https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/10/magazine/10bike.html
i know this guy's study has been discussed before but i thought i would post the link. i didnt hear that the guy actually got hit twice, and i wonder what his riding style is. anyways, that being said, this wouldnt be bfssfg if this didnt turn into a helmet debate flame freakout. oh well.

also a question for new yorkers: 1500 car passes,in ny what is that, like 50 hours of riding? 100? 200?

I'm seriously considering getting a long blonde wig more and more each day. Ever see that study?

yeah i think it was the same study from when i read about it before. ive got long hair, maybe i should wear a pink jacket and let my freak flag fly and drivers will give me space. or just sport the wig. although really, in seattle in my experience people give you PLENTY of room IF they arent on their cell phones and are actually paying attention. the study seems to be about getting passed from behind, which reflects particular riding style.

Or just get a Recumbent Trike with tail box and front fairing. Be able to ride faster and get respect on the road! (Traffice coming up from behind don't know what they heck they are coming upon. They slow down to gawk and swing wide to get a look... It's all good for me!)

I think a really nuclear blinkie is probably the best way for militant commuters to makke themselves noticed. Some kind of 10 LED Cateye monstrosity that hurts to look at will get you more space.

damn....and I was just considering getting a helmet

Does 3 inches offset the benefit of not cracking your head open on something?

How do we know that it wasn't just this joker riding three inches further to the right since he didn't have a helmet on?

This reminds me of this article.

It should go without saying that this whole thing is entirely
unscientific and should be viewed only anecdotally, in case
anyone seriously took this to heart.

yeah, apparently i'm a death-cheating badass by riding with a helmet and running a brake. but i already knew that.

... and I'm a goody two shoes taking the safe route by riding sans-helmet/brakes.

I don't believe it.

I'm a dumbass. People shouldn't do the foolish things I do.

i like it when cars pass me faster and dont get nervous and hang out behind me... i also have been 3 inches from getting hit and am glad to have had the gap that i did... im still torn about helmet wearing...

i keep saying i'll wear it in the winter... but i've already been riding for a week with ice on the ground helmetless... now im saying i'll wear it when the white stuff starts sticking... but im smart enough to realise im probably too stupid to follow through with that too
-pete

Just wear it. It's easy.

haha... if i thought it was hard i wouldnt have anything to protect

I'm not going to come out publically and advocate AGAINST helmet use. And nobody here will either, I suspect. A helmet MAY save your life (or keep your brain from being scrambled like eggs). It also, may not - but very few of those accidents are ones you would have survived without one. I'd feel really horrible if somebody died because I told them they didn't need a lid. Plus, I'm paranoid as hell that making assertations like that will only hasten my ever-approaching comeuppance (*knock on wood*). I've bounced my head a few times sans-helmet, and damn, that ain't pleasant.

That said, I almost never wear one. And have no time for mandantory helmet laws.

What really bugs me about the helmet thing, though, is the amount of blaming-the-victim that it generates. There's nothing worse than leaving a big bloody skid mark down the road, walking into the ER with road rash from your knees to your chin, and then getting asked (in a very accusatory tone, many times over) if you were wearing a helmet? Yes, I was, thanks, and no, it didn't do a f***in' thing 'cept add to my lift coefficient, thank you. The second a cyclist gets hit without a helmet on he becomes the recipient of no end of scorn, no matter how safely he was behaving, or how irresponsible the driver was.

For too many people, especially politicians, it's just way easier to blame "irresponsible" cyclists for not wearing helmets than to question the larger questions of automobile culture and the corresponding spectacular failures in urban design.

I was hit pretty hard by an SUV and I'm convinced that the only reason I'm able to do things like: chew food, walk, and think is that I'm not too cool to wear a helmet.

It was maybe my third time commuting on the streets, this is what happened:
(as I was taught) I was riding just outside the door range of a row of parked cars, maybe a foot into the traffic lane. Next thing I know, a white nissan pathfinder clipped my left buttcheek. It flung me up off my bike, and the back of my helmet hit the top right corner of his windshield. Somehow, I landed on the top of my head, did a forward roll, and ended up more or less on my feet with enough sense to get my bruised ass and bike out of the street, my helmet (which was in two neat pieces held together by the chinstrap) still on my head

I'm all for making your own decisions and ****, but a helmet kept my brains from ending up in a gutter by 8th and spring. It -does- seem silly to not wear a helmet because in certain accidents it -might- not save your life. I'm all for doing **** that keeps me alive.

The last two crashes I had a helmet wouldn't have done any good. I do know for a fact I'm alive because of wearing a helmet in past bad crashes. My hair is also long.

i lived through a car accident that could have killed me if i was wearing a seat belt... it doenst mean a seatbelt wont save me later... theres no argument that a safety item has its time and place, but i totaly agree with august spies... the idea of blaming the rider regardless of the accident because he wasnt wearing a helmet is rediculous... and i've heard it a thousand times too...

the article isnt even about any of this though... its about the way drivers interact with helmeted cyclists... and acording to professors strange findings, avain, maybe that pathfinder would have just missed you if you werent wearing a helmet... but i doubt it too...
-pete

3 inches on average is a pretty freaking vague picture. I'm no stats major but what about standard deviation, margin of error and all that? This study is really ****ing stupid and forgets to mention the most important aspect of wearing a helmet which is what it does when your head meets the pavement.

I really do not agree with the blame the victim attitude though, that is some whack ass ****.

I couldn't agree more. The 20min it takes to by a new helmet every couple of years is bad enough but that 5s you lose every time you get on or off your bike really adds up. People just don't realize that if you have to take your helmet on and off 6 times a day that's over 6 hours a year the man is stealing from you. That's almost 0.07% percent of your life.

I don't think that is what was meant by not having time. I read it to mean not having patience or support for helmet laws.

It's a lot harder to be condescending if you interpret it that way though.

As far as all the science-authority's on here claiming it's junk science: You are reading an article in the paper, not the dude's paper. I'm sure his paper actually has data, not just a generalized conclusion. However, I'd at least read his executive summary before I put all my faith in that journalist's summarization.

as i've posted before, the helmet study posted above is not about how safe or unsafe bike helmets are. it's about the (misguided) perceptions drivers have of cyclists.

the study assumes one thing that can never be taken for granted: the driver sees the cyclist.

the studies showing no helmet or long female-looking hair or tassles on your handlebars or whatever else are rendered totally irrelevant when a driver who is distracted, drunk, talking on the phone, or whatever else doesn't even see you and sends your ass flying.

let's take a couple of recent cases: the girl in illinois (or somewhere out there?) who killed a cyclist because she was downloading ringtones while driving. if he was not wearing a helmet or had long hair would he have been saved?

how about the drunk driver who hit eric ng on the westside bike path in manhattan last week?

wear your helmets.

When my hair was down to my waist I had more close calls when I was on my bicycle or riding a motorcycle. I figured drivers were just shocked to see someone with super long hair and couldn't look away. You drift towards what you look at. Motorcycle roadracing 101.