> I don't understand why so many bike riders don't wear helmets. It's a > vertical fall that often does in the bike rider.
[...] > will be fast downhill sections, though I suspect that the > risk/benefit window is narrower than people think. In other > words, there is a narrow range of situations where there is > significant risk and that the helmet would actually provide > sufficient protection to make a big difference. They can also be a positive harm, turning what would be a minor bump, cut or graze into a serious injury in some circumstances. Few people give any serious consideration either to the costs of wearing a helmet or to the benefits they actually provide, as opposed to the benefits claimed by vested interest groups such as health & safety busybodies, insurance companies and cycle helmet manufacturers. It's one of those things that is intuitively obviously good - some protection must be better than none - until you start to question the conventional wisdom and look for some solid evidence both for and against. When you do this you find that there is little agreement in the scientific community about the pros or the cons. This means you have to make your own choice; it also means one has no right to try and foist one's own views on other people. Last year when I was cycling in France I clocked myself doing over 35mph downhill. If I'd fallen off at that speed a helmet wouldn't protect me against dashing my brains out. It might stop me from tearing my scalp off (the old-fashioned hairnet style of helmet would help with that), but it might also cause me to snap my neck or twist my brain away from my brain case. Conclusion: don't cycle at 35mph. The only cycling accident I've had as an adult was falling off at walking pace (don't ask how!) and breaking my wrist - I have, or had, slightly low bone density. I also took a bump on the head, which didn't even bruise, but it was the kind of bump that could have been aggravated by wearing a helmet and causing a rotational injury. In addition to the above, the pro-helmet lobby implies that general utility cycling is somehow an inherently unsafe activity. This is not supported by the evidence as compared with other activities, such as walking, driving, or running with scissors. You pays your money and you takes your choice. Bob -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
