"Steven Bornfeld" wrote in message
...


Shayne Wissler wrote:
"John Forrest Tomlinson" wrote in message
...


Now what evidence do you have about helmets protecting against dented
skulls or brain injuries?


I have an idea for an experiment. Go outside and have someone hold a
brick
about 2 feet over your bare head and have him drop it. Observe the pain
and
damage (assuming you're still conscious). Then try the same experiment
on
your friend, but have him wear a cycling helmet. If he laughs at you,
you
may be able to infer from this, experimentally, that he thought it was
not
necessary to run the experiment to know that you would end up with a
damaged
head and he wouldn't.

If you are unable to apply the knowledge gained from this experiment to
real-life, I would submit that it's not more experiments that you're
actually in need of.


Shayne Wissler

Well, that's the problem, isn't it? Tough to run a controlled study of
this type in real-life conditions.

It's a mistake to think that you need a real-life trial in order to make
valid inferences from the experiments. Even a thought experiment (as the one
I gave above) is sufficient to know that helmets will protect your head to
an important degree.

But I agree with Frank that it should be left up to the individual to
decide--I don't wear my helmet all of the time. (Although perhaps I should:
my worst injury on the bike during the past year was less than a mile from
my house when I was just on a little ride around the block. I was sprinting
up the street and my foot came out of the pedal.)


Shayne Wissler