On 11/1/06, graywolf <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I have only rode bicycles for a short while, less than sixty years, but > I have never fallen off and landed on my head. Most of my contemporaries > managed to get through at least childhood without wearing a helmet too. > I imagine those laws sure do make a lot of money for the helmet sellers, > however. > > I have my own opinion about who is a stupid git in this issue, people > who fall on their heads all the time!
I'm always amused when I hear the money issue brought up WRT helmets. Just last night, on my way home in the dark, I passed another cyclist who had no lights, thus breaking the law. I wondered why one would spend from several hundred to several thousand dollars on a bike wouldn't spend another $15 on a headlight - at that price theyr'e almost disposable. The same goes for helmets. One can be gotten for as cheap as $30US or less. I doubt that many helmet makers are making a whole hell of a lot on their cheapest helmets. All that being said, perhaps I'm a stupid git. I've had at least three occasions in the past few years where I fell from my bike and struck my head. I believe that on at least two of those occasions my helmet saved me from a concussion, or worse. Seems to me that being a stupid git, I have to jealously guard the few brain cells I have left, so a helmet's a pretty good idea for the likes of me. Then there's always the possibility that a cyclist may be completely in the right, and that a car might be in the wrong and hit a cyclist. Since cars have a mass of some 20 times that of a bicycle and rider, physics tend to be on the side of the car in collisions. I'll take whatever protection I can, especially if it's unobtrusive and inexpensive. OTOH, it is a personal decision, and I wouldn't think less of someone who has perhaps decided that they don't want or need a helmet... cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
