"Bleve" == Bleve writes:

Absolutely. It's a hot and smelly inconvenience which is
off-putting to the fashion conscious.

Bleve Stackhats went out in, oh, 1980? Modern helmets are light,
Bleve well ventilated and comfortable.

On a hot summer's day they most certainly aren't as comfortable as a
decent sun hat.

It's a bit of baggage that you need to lug around and there is no
proof that helmets provide any benefit whereas there is
substantial proof that helmets are detrimental.

Bleve "any" benefit? If I wasn't wearing mine a few months ago
Bleve when I crashed into an oncoming bike on a bikepath, I'd
Bleve probably be a vegetable (more than I am now!). I'd certanily
Bleve have done significan injury. As it is, I had to buy a new
Bleve helmet and was a bit dizzy for a couple of days.

At age five I rode head face in to a concrete lamp post (I sneezed,
opened my eyes, saw lamp post and grabbed the front brake with
predictable results.) I required two stitches but other than that,
fine.

At at age 12 I went sailing over the bonnet of my geography teacher's
car. Many bruises and abrasions but guess what? My skin and bone
healed up.

At fourteen my tennis racket holder (a clamp which fitted on the front
forks which could hold a tennis racket) worked loose and jammed in the
spokes with rather spectacular results. Again, battered and bruised but
I recovered.

I wasn't wearing a helmet. I hit my head. I'm here and not a
vegetable.

Bleve 20 years ago (or however long ago it was) it may have stopped
Bleve some adults riding - but all the kids at my school still
Bleve rode. We hated stackhats and those awful Bell puddingbowls,
Bleve but we still rode our bikes everywhere. As to how many
Bleve people that grew up post-compulsory rules that haven't ridden
Bleve because they'd have to wear a helmet? How's that going to be
Bleve measured?

It's pretty hard to measure, agreed. However the requirement to wear a
helmet is a barrier on two fronts.

One, cycling must be dangerous. It must be dangerous otherwise why
would you have to wear a helmet? You don't have to wear a helmet if
something's not dangerous.

Two, it's just inconvenient. Bicycles are much more convenient when you
don't have to lug around a helmet once you've parked the bike. These
things matter to people.

Bob But wearing helmets can impact outcomes. These however would
Bob not be identifiable in statistics because the number of deaths,
Bob while being too high already, is to low in Australia to draw
Bob real conclusions.
There is no proof that helmets are beneficial.

Bleve Heh, I refute this thus; I can still read.

I refute your refute, I can still read to after several cycling
accidents which resulted in a bump on the head. I fully suspect that if
you had not been wearing a helmet in your accident you'd still be able
to read as well.

This is the thing about helmets, you have an accident and see the damage
done to the helmet. ``Oh thank goodness I was wearing a helmet, that
impact would have left me with brain damage.'' That's a very unlikely
scenario. People have been falling on their bonce since the beginning
of time and it is the minority of those cases which result in brain
injury.

If you're convinced of the properties of cycling helmets then I hope you
wear one when walking and driving a car (I know you wear a motorcycle
helmet ;-) ).

Bleve It is a fact that in
every country that has helmet compulsion cycling has decreased
significantly which has a far greater impact on cyclist safety.

Bleve It may have temporarily reduced numbers, but is there any
Bleve evidence to suggest that the change lasted a generation?

If the numbers hadn't reduced it's quite possible we'd have a lot more
cyclists today.

That's a very big may. I prefer not to entrust my safety to what
is essentially a piece of polystyrene designed to absorb the
kinetic energy of a fall from head height. That's all it does.

Bleve "all" it does? "I refuse to breath because all it does is
Bleve oxygenate blood". Mine without doubt saved me from significant head
Bleve injury. I'm mighty glad that polystyrene saved my bonce from
Bleve a fall from head-height. I landed head-first (back of head).
Bleve Helmets work.

Helmets may work in very limited scenarios, they do not make a
significant contribution to cyclist safety that warrants compulsion.

Compulsion is a barrier to cycling, a barrier to cycling reduces cycling
numbers and increases the risk per cyclists. It's not a good trade off.

Wear a helmet or don't, I just don't agree with compulsion.
--
Cheers | ~~ __@
Euan | ~~ _-\,
Melbourne, Australia | ~ (*)/ (*)