education

I'll probably regret starting yet another helmet thread, but here we go...

My wife's got some friends round at the moment and I've been patiently
explaining why on earth anyone would want to cycle 100km without being
under duress, doing it for charity, etc. (Why does anyone do anything
that they enjoy?)

Inevitably, one of them asked if I wear a helmet, I say yes, so she says
could I help convince her husband to wear one because he refuses to. So,
naturally, I explained that helmets are not really all that much cop
(only designed to protect you in low-speed impacts, no good if you get
run over by a cement mixer, etc).

Butbutbut... she says, she knows someone who had a nasty accident and A
Helmet Saved His Life. So I say, what are his grounds for saying that?

She's an intelligent enough person that I won her round in the end and
convinced her that she should stop nagging her husband. Did I do good?
At the very least, I think her husband owes me a pint next time I see him.

d.

On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 17:37:29 +0000 (UTC), davek wrote:

I'll probably regret starting yet another helmet thread, but here we go...

My wife's got some friends round at the moment and I've been patiently
explaining why on earth anyone would want to cycle 100km without being
under duress, doing it for charity, etc. (Why does anyone do anything
that they enjoy?)

Inevitably, one of them asked if I wear a helmet, I say yes, so she says
could I help convince her husband to wear one because he refuses to. So,
naturally, I explained that helmets are not really all that much cop
(only designed to protect you in low-speed impacts, no good if you get
run over by a cement mixer, etc).

Butbutbut... she says, she knows someone who had a nasty accident and A
Helmet Saved His Life. So I say, what are his grounds for saying that?

She's an intelligent enough person that I won her round in the end and
convinced her that she should stop nagging her husband. Did I do good?

Of course you did. The more people who realise the limitations of helmets
the better.

At the very least, I think her husband owes me a pint next time I see him.


Yes, harmonious marital relations are another good thing.

--
Michael MacClancy
Random putdown - "I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's
nothing trivial." - Irvin S. Cobb
www.macclancy.demon.co.uk
www.macclancy.co.uk

Did I do good?

her husband owes me a pint next time I see him.

Nice one - I think you already know the answer.

Tho are you sure you used a logical argument to stop a woman nagging?

On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 17:37:29 +0000 (UTC), davek wrote
in message :

Did I do good?

Of course. "We are not anti helmet, we are anti bull****" - the new
rallying cry of the Cyclists' Liberation Front.

At the very least, I think her husband owes me a pint next time I see him.

I'll pay if he won't ;-)

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

davek wrote in message ...
I'll probably regret starting yet another helmet thread, but here we go...

My wife's got some friends round at the moment and I've been patiently
explaining why on earth anyone would want to cycle 100km without being
under duress, doing it for charity, etc. (Why does anyone do anything
that they enjoy?)

Inevitably, one of them asked if I wear a helmet, I say yes, so she says
could I help convince her husband to wear one because he refuses to. So,
naturally, I explained that helmets are not really all that much cop
(only designed to protect you in low-speed impacts, no good if you get
run over by a cement mixer, etc).

Butbutbut... she says, she knows someone who had a nasty accident and A
Helmet Saved His Life. So I say, what are his grounds for saying that?

She's an intelligent enough person that I won her round in the end and
convinced her that she should stop nagging her husband. Did I do good?
At the very least, I think her husband owes me a pint next time I see him.

d.

To support your arguments you could point her to sites sceptical of
"helmet-saved-my-life" claims like:

http://www.cyclehelmets.org/
and
http://www.magma.ca/~ocbc

The latter has a helmet FAQ.

In ,
davek wrote:
I'll probably regret starting yet another helmet thread, but here we
go...

My wife's got some friends round at the moment and I've been patiently
explaining why on earth anyone would want to cycle 100km without being
under duress, doing it for charity, etc. (Why does anyone do anything
that they enjoy?)

Inevitably, one of them asked if I wear a helmet, I say yes, so she
says could I help convince her husband to wear one because he refuses
to. So, naturally, I explained that helmets are not really all that
much cop (only designed to protect you in low-speed impacts, no good
if you get run over by a cement mixer, etc).

Butbutbut... she says, she knows someone who had a nasty accident and
A Helmet Saved His Life. So I say, what are his grounds for saying
that?

She's an intelligent enough person that I won her round in the end and
convinced her that she should stop nagging her husband. Did I do good?
At the very least, I think her husband owes me a pint next time I see
him.

d.

Can I give you my wife's phone number?
--


Martin Bulmer

I love to cycle without the lid, but it did save my head on one occasion....

I was cycling through Hyde Park on my road bike. The front wheel quick
release came undone (my fault of course). As I hopped over a speed bump, the
front wheel came out. Nasty. My downtube landed on the wheel, buckling it,
and I went right over the handle bars - landing on my head. The helmet was
trashed. Fortunately I'd just been to one of those IT training courses where
they give you 500 pages of useless guff so that saved my back. I'm sat there
on the road seeing stars, suddenly elated that I hit the deck without
injury. I couldn't stop laughing. The damage: trashed helmet; trashed front
wheel; slight concussion; 'told you so' from the girlfriend (and she was
right).

Many of the crashes, bumps and falls ARE at low speed. Many people never
cycle very fast. Many of the slow riders have bikes which aren't in good
enough condition to brake effectively. I say that you should encourage him
to wear a helmet.




"davek" wrote in message
...
I'll probably regret starting yet another helmet thread, but here we go...

My wife's got some friends round at the moment and I've been patiently
explaining why on earth anyone would want to cycle 100km without being
under duress, doing it for charity, etc. (Why does anyone do anything
that they enjoy?)

Inevitably, one of them asked if I wear a helmet, I say yes, so she says
could I help convince her husband to wear one because he refuses to. So,
naturally, I explained that helmets are not really all that much cop
(only designed to protect you in low-speed impacts, no good if you get
run over by a cement mixer, etc).

Butbutbut... she says, she knows someone who had a nasty accident and A
Helmet Saved His Life. So I say, what are his grounds for saying that?

She's an intelligent enough person that I won her round in the end and
convinced her that she should stop nagging her husband. Did I do good?
At the very least, I think her husband owes me a pint next time I see him.

d.

I love to cycle without the lid, but it did save my head on one
occasion.... slight concussion

Out of genuine interest, what do you think your injuries would have been
without the helmet?

Mark.

I landed squarely on top of my head at about 15-20kmph. I went over the
handlebars of a full sized road bike (therefore a fall of about 150cm). I
weigh about 70kg, add at least four kilos for the training materials. For
that force, I would expect severe concussion; possibly coma and a cracked
skull. If all of those did happen, then there would be further complications
or hemorrhaging etc. All of this is conjecture, so I did a search. This
article was interesting:
http://www.waltersforensic.com/artic...n/vol5-no3.htm

The helmet wouldn't have protected my neck. Fortunately, my neck wasn't
hurt.



"Mark Thompson" wrote in message
93.157...
I love to cycle without the lid, but it did save my head on one
occasion.... slight concussion

Out of genuine interest, what do you think your injuries would have been
without the helmet?

Mark.

Will H wrote:
I landed squarely on top of my head at about 15-20kmph. I went over the
handlebars of a full sized road bike (therefore a fall of about 150cm). I
weigh about 70kg, add at least four kilos for the training materials. For
that force, I would expect severe concussion; possibly coma and a cracked
skull. If all of those did happen, then there would be further complications
or hemorrhaging etc. All of this is conjecture, so I did a search. This
article was interesting:
http://www.waltersforensic.com/artic...n/vol5-no3.htm

Increased helmet wearing has not made any difference to the rate of
deaths and serious injuries where they've been made compulsory, thus
forcing a rise in wearing rates.

Do you think that a fractured skull is a serious injury? I do...

In the meantime, did your search include
http://www.cyclehelmets.org/mf.html#1081 ?

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/