My helmet saved me, and broke

This is an interesting discussion but please don't use 'us' or 'we' when
you actually mean 'I'.


--
goldenchicken II - There is more to cycling

Olaf Johansson

www.enhjulingsfolket.se
www.muni.se
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On Sun, 28 Aug 2005, Mikefule wrote:

But will the helmet help? It is a bicycle helmet designed for road
use.

Obviously, it will do more good than harm.

That statement sums up the entire problem.

It is not obvious. It might SEEM obvious, but the real-world fact of
helmet COMPULSION is that helmet compulsion does more harm than good
(unless you count removing cyclists from teh road as good - some
motorists do)

However, they will generally do more good than harm.

But they don't - when they are made compulsory, teh rate of cyclist
killed and seriously injured goes up (in every jurisdiction that has
tried it and enforced it).

In teh UK, as the rate of cyclist helmet wearing has sky-rocketed
compared to that of pedestrian helmet wearing, the relative accident
rate has not changed dramatically (in fact, it has drifted in teh
wrong direction).

If you can explain how it can be obvious that helmets will generally
do more good than harm, when making everyone wear them increases the
rate of serious injury, and when lots of people choose to wear one
it doesn't alter the rate of serious injury, it would be very useful.

Until you can explain those observations, I don't think you can
truthfully say "obviously" or "generally" they will do more good than
harm - because in practice, increasing teh rate of helmet wearing
hasn't reduced teh rate of cyclist serious injury.

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

I see all sorts of references to studies and statistics in this
discussion. Pardon my skepticism, but as a general rule, I don't
believe anything I read in a discussion forum unless its backed up with
reputable links or at the very least a date, publication and article
title.

If you've got sources for numbers and facts, post them. If not, then
all that typing is just proverbial hot air to me, and not terribly
interesting.

Glad your helmet did its job, steveyo. (As in, glad you're still with
us!)


--
entropy - life in balance
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entropy wrote:
*Glad your helmet did its job, steveyo. (As in, glad you're still
with us!) *

Thanks.


--
steveyo - Last will be first

steveyo

"I complained I need new shoes, until I met a man with no feet." -
unknown

"Do whatever steps you want if
you have cleared them with the pontiff"- Tom Lehrer


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Guy wrote:
*I am delighted to have found one person who can speak for the entire
group, that should speed matters along just nicely.*

and John Foss responded:
At the moment it's looking like "the group minus Ian Smith."

Count me in with Ian and Guy. And who was the other chap who used to
try to make the same points here, but seems to have given it up as futile?

Googles
I think I may be thinking of Rowan.

--
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

Danny Colyer wrote:
*Count me in with Ian and Guy. And who was the other chap who used
to
try to make the same points here, but seems to have given it up as
futile?*


That might be me. I've been riding for about 10 years, and have yet to
hit my head. Maybe i just have fast 'reflexes'
(http://tinyurl.com/ce7qv) , i dont know.

I've given up on arguing, and usually ignore helmet threads now. I don't
really think it is responsable or nessessary ot discourage people from
wearing helmets. some of us just don't find it nessessary (you know who
you are).


--
onetrack - training wheel required

"People over here have a dangerous habit of adding quotes to signature
lines."
-Klaas Bil

What's so scary about evolution theory anyway?
-Foss
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Danny Colyer wrote:
*
Count me in with Ian and Guy.
Googles
I think I may be thinking of Rowan.

--
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply
address)*

Ditto.
Today's "Pearls Before Swine" remind me of this repeated discussion.
[image: http://gallery.unicyclist.com/albums...lswisdom.jpeg]


--
ChangingLINKS.com - member

Wishing you Happiness, Joy and Laughter,
Drew Brown
'Changing LINKS' (http://www.ChangingLINKS.com)
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ChangingLINKS.com wrote:
*I wear a helmet most of the time now. I do it partly to satisfy the
pro-wear-a-helmet-to-take-a-shower zealots. *

My son and I--zealots both--thank you for that. Never know when a stray
bit of soap will get underfoot, take you down.


--
tomblackwood - Registered Nurtz

Tailgate at your own risk.....

"By George! The man's a genius!"
Murde Mental

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tomblackwood wrote:
*My son and I--zealots both--thank you for that. Never know when a
stray bit of soap will get underfoot, take you down. *

DAMN IT!
DON'T SAY THAT!
You're effectively raising the likelyhood of compulsory shower helmet
laws. In like kind, shower fatalities will increase, and I'll end up
injured. Thanks alot.


//At least Jagur will be safe.


--
ChangingLINKS.com - member

Wishing you Happiness, Joy and Laughter,
Drew Brown
'Changing LINKS' (http://www.ChangingLINKS.com)
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I feel an experiment coming on. We get Mr 'Guy' to stand under a 500g
weight, raised to a 50cm height (above his head). We then let him
choose whether or not to wear a helmet. If he choses to do so, we win.
If he doesn't, he wins but runs the risk of a serious concussion.

Weight drops. Point is proven.

Reasonable?

Loose. [/b]


Thank you! However, I think the major thing here is for people to choose
for themselves to wear helmets.- Myself, I finally bought a BMX-style
helmet (they call'em ****pots or half-shells in Norway) with which I
usually ride. I know it does not look good and it can be hot and
uncomfortable at times but I find it is worth it. I have been riding far
too much without my helmet and will not push luck anymore. If you watch
our first three movies, they are consequently WITHOUT helmets, our new
movie will be fully WITH helmets.

Over all, it seems to me that you generally agree that one should use
helmets but that bicycling helmets offer less protection than certain
other types of helmets. This, again, is an induvidual dessicion, you
have one of three choises, really:
1 - No helmet
2 - Bicycle/other kind of helmet which offers some protection
3 - BMX/other kind of helmet which ofers maximal protection

I have chosen the last with an hope of surviving a steadily more (and at
times, perhaps, too) extreme unicycling. If other people choose one of
the other two options, fine, I am happy as long as they take
responsibility for their own riding and health.

Regarding wheter the helmet which broke did its job. I would say, yes.
It saved him from serious damage (which MIGHT have been the outcome of
one such impact without a helmet), but it also broke. I would like to
quote my local bike dealer (and Secialized & GT importer in Norway) on
the fact that "no helmet offer optimalized protection after any impact,"
meaning that once you have fallen with your helmet its protective
abilities will be reduced to some degree. How much, he said, will be
diffring from speciman to speciman. Meaning that yes, if you fall, yur
helmet MAY and sometimes WILL break and yet fulfilling its job if YOU
DON'T GET HURT!


--
bjornthegreat - Level 4 - approaching 5 & 6

Visit us at www.SandvikaUnicycling.tk
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