"Nevertheless, when comparing the head injury rates, there is no evidence of a difference between male and female child cyclists. The lack of difference between male and female cyclists is not in any way consistent with what is known about helmet wearing."
(Currently female helmet wearing rates are about double male wearing rates)
The paper is very cautious about the reasons for this and gives a very balanced discussion of the possible reasons but very thought provoking.
Interesting. Obviously, without the whole paper it's hard to comment, but my first thoughts on possible effects other than helmet non-effectiveness are:
* relative competency of the genders - it may be non-PC, but maybe girls fall off more or vice-versa
* risk-taking: I'd wager than boys do more idiotic things on their bikes than girls. I certainly did as a lad...
* risk-taking: I'd wager than boys do more idiotic things on their bikes than girls. I certainly did as a lad...
If you think about that though, boys take more risks, are less likely to be wearing a helmet - should make the head injuries in boys even greater than girls, not the same. -- Tony
"I did make a mistake once - I thought I'd made a mistake but I hadn't" Anon
* risk-taking: I'd wager than boys do more idiotic things on their bikes than girls. I certainly did as a lad...
If you think about that though, boys take more risks, are less likely to be wearing a helmet - should make the head injuries in boys even greater than girls, not the same.
Yes, but we don't have the data. It may be that girls are worse at riding a bike by an equal proportion, cancelling out the boys' stupidity. We just don't know.
It's always tempting to look at results like this and jump to conclusions like "helmets don't work". That's just as bad as the default "helmets *must* be safer, surely" viewpoint.
In message <[email hidden]>, Tony Raven <[email hidden]> writes
Quoted message said:
Mark Tranchant said:
* risk-taking: I'd wager than boys do more idiotic things on their bikes than girls. I certainly did as a lad...
If you think about that though, boys take more risks, are less likely to be wearing a helmet - should make the head injuries in boys even greater than girls, not the same.
Asssuming:
1 that the daft things the boys may be doing increase the risk of head injury
2. That helmets reduce the head injuries -- Chris French
* risk-taking: I'd wager than boys do more idiotic things on their bikes than girls. I certainly did as a lad...
If you think about that though, boys take more risks, are less likely to be wearing a helmet - should make the head injuries in boys even greater than girls, not the same.
Also need to factor in how much riding girls and boys do. I'd wager that on average boys spend a lot more time messing about on bikes than girls. -- Theology is the effort to explain the unknowable in terms of the not worth knowing. Henry Louis Mencken Steph Peters delete invalid from [email hidden] Tatting, lace & stitching page <http://www.sandbenders.demon.co.uk/index.htm>
