Benz brings up a very good point, and we should listen to him because he has experience in these things. Yes, many such “studies” are political in nature and funded by special interests. So…I don’t know about this study, but many such studies have been funded by the automobile insurance industry and auto interest groups such as AAA. They don’t get insurance premium payments from bicyclists and their members don’t like having to steer around bicyclists on the road. So they have an interest in getting bicyclists off of the road. Hence…mandatory helmet laws! Mandatory helmet laws have proven to be an extremely effective way to reduce ridership. So any “study” that recommends mandatory helmet laws without addressing the reduced ridership that such laws would cause is immediately suspect.
Bottom line, anybody who recommends mandatory helmet laws without acknowledging that mandatory helmet laws reduce bicycle ridership is full of BS. I can’t put it in a nicer way. Again, I am pro-helmet. I am an LCI (bicycle safety instructor). I teach bicycle safety in schools all the time. We give them helmets, we make them wear them during class and we encourage them to wear them when the class is over. But many kids (and adults) don’t like wearing helmets and making them wear a helmet reduces ridership. I wish that this was not true, but my wishing does not change the truth. Study after study has proven that mandatory helmet laws reduce ridership. My own personal experience is that mandatory helmet use reduces ridership. Just ask any potential bicycle rider. The truth that mandatory helmet use reduces ridership is intuitively obvious to the casual observer! Does anyone honestly dispute this truth? Why don’t mandatory helmet law supporters ever mention this simple truth? Ron Mc wonders if the surgeons have helmets for sale. Probably not, in my view; I still put my money on AAA to be the financiers for this study. But then the study identifies lower facial injuries as a problem, so maybe they want to develop full face helmets for bicyclists and make them mandatory. That should get those pesky bicyclists off of the road! Interesting though is the fact that the study says nothing about neck injuries. Most other studies recognize the fact that helmets INCREASE neck injuries. This is because the helmet catches on the ground or other objects and twists the neck. I have seen figures that helmets reduce head injuries by 15% but increase neck injuries by 11%. I would be interested in reading another impartial study that would scientifically measure helmet effectiveness…clearly, this study we are discussing here does not qualify. Steve, I don’t think that Garth and Benz are the least bit cynical. They are just realistic. Doug On Tuesday, November 24, 2015 at 8:23:46 AM UTC-8, Ron Mc wrote: > > The IQ of the counter-helmet arguments continues to plummet. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
