said, I do still wear one sometimes (bad weather), with the knowledge that it may help me mitigate nasty gashes or other painful injuries that I have a higher chance of incurring.
Thank you so much for the time you have taken to address my questions.
Here's what I'm getting:
*You are concerned that people will wear helmets and ride about not knowing that they will not protect them in certain catastrophic circumstances.
*You believe bicycling is safe and that most of these people don't need to wear helmets, so they will, in all likelihood, never find themselves in these catastrophic circumstances in any case.
*Even though you don't think that putting on a helmet automatically makes someone an "idiot" or engage in unsafe cycling practices you fear that some people might. Yet you have no solid evidence that they do. You can provide no data clearly demonstrating that wearing a helmet and risky behavior are in any way related. You agree that since the 1970's accidental deaths while bicycling in the US have
decreased so the introduction of bicycle helmets to the general public has not coincided with in any
spike in the death rate.
*That the encouragement of helmets can result in people thinking that bicycling is unsafe and decide not to bicycle.
*That telling bicyclists that the helmet they are wearing will probably do them no good in a catastrophic situation, that they will probably never encounter anyway, is important and will make them feel more safe and encourage bicycling.
I don't know. It seems like your fears are unfounded. And how do you intend to educate all these uninformed helmet wearers? Pass out flyers? Stop them on bike paths?
God forbid they should ride around on bicycles wearing a helmet their entire lives only to discover they never needed it- perhaps you will spare them from dying of embarrassment. Definitely a cause worth fighting for!
