Bicycle helmet law can save lives

Curtis L. Russell writes:
On 02 May 2004 14:28:39 -0400, Christopher Brian Colohan
wrote:

Yow! My helmet has helped me exactly once -- when a drunk college kid
randomly decided to throw a bottle at my head as I rode by him one
evening. It just bounced off my helmet and did no harm at all..

They must do better road maintenance in your area.

Grumble grumble grumble NO. :-(

The city of Pittsburgh is having financial troubles this year, and has
cut back on road maintenance as a result. We have had numerous
potholes which were 3' long, 4' wide, and 8" deep in the roads around
me -- and they have taken up to two weeks to get filled. I had a tire
blow out in my _car_ from hitting one of those. (Couldn't swerve due
to oncoming traffic.)

On my bike I have gotten very good at looking out for them and driving
around the hazards, or jumping up in the air so I fly over the smaller
ones... (Yay clipless pedals!)

Chris
--
Chris Colohan Email: PGP: finger
Web: www.colohan.com Phone: (412)268-4751

"Top Sirloin" wrote in message
...
Pete wrote:

So why is it, that in places where helmet use has been more universally
required and regulated (Oz, NZ), that hasn't been shown to be the case?

Because governments and their laws cannot create
common sense, morality, or stop criminals from
doing anything?

Meaning...
People ignore the law and still ride mostly sans foamie, or that the foamies
do not provide benefit to the advertised numbers?

Your point is rather unclear.

Pete
riding a bike without a helmet makes you an immoral criminal?

"Curtis L. Russell" wrote in message
...
On 02 May 2004 14:28:39 -0400, Christopher Brian Colohan
wrote:

Yow! My helmet has helped me exactly once -- when a drunk college kid
randomly decided to throw a bottle at my head as I rode by him one
evening. It just bounced off my helmet and did no harm at all..

They must do better road maintenance in your area. My helmet is
excellant for keeping the Charlie W. helmet mirror in place and to
block low hanging branches. The latter is a great help in riding in
Anne Arundel County, MD (USA) most of the year.

I'd consider trading the helmet for a mandatory maintenance law.

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

If we're doing testimonials, I believe my helmet saved me when I went down
on a Rochester MN bike path. I don't remember much, but I had a concussion
and a broken arm (impact fracture of humerus). I was picked up by a
neighbor at a gas station, walking home and not making much sense. I don't
remember much of anything for about a 6 hour period. Not a scratch on
me(broken bone and concussion but no scratches) from what seems to have been
a pretty good belly flop and face plant. Hit a little patch of loose dirt
that was deeper than I thought. Usually it is wet, so I go slow or walk.
This time it was dry....

So for me a helmet was a good idea.

del cecchi

On Sun, 02 May 2004 01:36:47 +0000, Garrison Hilliard
wrote in message
:

Bicycle helmet law can save lives

Yet strangely never does.

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

On 1 May 2004 23:02:37 -0700, (remove the
polite word to reply) wrote in message
:

Is this a case of "When you don't have facts, cry "troll"? An ad hominem attack?

Nope, it's a case of a lame troll posting an uncritical review of a
law which has failed in every single place where it has been tried.

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

On Sun, 02 May 2004 10:37:56 -0700, Richard Brockie
wrote in message
:

H**met laws are nearly always pushed by people who don't ride bikes. The
two main promoters of a law in the UK are both fat, unhealthy-looking
and haven't been on a bike for years.

So that's where David Coulthard's been going wrong this F1 season?

Coulthard is pictured on his website riding a motor scoooter and a
bike with no helmet. Sauce for the goose...

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

Pete wrote:

"Top Sirloin" wrote in message
...

Pete wrote:


So why is it, that in places where helmet use has been more universally
required and regulated (Oz, NZ), that hasn't been shown to be the case?

Because governments and their laws cannot create
common sense, morality, or stop criminals from
doing anything?


Meaning...
People ignore the law and still ride mostly sans foamie, or that the foamies
do not provide benefit to the advertised numbers?

Your point is rather unclear.

The point is the government can't _make_ anyone do
anything. Bicycle helmet law is so far down the
list for enforcement that you end up with that you
had befo the people with the money and will to
wear helmets will. Others won't and nothing will
be said about it, excepting the politician who
gets to put a gold star by their name.

--
Scott Johnson / scottjohnson at kc dot rr dot com

On Mon, 03 May 2004 14:18:29 -0400, Top Sirloin
wrote in message
:

The point is the government can't _make_ anyone do
anything. Bicycle helmet law is so far down the
list for enforcement that you end up with that you
had befo the people with the money and will to
wear helmets will. Others won't and nothing will
be said about it, excepting the politician who
gets to put a gold star by their name.

Up to a point, Lord Copper. Also, people will get the impression that
cycling is so dangerous it can't be done without special protective
equipment, and some people (quite large numbers if Australia is
anything to go by) will be put off altogether, which actually reduces
safety, since numbers cycling is one of the strongest predictors of
cyclist safety.

Still, this doesn't seem to matter to the handwringers. And neither
does the fact that there is no known case where cyclist safety has
improved with increased helmet use. Or the fact that no single helmet
law anywhere in the world has delivered a measurable reduction in
injury rates, other than simply by deterring cycling.

We have just defeated such a law in the UK. The outright lies which
were quoted in its support are enough to persuade me that the
compulsion lobby have a very weak case indeed. Why else would they
need to use distortion to portray the problem as big enough to justify
their "solution?"

If anyone's interested, the campaign is described he
url:http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk/web/public.nsf/Documents/martlew_bill

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

"Just zis Guy, you know?" wrote in
message ...
On Sun, 02 May 2004 01:36:47 +0000, Garrison Hilliard
wrote in message
:

Bicycle helmet law can save lives

Yet strangely never does.

How about "yet proof of this fact is [elusive] [inconclusive]
[statistically difficult to prove]." Choose a discriptor. There
is no way anyone can say categorically that a helmet did not save
somebody's life somewhere. "Saving life" meaning that the victim
lived, regardless of the degree of morbidity.

Everytime we have this thread (and it seems to be about every
five months or so), we trot out the same arguments pro and con --
with decreasing support on either side. What always amazes me is
the reaction from the folks in U.K. and Australia who claim a
huge decrease in ridership when helmet laws pass. What is up
with that? Considering that most of the U.S. helmet laws only
apply to kids under 16 (or 15 under the law in this case, which
is said to be "like" the one recently defeated in the U.K.), how
is that going to affect ridership? When I was 15 or 16, I rode
for one reason -- to get somewhere. My mother was not going to
drop everything and give me a ride to school just so I would not
have to muss-up my hair with a stinky ol' bicycle helmet. And I
was not going to walk five miles -- or two, or one. I would have
ridden with a helmet rather than walk. So, it seems to me that
any drop in ridership would not be caused by having to wear a
helmet but rather would be caused by having an indulgent mother.
I really cannot figure out why helmet helmet laws are such a
"live free or die" issue for so many. I wish these people
approached tax reform with the same vigor. -- Jay Beattie.

Curtis L. Russell wrote:

They must do better road maintenance in your area. My helmet is
excellant for keeping the Charlie W. helmet mirror in place and to
block low hanging branches. The latter is a great help in riding in
Anne Arundel County, MD (USA) most of the year.

I can't say my helmet has done anything for me, but my cycling glasses
have certainly saved me a good bit of trauma. Dust, rocks, insects,
tree branches, etc. My glasses have at least saved me some facial
scratches and bruises, if not my vision. Glasses and gloves are my two
favorite pieces of safety equipment.

--
Dane Jackson - z u v e m b i @ u n i x b i g o t s . o r g
I wasn't born a killer. Daleks like you made me this way!