I honestly wouldn't have considered wearing a helmet before I had kids. Now I have to do it at least for example. I let my daughter ride up and down the hill without her helmet, but I still cringe when I see her coming down the hill at a clip. I've also seen her at 35 mph on hills, but that would never be without a helmet (not sure it would help at that speed). But agreeing with my last post, a helmet is a great platform for a mirror. My nephew rode into the back of a car in Denver traffic when he was checking behind him (without a mirror). He was wearing a helmet, and nosed it into the guy's rear window, and did enough damage to the car that his auto insurance had to repair it.
On Tuesday, October 2, 2012 12:47:24 PM UTC-5, David G wrote: > > Yes, those stats seem on the mark to me. It would be interesting to unpack > the "Falls" category, however. My guess is that very very few would involve > healthy alert people falling down while walking or running or engaging in > common daily activities. In my limited and anecdotal experience as a > surgeon who has taken care of hundreds if not thousands of traumatically > injured patients, falls that result in serious brain injury usually occur > in individuals with other risk factors such as alcohol or drug > intoxication, weakness and other functional limitations associated with old > age, medical conditions that cause sudden loss of consciousness such as > epilepsy and atrial fibrillation, engaging in relatively risky activities > (e.g., hunting in a tree stand), etc. > > - David G in SF > > > On Tue, Oct 2, 2012 at 10:22 AM, Matt Beebe <matthi...@gmail.com<javascript:> > > wrote: > >> According to the Pituitary >> Society<http://www.springerlink.com/content/6213461j004054m1/>, >> the causes of traumatic brain injury are: >> >> 39% Firearms >> 34% Vehicle Accidents >> 10% Falls >> 17% Other >> According to the national Brain Injury Association<http://www.biausa.org/>, >> the leading causes of brain injury, in order of prevalence are: >> >> 50% Motor vehicle crashes >> 21% Falls >> 12% Firearms >> 10% Sports/Recreation >> 07% Other >> >> According to the CDC<http://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/causes.html>, >> the breakdown is: >> >> 35.2% Falls >> 17% Motor Vehicle >> 16% Colliding with moving or stationary object >> 10% Assault >> 21% Other >> >> >> >> On Tuesday, October 2, 2012 1:03:30 PM UTC-4, David G wrote: >>> >>> >>> On Mon, Oct 1, 2012 at 7:28 AM, Steve Palincsar <pali...@his.com> ** >>> wrote: >>> >>> On Mon, 2012-10-01 at 07:53 -0600, PATRICK MOORE wrote: >>>> >>>> > One doesn't spend much time worrying about head protection while >>>> > walking. >>>> >>>> Falls while walking seldom involve a head injury. >>>> >>>> >>> >>> I think Steve makes a good point here. It would be silly to wear a >>> helmet while walking or running because something very odd would have to >>> happen for a healthy alert person to sustain a head injury while engaging >>> in those activities. But it seems to me that spirited bicycle riding in the >>> conventional position which involves bending at the waist and leaning >>> forward with the head leading the center of gravity does make non-trivial >>> head impact more likely in a crash. >>> >>> Like Steve and others, I have had a good number of head-ringing and >>> helmet-destroying crashes over the years. Some of these crashes involved >>> risky activities like Cat 3 bike racing but others happened while "just >>> riding along" solo. Due to these experiences, and because I enjoy riding my >>> bikes fast, I almost always wear a helmet. But I do agree that riding a >>> bike in a mellow way -- e.g., pedaling to the local coffee shop -- is a >>> pretty safe activity that does not mandate wearing a helmet. >>> >>> Another thought -- perhaps riding a Dutch-style city bike bolt upright >>> lessens the risk of going over the handlebars and landing on one's head? If >>> so, that is another reason why I should get a Bullmoose Bosco bar to >>> further differentiate my city bike from my rando and racing-style go-fast >>> bikes. I kind of like the idea of a designated bike for mellow helmetless >>> riding. >>> >>> - David G in SF >>> >>> >>> > -- 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/-/7t00l7NosRQJ. 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.
