Since you brought up efficacy, do you have a peer-reviewed article to cite regarding this? No, a cracked helmet is not a demonstration of its efficacy; prove to yourself by cracking one in your hand and noticing that it takes very little force to do it. And no, a bicycle helmet is fundamentally different in design and efficacy than motorcycle helmets.
I'm essentially forced to wear a helmet most of the time even though I don't believe in its claimed efficacy because of social pressures. I believe helmets save scrapes and bruises but the amount of force it can absorb is probably insignificant in a car-bike accident. Furthermore, I'm old enough to not succumb to peer pressure. But I don't want to be disadvantaged in any way if an accident happens (that a helmet may or may not help) and I needed to recoup losses; I don't want to be assigned partial blame and lose restitution simply because "everyone knows helmets save lives". Despite the obvious, neurosurgeons are not experts in the analysis of force and impact (these would be engineers), and they see a biased sample of accidents that can skew their opinion. You wouldn't go to a neurosurgeon if you just lightly bang your forehead, would you? Finally, this is not a pro- or anti-helmet post. Wear or don't wear a helmet; that's entirely your choice and none of my business. But if you going to claim this or that to support your stance, you should bring some data along for the ride. On Sunday, September 30, 2012 7:15:35 PM UTC-7, Jim Cloud wrote: > > Tucson is a "Bike Friendly Community" and has received a "Gold" level > status from the League of American Bicyclists (LAB). This, obviously, > didn't prevent the accident that was described in the article from > occurring. > > Frankly, I could care less if someone chooses to wear a helmet, but > the justification for not wearing one shouldn't be couched in its > efficacy in an accident situation. I think if anyone would like to > consult their local neurosurgeons for a collective opinion that would > probably be quite informative. > > Jim Cloud > Tucson, AZ > > On Sep 30, 7:04 pm, Peter Morgano <uscpeter11...@gmail.com> wrote: > > If you read the ny times article it touches on these kind of personal > > stories. The issue is that without taking away the stigma of helmet use > and > > cyclists as being "the other" we will never get where Europe is. I fell > > going 35mph and a helmet probably saved me from more harm than I got but > > going down the side of a mountain is not riding to the grocery store. > > Cyclists need to reach a critical mass where drivers and laws that favor > a > > car based society can make may for a bike friendly environment. Dropping > > the "wear a helmet or die" mantra is part of this push as I see it. > > On Sep 30, 2012 9:56 PM, "Jim Cloud" <cloud...@aol.com> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Here's another article the group might find interesting: > > > > >http://azstarnet.com/news/local/josh-brodesky-my-brush-with-death-and... > > > > > > Note that the street mentioned in this article, Mountain Avenue. is a > > > specific bike thoroughfare with wide bike lanes and it's regularly > > > traversed by many cyclists on a daily basis (especially while the > > > University of Arizona is in session). > > > > > Jim Cloud > > > Tucson, AZ > > > > > On Sep 30, 4:33 pm, Peter M <uscpeter11...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/sunday-review/to-encourage-biking-c... > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/8qysVgZWZgEJ. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
