Invisible Cyclists in Solstice Dark

Sorni wrote:

I wear/ use what seems to me to be
appropriate clothes/gear/equipment for that activity.

Your choice is your own, at least in most areas. (Some are not allowed
to choose.)

But how do you decide what "seems to be appropriate"?

Understand, up to 1975 in America, everybody thought no hat, or perhaps
a cotton cap with a brim, seemed appropriate for cycling. There was no
epidemic of serious head injuries that told anyone different. There
were no newspaper or magazine articles about the head injury danger of
cycling.

Then, with the Bell Biker came the articles explaining why you might
need such a thing. I recall Buycycling magazine justifying helmet
wearing by printing an article about a rider who fell and was
concussed. My friends and I were extremely skeptical. In all our
countless miles as children and adults, we'd never heard of such a
thing - and the rider was merely dazed, in any case.

It took energetic funding by Snell, and heavy promotion by Safe Kids,
The Harborview Institute and others to invent and publicize a
connection between cycling and head injury. Now, after 15 years of
work, they've made the connection "seem appropriate."

If it were not for their heavy advertising, it would "seem to be
appropriate" to call a foam hat ludicrous. It still seems that way for
the vast majority of the world's cyclists - those who haven't been
attacked with the propaganda, or who have enough experience to resist.


In defense of the people who buy the propaganda, this line of thought
is certainly not unique to cycling helmets. It's now being heavily
promoted that the ground under a jungle gym must be covered with rubber
- as if kids never climb trees. Now every surface a toddler may ever
touch must be padded with rubber and sanitized. Now cars come with
headlights that the drivers are incapable of turning off. Paper cups
of coffee have hazard warnings printed on the sides. Scissors and
knives come in boxes that say "Caution! Contents may be sharp!" and
so on.

One day, we may find it's illegal to cycle without a GPS, in case we
get lost, take a break in a coffeee shop to get out bearings, and
fatally scald ourselves.

- Frank Krygowski