Re: Helmets

Just zis Guy said:

So don't bother. Cycling head injuries are rare, helmets are not
proven to prevent any meaningful proportion of serious injuries, and
there are very few "old, bold bikers" - you are probably sufficiently
skilled and risk averse to avoid a crash in the first place.

Relax and enjoy the ride :-)

Guy

I was going to say that, but I thought I would be lynched. I never wear
a helmet when I am cycling around town. I am not a daredevil, I am
usually in a park, the only times I have been hurt so far was while
"walking in front of a cyclist" and at a "rest stop".

IMO - A person who rides like me, usually does not fall on their head.
It is usually a leg scrap for something. Unless this gentleman is into
riding in alot of traffic or pushing himself to the limit....I think he
can get away without a helmet to give him a comfortable ride. I bought
a helmet for the charity ride, if I had not needed it, I probably still
would not have one.
Maggie

Maggie said:

I never wear a helmet when I am cycling around town.

Quoted message said:

IMO - A person who rides like me, usually does not fall on their

head.

Quoted message said:

It is usually a leg scrap for something. Unless this gentleman is

into

Quoted message said:

riding in alot of traffic or pushing himself to the limit....I think

he

Quoted message said:

can get away without a helmet to give him a comfortable ride. I

bought

Quoted message said:

a helmet for the charity ride, if I had not needed it, I probably

still

Quoted message said:

would not have one.
Maggie

Having been over the bars and headfirst onto asphalt in the good old
days before helmets (my sewup peeled and lodged in the fork), I would
strongly urge you not to find out the HARD way. Believe me, road rash
does not compare.

Will

Will said:

Having been over the bars and headfirst onto asphalt in the good old
days before helmets (my sewup peeled and lodged in the fork), I would
strongly urge you not to find out the HARD way. Believe me, road rash
does not compare.

Will

I'm with you, Will. I recently fell hard. The side of my head slapped
the pavement hard enough to groove and dent the helmet. I had a sore
neck for a few days, but otherwise came through with no head injury.

Will said:

Maggie said:

I never wear a helmet when I am cycling around town.

Quoted message said:

IMO - A person who rides like me, usually does not fall on their head.
It is usually a leg scrap for something. Unless this gentleman is into
riding in alot of traffic or pushing himself to the limit....I think he
can get away without a helmet to give him a comfortable ride. I bought
a helmet for the charity ride, if I had not needed it, I probably still
would not have one.
Maggie

Having been over the bars and headfirst onto asphalt in the good old
days before helmets (my sewup peeled and lodged in the fork), I would
strongly urge you not to find out the HARD way. Believe me, road rash
does not compare.

Well people slip in the bathtub and kill themselves and a few more
bang their heads pretty hard as well. I'm sure it's a nasty experience
if it happens.

But I grew up riding a bike along with all my friends and everyone at
school, and nobody wore a helmet. We certainly crashed, yet everyone
I knew or knew of managed to survive. Crashes involved bent elbows,
knees and perhaps shoulders. Not so much head slams.

I do know people (kids my age) who died in car crashes and a couple
that drowned.

Wear a helmet if you really fear what could happen, but despite your
fears, you may find out that your life and health are more endangered
from activities other than bicycling without a helmet!

SMH

Stephen Harding said:

Wear a helmet if you really fear what could happen, but despite your
fears, you may find out that your life and health are more endangered
from activities other than bicycling without a helmet!

Just curious... do you feel the same way about seatbelts?

Will

Will said:

Stephen Harding said:

Wear a helmet if you really fear what could happen, but despite

your

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

fears, you may find out that your life and health are more

endangered

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

from activities other than bicycling without a helmet!

Just curious... do you feel the same way about seatbelts?

Why do I suspect that, rather than being "just curious," you actually
have a point to make?

Why do you think seatbelts and bicycle helmets are comparable?

RichC

Will said:

Stephen Harding said:

Wear a helmet if you really fear what could happen, but despite

your

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

fears, you may find out that your life and health are more

endangered

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

from activities other than bicycling without a helmet!

Just curious... do you feel the same way about seatbelts?

Will

My son was in an accident over the weekend (yes it was a hell of a
weekend, I got the call at 2:30 a.m.) and the car only had an air bag
on the drivers side.

My son was driving and the one with the protection of the air bag. The
guy in the passenger seat did not have a seat belt on and he has a hell
of a lot of stiches in his face and pretty swollen. Knowing him he
will create of story of how he was in a fight. He gets off on fight
stories for some reason.

Seatbelts are definately a necessity. Especially riding shotgun in cars
that do not have airbags on both sides. You are sitting in a death
seat.

You don't have that belt on, you are right through the windshield.

Maggie
Maggie

23 May 2005 11:41:48 -0700,
<[email hidden]>, "Will"

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Wear a helmet if you really fear what could happen, but despite your
fears, you may find out that your life and health are more endangered
from activities other than bicycling without a helmet!

Just curious... do you feel the same way about seatbelts?

Get serious. Seat belts, air bags and molded foam liners are needed
inside your stinky scuds because those filthy things constitute deadly
menaces to their passengers as well as anyone else encountering them.

There is no reason for seat belts on bicycles.
--
zk

On 23 May 2005 07:42:26 -0700, "Maggie" <[email hidden]>
wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

I was going to say that, but I thought I would be lynched. I never wear
a helmet when I am cycling around town. I am not a daredevil, I am
usually in a park, the only times I have been hurt so far was while
"walking in front of a cyclist" and at a "rest stop".

Hey, it's one of the world's best-kept secrets - cycling is actually
pretty safe :-)

Quoted message said:

IMO - A person who rides like me, usually does not fall on their head.
It is usually a leg scrap for something. Unless this gentleman is into
riding in alot of traffic or pushing himself to the limit....I think he
can get away without a helmet to give him a comfortable ride. I bought
a helmet for the charity ride, if I had not needed it, I probably still
would not have one.

Seems fair to me.

Actually as far as I can see the major difference is not between
helmeted and unhelmeted cyclists, but between those who are risk
averse (and hence usually wear helmets) and those who are not. My
guess is that the OP will fit into the risk-averse category.

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

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

On 23 May 2005 08:04:51 -0700, "Will" <[email hidden]>
wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Having been over the bars and headfirst onto asphalt in the good old
days before helmets (my sewup peeled and lodged in the fork), I would
strongly urge you not to find out the HARD way. Believe me, road rash
does not compare.

Yes, I've done that. My knitted acrylic balaclava definitely saved my
life, I would recommend that everybody wear one whenever they ride a
bike.

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

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

On 23 May 2005 11:41:48 -0700, "Will" <[email hidden]>
wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Just curious... do you feel the same way about seatbelts?

http://www.eirbyte.com/gcc/info/seat_belts.html

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

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

On 23 May 2005 11:49:51 -0700, "Maggie" <[email hidden]>
wrote in message
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Seatbelts are definately a necessity. Especially riding shotgun in cars
that do not have airbags on both sides. You are sitting in a death
seat.

There is a worrying increase in the rates of front passenger
fatalities now that cars with driver's airbags are reaching the price
range of young male drivers - it's called risk compensation. In my
view driver-only airbags should be illegal in any car driven by people
under the age of 40...

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

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

Zoot Katz said:

Get serious. Seat belts, air bags and molded foam liners are needed
inside your stinky scuds because those filthy things constitute

deadly

Quoted message said:

menaces to their passengers as well as anyone else encountering them.

You have a way with words Zoot. Did you know that? Stinky Scuds.
Isn't a Scud a soviet missle or boat or something? So if I read you
correctly a car is a deadly menace to all and should be banned? If I
give up my car how would I put my lip gloss on in the rear view while
driving to work and talking on my cell.

I was only joking my dear.......

Maggie

Will said:

Stephen Harding said:

Wear a helmet if you really fear what could happen, but despite your
fears, you may find out that your life and health are more endangered
from activities other than bicycling without a helmet!

Just curious... do you feel the same way about seatbelts?

I think seat belts are quite well documented to save lives,
as do airbags, even though both sometimes kill or injure the
occupant as well.

Do you wear a helmet in your car? Do you think the seatbelt
and airbag (if you have one) make head injuries in cars a
thing of the past?

SMH

Maggie said:

Seatbelts are definately a necessity. Especially riding shotgun in cars
that do not have airbags on both sides. You are sitting in a death
seat.

You don't have that belt on, you are right through the windshield.

Ahh but if you had that helmet on, you wouldn't care!

SMH

Maggie said:

Zoot Katz said:

Get serious. Seat belts, air bags and molded foam liners are needed
inside your stinky scuds because those filthy things constitute deadly
menaces to their passengers as well as anyone else encountering them.

You have a way with words Zoot. Did you know that? Stinky Scuds.
Isn't a Scud a soviet missle or boat or something? So if I read you
correctly a car is a deadly menace to all and should be banned? If I
give up my car how would I put my lip gloss on in the rear view while
driving to work and talking on my cell.

OK so your face would look less dolled up and you'd be incommunicado
for a time.

But think how strong your ankles would be!

SMH

23 May 2005 12:29:15 -0700,
<[email hidden]>,

Maggie said:

You have a way with words Zoot. Did you know that? Stinky Scuds.
Isn't a Scud a soviet missle or boat or something?

It's a crappy missile with a lousy guidance system, range and payload
comparable to the [censored] boxes we see advertised and parked everywhere.

CARS SUCK! and the people in love with their addiction to them are
stupid enough that they should starve.
--
zk

Zoot Katz wrote:
..

Quoted message said:

CARS SUCK! and the people in love with their addiction to them are
stupid enough that they should starve.
--
zk

Zoot....I think you need to get out on that bike. You are getting
hostile. Or where you always this hostile. ;-)

Maggie

rdclark said:

Why do I suspect that, rather than being "just curious," you actually
have a point to make?

Because you're a smart fellow. But beyond that, is genuine curiosity.
How far does the "greater risk" argument go?

Quoted message said:

Why do you think seatbelts and bicycle helmets are comparable?

Because they are both easy to use and relatively unrestricting safety
measures.

I will admit I was lucky. There are definitely more dangerous things
than riding a bike. But on that particular day, when I sat addled in
the road, throwing up, it was a good thing somebody had the decency to
move me as well as the tangle of 531 double butted junk out of traffic.
Deceleration from 20 mph to 0 in about one inch is bad business.