Helmet reminder...

"Fred" wrote in
et:

What enormous costs to society?

Must be Canadian, or some other kind of Socialist. Fate tempting "health
care payments and return of investment" rant snipped. I'll only push my
luck so far.

Fred

"RB" wrote in message
om...
Yesterday I was riding happily along with two pals when in an instant
one guy crashed. His body and head hit the ground so hard that he
broke four bones, his clavicle, three ribs, and his hip. All minor
breaks that will require no surgeries. Minor is relative of course,
he's in pain, but he should be back to normal or close in about six
weeks.

So, why am I telling you this you ask? Well, this man hit his head on
the ground so hard that his helmet was thoroughly demolished in the
area that impacted the ground. Today, he doesn't even have a
headache. What I am conveying to you though is that his helmet is
absolutely responsible for saving his life, or at the very least,
saving him from months, possibly years, of recovery. I've heard
stories like this before, I know you have too, but it must be said
again and again. A helmet will save your life and stop much grief for
everyone.

I urge you all to insist that those who ride with you wear one or you
don't ride with them. If you are one who refuses to wear a helmet,
then it's time to put one on. The arguments usually are that "It's my
head, let me worry about it." Or, "It's not comfortable." The
arguments are futile self-deceptions. The truth is, it's not your
head when you damage it. If you are not killed there are enormous
costs to society to make you independent again. There will be
emotional pain suffered by loved ones who are extremely traumatized by
your complete disregard for THEIR well-being. And, if you cannot take
care of yourself, they will be the ones forced to tend to you in your
infant state. If a helmet is not comfortable, find one that is, or,
give up cycling!

What the fnck are you talking about?
How many of the 800 cyclists would hav elived if they were wearing a
helmet? How many of them were killed because they were doing something
stupid? How many of them were killed by some idiot in a car who wasn't
paying attention?

Did you know more children are killed by pools every year than by hand
guns? Why isn't anyone trying to get pools banned? They're obviously more
dangerous.


(RB) wrote in
om:

Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute
·There are 85 million bicycle riders in the US
·About 800 bicyclists die in the US every year
·About 550,000 bicyclists visit emergency rooms with injuries every
year.
·Bicycle crashes and injuries are under reported, since the majority
are not serious enough for emergency room visits.
·One in eight of the cyclists with reported injuries has a brain
injury.
·Two-thirds of the deaths here are from traumatic brain injury.
·Eighty eight percent of cyclists' brain injuries can be prevented by
a helmet.
·Many years of potential life are lost because about half of the
deaths are children under 15 years old.
·Direct costs of cyclists' injuries are estimated at $81 million each
year.
·Indirect costs of cyclists' injuries are estimated at $2.3 billion
each year.

Without a doubt, natural selection will cull out the intellectually
defective. We all know that, but it shouldn't cost so much for the
rest of us. Consider this, the same defects will also cost us in
other areas, i.e. lung cancer, drug rehabilitation, unwanted
pregnancies, new trailers homes when the flood zone they live in
floods AGAIN… The list goes on and on. It's my believe that a
hospital bed is not what we need to offer them; it's an oven we should
readily employ. **** em! Troll on this chump.

-RB

(Chalo) wrote in message
. com...

And driving.
And showering.
And climbing stairs.
And home repair.
And hiking.
And venturing outside when it's wet or icy.
Etc., etc., etc.

We've heard it all before, troll.

Either you wear (and promote the wearing of) a helmet for _every_
activity in which you could fall or hit your head, or you're just
another willfully ignorant busybody ****ant.

The easy way to approach the issue is to shut your tedious yap and
mind your own business. Wear a silly foam hat if you like.

Chalo Colina

Derek Torrington wrote in
news
On 25 Aug 2003 02:28:12 -0700, (RB) wrote:

Yesterday I was riding happily along with two pals when in an instant
one guy crashed. His body and head hit the ground so hard that he
snip

My $.02?
I have been biking regularly since 1973. I've fallen exactly once.
It was 1986 and my helmet was too heavy and uncomfortable so I didn't
wear it. It was a freak occurance, I had no time to brace myself and
landed on my head, then flopped on my shoulder, hip and elbow. It was
scary how much the head wound bled, took 14 stitches to weave it back
together. No stitches anywhere else though, just road rash. I
wasn't right for several weeks. (Go ahead, accuse me of never
recovering mentally. I get it all the time.)
The ER crew and paramedics were downright nasty to me because they
found no helmet at the scene and correctly assumed I wasn't wearing
one when I crashed.
I wear a helmet every time I ride now. I get a little reminder every
time I comb my hair (hurts like hell) or whack my head on a cabinet
door (always hits that spot) and will have a nice visible trophy of my
stupidity when the rest of my hair falls out.
So don't wear a helmet if you don't want to. I feel I'm better off
with it than without.
Thanks for reading,
Derek


You are obviously not riding correctly. I've been riding since the early
eighties and I've probably crashed over 100 times in my life and I have
scars on my knees, elbows, one on the inside of my leg from a broken banana
seat, one on my shoulder and a small lump on the palm of my hand where a
peice of gravel (or something) has been imbedded under my skin for many,
many years. In all this time I have never hit my head from a bike crash.
That said, I do wear a helmet while I'm riding off road, but I don't wear
one while commuting to work any more than I would while walking down the
sidewalk, or crossing a parking lot. I think what would save a lot more
lives than wearing a helmet is keeping your bike in good shape and making
sure everything is safe before you get on the bike. Of course, knowing how
to ride your bike helps too.

"Mr. E. Mann" wrote in message
...
Derek Torrington wrote in
news
On 25 Aug 2003 02:28:12 -0700, (RB) wrote:

Yesterday I was riding happily along with two pals when in an instant
one guy crashed. His body and head hit the ground so hard that he
snip

My $.02?
I have been biking regularly since 1973. I've fallen exactly once.
It was 1986 and my helmet was too heavy and uncomfortable so I didn't
wear it. It was a freak occurance, I had no time to brace myself and
landed on my head, then flopped on my shoulder, hip and elbow. It was
scary how much the head wound bled, took 14 stitches to weave it back
together. No stitches anywhere else though, just road rash. I
wasn't right for several weeks. (Go ahead, accuse me of never
recovering mentally. I get it all the time.)
The ER crew and paramedics were downright nasty to me because they
found no helmet at the scene and correctly assumed I wasn't wearing
one when I crashed.
I wear a helmet every time I ride now. I get a little reminder every
time I comb my hair (hurts like hell) or whack my head on a cabinet
door (always hits that spot) and will have a nice visible trophy of my
stupidity when the rest of my hair falls out.
So don't wear a helmet if you don't want to. I feel I'm better off
with it than without.
Thanks for reading,
Derek


You are obviously not riding correctly. I've been riding since the early
eighties and I've probably crashed over 100 times in my life and I have
scars on my knees, elbows, one on the inside of my leg from a broken
banana
seat, one on my shoulder and a small lump on the palm of my hand where a
peice of gravel (or something) has been imbedded under my skin for many,
many years. In all this time I have never hit my head from a bike crash.
That said, I do wear a helmet while I'm riding off road, but I don't wear
one while commuting to work any more than I would while walking down the
sidewalk, or crossing a parking lot. I think what would save a lot more
lives than wearing a helmet is keeping your bike in good shape and making
sure everything is safe before you get on the bike. Of course, knowing how
to ride your bike helps too.

What an idiot. I hope this is just a stupid troll. I've ridden (and raced)
probably 100,000 miles in the last ten years. I've had only two crashes in
all those miles. The first came in a very low speed crash on wet RR tracks.
The rider ahead of me swerved unexpectedly. I had to swerve to miss him and
ended up hitting the tracks at a bad angle that took my wheels out. My left
kneecap went squarely into a rail and was split in two. My head slammed the
pavement hard enough to destroy my helmet. I have no doubt that my head
injuries would have been far more serious than my kneecap injury had I not
been wearing my helmet.

11 months ago I was hit by a car. I was traveling through an intersection
with a green light. A teenage driver in an oncoming car, talking on a cell
phone, swung into the left hand turn lane and just kept coming -- plowing
into me head on. I saw it coming, but she was driving so fast I had no time
to get out of the way. I impacted the fender with my left hip. My hip,
pelvis and ankle were shattered. Then I went off the windshield which,
according to witnesses, launched me about 20 feet straight up in the air. I
landed squarely on my head. My helmet was destroyed but my head was fine.
I sustained a compression fracture to the spine.

After hospitalization and months of painful rehabilitation, I'm riding again
and setting personal best times. I have ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT that, were it
not for that helmet, I would not be riding or living anything close to a
normal life. Further, I have ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT that NOBODY could have for
eseen or avoided either of those incidents.

Anybody who rides on the road without a helmet is behaving foolishly and is
in denial about the kinds of things that can happen out there. I'm so sick
of reading posts by people who ride a couple of hours a month who think they
know it all. Spend several hours a day out there and you'll get a bit
better perspective on the dangers.

Bob C.

Bob C.:

I wouldn't fret too much over the poster's opinion to which you
responded. This newsgroup has become quite immature in the last year.
Some of today’s posters delight in refusing to conduct
themselves with any sort of societal responsibility. By the sound of
his post, this person cannot be playing with a full deck anyway. By
his own admission he has crashed 100 times so he appears to be pretty
lame already, at the very least he is imbalanced. He also says he has
allowed a foreign object to remain in his skin. This suggests he has
no medical insurance and or cannot afford to pay for the removal
himself. This suggests he lives in a mobile home and cooks hamburger
for a living. It may just be a good thing he doesn't wear a helmet.
Natural selection has a wonderful way of dealing with our society's
defects. He would certainly qualify as defective.

-RB


"Robert Chambers" wrote in message ...
"Mr. E. Mann" wrote in message
...
Derek Torrington wrote in
news
On 25 Aug 2003 02:28:12 -0700, (RB) wrote:

Yesterday I was riding happily along with two pals when in an instant
one guy crashed. His body and head hit the ground so hard that he
snip

My $.02?
I have been biking regularly since 1973. I've fallen exactly once.
It was 1986 and my helmet was too heavy and uncomfortable so I didn't
wear it. It was a freak occurance, I had no time to brace myself and
landed on my head, then flopped on my shoulder, hip and elbow. It was
scary how much the head wound bled, took 14 stitches to weave it back
together. No stitches anywhere else though, just road rash. I
wasn't right for several weeks. (Go ahead, accuse me of never
recovering mentally. I get it all the time.)
The ER crew and paramedics were downright nasty to me because they
found no helmet at the scene and correctly assumed I wasn't wearing
one when I crashed.
I wear a helmet every time I ride now. I get a little reminder every
time I comb my hair (hurts like hell) or whack my head on a cabinet
door (always hits that spot) and will have a nice visible trophy of my
stupidity when the rest of my hair falls out.
So don't wear a helmet if you don't want to. I feel I'm better off
with it than without.
Thanks for reading,
Derek


You are obviously not riding correctly. I've been riding since the early
eighties and I've probably crashed over 100 times in my life and I have
scars on my knees, elbows, one on the inside of my leg from a broken
banana
seat, one on my shoulder and a small lump on the palm of my hand where a
peice of gravel (or something) has been imbedded under my skin for many,
many years. In all this time I have never hit my head from a bike crash.
That said, I do wear a helmet while I'm riding off road, but I don't wear
one while commuting to work any more than I would while walking down the
sidewalk, or crossing a parking lot. I think what would save a lot more
lives than wearing a helmet is keeping your bike in good shape and making
sure everything is safe before you get on the bike. Of course, knowing how
to ride your bike helps too.

What an idiot. I hope this is just a stupid troll. I've ridden (and raced)
probably 100,000 miles in the last ten years. I've had only two crashes in
all those miles. The first came in a very low speed crash on wet RR tracks.
The rider ahead of me swerved unexpectedly. I had to swerve to miss him and
ended up hitting the tracks at a bad angle that took my wheels out. My left
kneecap went squarely into a rail and was split in two. My head slammed the
pavement hard enough to destroy my helmet. I have no doubt that my head
injuries would have been far more serious than my kneecap injury had I not
been wearing my helmet.

11 months ago I was hit by a car. I was traveling through an intersection
with a green light. A teenage driver in an oncoming car, talking on a cell
phone, swung into the left hand turn lane and just kept coming -- plowing
into me head on. I saw it coming, but she was driving so fast I had no time
to get out of the way. I impacted the fender with my left hip. My hip,
pelvis and ankle were shattered. Then I went off the windshield which,
according to witnesses, launched me about 20 feet straight up in the air. I
landed squarely on my head. My helmet was destroyed but my head was fine.
I sustained a compression fracture to the spine.

After hospitalization and months of painful rehabilitation, I'm riding again
and setting personal best times. I have ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT that, were it
not for that helmet, I would not be riding or living anything close to a
normal life. Further, I have ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT that NOBODY could have for
eseen or avoided either of those incidents.

Anybody who rides on the road without a helmet is behaving foolishly and is
in denial about the kinds of things that can happen out there. I'm so sick
of reading posts by people who ride a couple of hours a month who think they
know it all. Spend several hours a day out there and you'll get a bit
better perspective on the dangers.

Bob C.