Originally Posted by
mconlonx
If I were in the rare situation where I crashed my bicycle, and the even rarer situation where such a crash caused a headstrike and resulting head injury, the implications are that I would probably suffer a minor head injury, might suffer a moderate head injury, and only rarely could possibly suffer a severe head injury.
In the rare event of such a crash, were I wearing a helmet, it could very well possibly mitigate most minor injury I could have suffered, would be less effective with moderate injury possibly sustained, and could offer some small amount of injury mitigation in the event of severe head injury. Maybe.
After considering both the likelihood of needing a helmet -- not very likely -- and the implications of possibly needing a helmet and not having one where it may help in some rare instances where head injury might be a result in the small chance of a crash -- some injury mitigation, maybe, and which effectiveness decreases with the severity of injury -- I make a decision about wearing a helmet.
What an excellent, big word! I learned something today. My experience is that single-track vehicles are remarkably more stable than I would ever have given them credit for if I did not ride them on a regular basis; impacts to the head at cycling speeds are exceedingly rare and can also cause zero injury or only minor head injury. And all levels of injury can also be suffered while wearing a cycling helmet, riding at cycling speeds, as well.
You might feel that bicycles are remarkably stable, but the typical biker is a precariously balanced, moving top-heavy object par excellence. All is well as long as no one touches your wheels and a myriad other things we take for granted, and let is not confuse the fact that riding a bike is not a difficult skill with the fact that bikes are stable objects.
One thing I admire scientists for is that they often couch their statements in cautionary language to reflect the fact that they practice educated uncertainty as opposed to ignorant certainty. Even when a fact is firmly established you see scientists using phrases like, "the data seems to suggest..." Not just "seems" or just "suggest" but double the uncertainty. And here we have a poster that on the patently dubious question of how things would turn out were he to fall off his bike and hit his head (god forbid) his uses 'rare' as the probability that he would be injured seriously. Such faith.