americans are unjustly fearful...period! there is so much out there that various watchdog groups want to protect us from, it's become a matter of protecting us, not only from ourselves, but from life itself.

when i was a child/teenager, helmets barely existed, much less talked about; i commuted to my first job by bike, 12-13 miles roundtrip, on the streets, in traffic, and hardly ever had a problem w/ cars. incidents were so few and minor that i cannot remember the details of any.

now, granted, there is a different society, different conditions, and i do not ride w/o a helmet -- but the helmet will not keep a car from grinding me into paste, obviously. i would not let my child ride as i did at her age, because of the callous nature of society today (careless endangerment by cars as well as abduction). but this constant assault by these groups about this & that, all of which has been shown to kill someone/something somewhere, therefore abstain from it...i'm fed to the gills with it!

i saw the stossel piece, and all i will say about it is this -- if i ever ride in nyc, i'll take more lane so they have to go around me! but i'll never ride in nyc anyway, because i'm not interested in seeing the city.