Wow. I almost never say anything out loud about wearing a helmet and I almost never post to a topic with more than 25 previous entries, but here I go with both some personal points of observation and perhaps some clarification of what we mean by accident.
First, for disclosure. I almost (95% +) always wear a helmet. Under certain conditions I don't. I worked for 13 years as an interfaith chaplain at a major teaching hospital with a level 1 trauma center with a 50+ bed ICU. I commuted 30 miles round trip by bicycle, about half of that on urban streets. Very few cyclist ended up in the ICU. Their number was dwarfed by motorcyclist, skiers, snowboarders, snowmobilers, all terrain vehicle accidents, tractors, lawnmowers and pedestrians. I have seen NHSA data that supports the conclusion that fatalities per mile are significantly lower for cycling than for any other mode of transportation, including walking. About 2-4 cyclist a year are killed here in Vermont, almost all of them from car collisions with drunk drivers. I'm not aware of any where anyone thought a helmet might have made a difference. Bicycle helmets are specked to prevent open head injuries. They are not specked to prevent concussions. The probability of getting an open head injury in a slow speed fall from a bicycle is extremely small. The probability when hit and thrown from the bike is significant enough to warrant helmet use, at a minimum whenever riding on a busy road or expecting to do high speed descents. The probability of having an open head injury while riding on a bicycle path is so small as to be irrelevant. So I would question what the study under discussion defined as an accident, all accidents or just those that involved another vehicle? I have had any number of "accidents" on my bike. Ranked by speed at time of accident. One. At 25 mph on a blistering hot day I hit a rain rut on a dirt road and went down faster than you could say hello. No helmet on a blistering hot day. Results: road rash on leg, shoulder, and face; huge lump over eye & precautionary trip to ER. Two. Hit by car in rear end. I remember sliding down the road, listening to the sound of the car sliding behind me and thinking that if I stop sliding before that sound goes away I am in big trouble. Results: lots of road rash and bike damage. I am glad I was wearing a helmet although I don't remember hitting my head. Three. Going down hill toward a T intersection & light when I reached for my brakes and had the HB rotate away from me (my bad). I made the instantaneous decision to jettison. Results: Lots of road rash. I don't remember hitting my head (I fall gracefully) but am glad I was wearing a helmet. Four. I hit an old fashion storm grate at very slow speed and went over the handlebars. Rolled, landed on my back, reached up and caught the bike before it hit the ground. Got up, was happy I didn't have a CF fork and rode home. Again, glad I was wearing a helmet although I don't think it made a difference. So, as a policy, I always wear a helmet when riding into town; I always wear a helmet when riding in the mountains; and I always wear a helmet when riding with my grandchildren, since they are mandated. I generally don't wear a helmet on a bike path, and may not wear one while riding isolated dirt roads in either brutal heat or cold. For every cyclist I see in town without a helmet I will see 10 doing something way more dangerous - riding on the wrong side of the road, riding at night without a light, weaving in traffic, wearing earphones, riding on the sidewalk, running traffic lights. I doubt that helmets will save them. Finally, someone posted that women are more likely to wear helmets than men. Perhaps, but they are also far more likely to wear them wrong, as if they were a bonnet. Conclusion: There's lots to do to improve bicycle safety that are much more important than upping helmet usage on bicycle paths. Michael Happy Thanksgiving & Happy riding. On Tuesday, November 24, 2015 at 9:25:50 PM UTC-5, Eric Norris wrote: > > Not that cycling is that dangerous, but I'd like to see the data showing > that "walking on the street" is more dangerous than riding a bike. On a > personal level, I've lost several friends/acquaintances over the past year, > killed by motor vehicles while riding their bikes. I can't think of a > single incident among my friends, fatal or otherwise, that happened while > they were "walking on the street." > > More info, please. > > --Eric N > www.CampyOnly.com <http://www.campyonly.com> > CampyOnlyGuy.blogspot.com <http://campyonlyguy.blogspot.com> > Twitter: @CampyOnlyGuy > > On Nov 24, 2015, at 5:37 PM, Doug Williams <sal...@minbaritm.com > <javascript:>> wrote: > > Yes, and you also disrespect your family when you fail to wear a helmet in > your car or while walking on the street, both of which are more dangerous > than bicycling. This is just the kind of "helmet shaming" that I am talking > about. > > On Tuesday, November 24, 2015 at 1:40:03 PM UTC-8, Will wrote: >> >> Kelly, >> >> I think there's another perspective that has not been mentioned here... >> >> When I was sitting outside the ER waiting for the Cat-Scans on my wife, I >> realized that her injuries were not simply hers. Her injuries belonged to >> our children, our parents, our neighbors... >> >> The decision to wear, or not wear, a helmet isn't singular. We have >> networks of family and friends who suffer when we are injured. The assumed >> risk is not singular. Families and friends pick up the pieces. Jan Heine >> was very fortunate to have a good friend drop everything to shepherd him >> home from Taiwan. >> >> The decision to mitigate risk should recognize those who will bear the >> burden of loss. It's not about laws. It's about common sense. It's about >> respect for your loved ones. >> >> >> >> >> >> >>>> -- > 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-bun...@googlegroups.com <javascript:>. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com > <javascript:>. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > -- 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.
