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Old February 19th 19, 01:54 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
John B. Slocomb
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Posts: 805
Default A use for bike helmets

On Mon, 18 Feb 2019 13:19:56 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 2/18/2019 11:41 AM, Joy Beeson wrote:

Just saw a cartoon in which a kid with a slice off a sphere
precariously balanced on his head is speaking to a kid wearing a
horned helmet: "Dude, I said let's go *biking* this weekend."

Without the plastic hat, how would we have known that the child was
dressed for riding his little bike?

Which is on a roof rack on a car in the background. I wonder who will
drive the two children to their playground?


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I'truth, the plastic-hat craze would do no harm were it not that it
makes it impossible to promote bike safety. Every time the topic is
brought up, "We'll buy everybody a plastic hat!" Check, that's taken
care of, next topic.


Agreed. I've been through training and certification to teach bike
safety to kids. I mentioned this to a friend of mine, principal of a
nearby middle school and so he asked about me doing such a program. I
said I could do that, but warned him that I would not promote or mandate
helmets.

He said "Oh, but our parents really believe in helmets." And he
apparently decided not to put on that program.

The issue has reached the stage where helmets are dogma. Skepticism
isn't even tolerated.


The most pitiful part is that bicycles have somehow been converted
from a common transportation device for children to something that is
dangerous enough that special protective devices are necessary just to
get on one of the things.

When I was a kid practically every kid in town had a bicycle and rode
it to the movies, to swimming, and back and forth to the store when
their mother sent them for another bottle of milk. We even rode bare
footed.

Today (apparently) one doesn't dare let the kid out of the driveway
without a special hat and even then, "to be safe", one has to ferry
the kid and the bicycle to the play grounds in order for them to ride.

I am ignoring the fact that a third of the U.S. population is obese
https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/top...itioninfo/risk

"More than 35% of U.S. adults are obese, and more than 34% are
overweight.2 Obesity affects 17% of all children and adolescents in
the United States, which is three times the prevalence from just one
generation ago. Nearly 32% of children and adolescents are either
overweight or obese."

Think of it, from "The Land of the Free and the Brave" to "The Land of
the Fat and Obese" in a single generation.

--
Cheers,
John B.


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