
Why it makes sense to bike without a helmet - optiminimalist
http://www.howiechong.com/journal/2014/2/bike-helmets#.U9hcx4BdUeP
======
shanemhansen
Since we're passing around flawed statistics, I'd like to share some
anecdotes:

1\. Just 2 months ago, my little sister was riding on a bike with no helmet.
She was struck by a car. She flew off the bike, puncturing a lung, breaking a
clavicle, several bones in her face, ribs, road rash, etc. She stopped
breathing at the scene. After 1 week on the ventilator, she began breathing on
her own. We knew there would likely be brain damage. She woke up confused and
showing most of the signs of traumatic brain injury. Fortunately just a couple
months later she's done with physical therapy. Due to nerve damage she will
always have a little trouble walking, but most people won't notice it. Her
face didn't need surgery since the fractures healed within millimeters of
their original positions. The brain is the last thing to heal, and she is a
different person than she used to be, most people who didn't know her before
won't notice. She can't yet hold a job or go to college. If she had been
wearing a helmet it's almost certain that she "only" would have to deal with
the punctured lung and a few broken bones. Her not wearing a helment not only
derailed her life, but it caused major problems in the lives of everyone
around her. She has 250k in medical bills and the legal minumum on liability
insurance here is 25k.

2\. I snowboard regularly, I've seen people without helmets die on the groomed
trails. I've hit my head a few times on logs that I really wouldn't want to be
running into w/o a helmet. I've never seen someone who was wearing a helmet
permanently disabled by an accident.

I used to think that if you didn't want to wear a helmet it was nobody's
business but your own. But when one of those cars hits you, somebody's going
to pay for those hundreds of thousands in medical bills, so if you don't wear
a helmet please file a DNR ahead of time.

On a "lighter" note, I tend to agree that as a society we should focus on the
most dangerous things first. Right now I have a feeling that's the
intersection of driving and cell phones. We can probably save the most lives
by focusing on driving safety.

~~~
savszymura
>Her not wearing a helment not only derailed her life, but it caused major
problems in the lives of everyone around her.

Blame the victim? How about the driver, was it not his/her fault rather than
your sisters?

~~~
falcolas
Because blaming the driver won't change the fact that it's her life that is
fucked up.

When it comes to collisions between vehicles and pedestrians or bikers, the
vehicle has the right of weight.

------
knowtheory
For fucks sake, no. This is a meme that will not die.

Howie's evidence (as nice a guy as he is) is based on a single study by a
professor at the University of Bath. (And there's a PLOS One paper which
disputes his conclusions too which is worth reading:
[http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjourna...](http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0075424)
)

There is no compelling evidence to recommend that you shouldn't wear a bike
helmet and PLENTY of very solid evidence why wearing helmets have very
important and life altering effects on the outcome of serious head trauma.

If you are cycling, wear a bike helmet.

~~~
xxgreg
He also cites an Australian study, which concludes risk of head injury per
million hours travelled: Cyclist 0.41, Pedestrian 0.80, Motor vehicle occupant
0.46, Motorcyclist 7.66.

So if you want to be consistent you should update your comment to:

If you are cycling or driving wear a helmet.

~~~
knowtheory
Okay, how's this :P

Cars have other safety equipment that make them unlike bicycles. These include
airbags, seatbelts, crumple zones and the like.

If you are a driving, you should employ those safety devices when you do so.

~~~
xxgreg
Ok that leaves pedestrians, who have twice as many head injury's per km. Most
likely due to being hit by cars - perhaps cars should have airbags on the
outside too...

~~~
Erwin
Volvo does have such a pedestrian airbag:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2Aw4eZoijk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2Aw4eZoijk)

Apparently that model has scored the highest Euro NCAP crash test as of 2012
(the NCAP tests tests both damage to drive AND pedestrians).

------
mkonecny
One of the arguments is flawed:

> According to a 2006 French study, pedestrians are 1.4 times more likely to
> receive a traumatic brain injury than unhelmeted cyclists.

To fails to take into account that almost everyone walks, but very few cycle.
The fact that it's only 1.4 times greater goes to show how common cycling head
injuries actually are.

~~~
Jemaclus
Came here to point this out. This is a wildly popular argument for no-
helmeters, but it's just flat out inaccurate. If you control for the
percentage of people who drive, walk, and cycle, the percentage of head
injuries from walking would pale in comparison to head injuries from cycling.

This is like the statistic that says that 80% of all automobile accidents
happen within 10 miles of home. It's not because the area around your home is
more dangerous, it's _because you drive near your home more than you drive
anywhere else_. It's basic statistics.

The reason car drivers don't wear helmets is because of the insane number of
safety features that are built into a car, from seatbelts to airbags to
varying strengths of materials, that bikes simply don't have. If another car
hits your car, a number of things jump into play to save your life. If a car
hits you on your bike, you're gonna have a head injury at a minimum.

~~~
nikisweeting
THEY DO CONTROL FOR PERCENTAGE!

read the paper he quoted ( __ _emphasis mine_ __):

"The severe TBI of 1238 patients were described. The annual incidence and
mortality of severe TBI were, respectively, 13.7 ___per 100,000_ __and 5.3 __
_per 100,000_ __. The fatality rate increased from 20% in childhood to 71%
over 75-year-old. Compared to restrained car occupants, the odds ratio for
having a severe TBI was 18.1 (95% confidence interval, CI = 12.8–25.5) for un-
helmeted motorcyclists, 9.2 (95% CI = 7.5–11.3) for pedestrians, 6.4 (95% CI =
4.7–8.8) for un-helmeted cyclists, 3.9 (95% CI = 3.1–4.8) for unrestrained car
occupants and 2.8 (95% CI = 2.2–3.5) for helmeted motorcyclists. "

[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001457505...](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001457505001363#)

~~~
Jemaclus
Per 100,000 what? People who cycle? People in general? Patients with head
injuries?

------
jrockway
I choose to ignore this "advice".

I've hit my head a few times while getting into bike accidents.

The first time, I was wearing a helmet. Mostly landed on my face, but the
helmet broke and I was fine. (An ambulance was driving by and took me to the
hospital as a precautionary measure. Somewhat convenient.)

The second time, I was riding a CitiBike without a helmet. I hit a pothole and
somehow ended up landing on my head. I don't really remember much, except
laying in the middle of the road for a few minutes trying to figure out what
happened. (I do remember being pretty sure that this was the end. But I
decided I didn't want to get charged for the missing bike, so got up anyway.)

The third time I was wearing a helmet again, but I landed on my hands. It was
winter so I was wearing gloves with leather palms, and just kind of slid for a
while. It was great. I rode 40 more miles after that one. (And I'm definitely
a fan of gloves!)

Wear a helmet. It's pretty easy to fall off your bike, and you don't really
want to injure your head.

------
Arelius
Among others, these two points scream of grasping at anything to throw at the
argument:

 _> wearing a helmet may create a false sense of security and induce risk-
taking that cyclists without head protection might not make._

 _> Bike helmets discourage cycling_

We are not discussing if not wearing a helmet should be legal, A competent
adult should be able to go base jumping, ride a motorcycle, or just bang their
head against the pavement if they please, but that doesn't mean your not an
idiot for doing it without any good reason.

But as he opens,

 _> Several of them asked me: Where is your bike helmet?_

We're clearly discussing the validity of the choice as an individual to choose
to not wear a helmet, and the argument that it induces risk-taking? Well
consider that fact, and use your head and don't take extra-risk.

Or about discouraging cycling? Does the _existence_ of helmets discourage
cycling? Does me, or you wearing helmets discourage other people from cycling?
The study at least says that mandatory helmet laws discourage cycling.

Now, if you choose to go base jumping for the adrenaline, to ride a motorcycle
for the freedom, and thrill, fully aware and accepting of the risk, that's
great, and better to you.

Similarly, if you want to ride without a helmet because it you think it makes
you look cooler, you like the wind in your hair, prefer the convenience to the
safety, or even if you are just trying to be different, a _contrarian_. Sure,
do what you want. But stop fucking pretending it's because "It's safer".

~~~
xxgreg
Did you read this bit:

Risk of head injury per million hours travelled

Cyclist - 0.41 Pedestrian - 0.80 Motor vehicle occupant - 0.46 Motorcyclist -
7.66

"but that doesn't mean your not an idiot for doing it without any good
reason."

So by this logic someone not wearing a helmet while in a car is also an idiot
;)

~~~
Arelius
> So by this logic someone not wearing a helmet while in a car is also an
> idiot.

That may also be true, assuming that we have similar data showing that helmets
help as much in cars as they do on bikes.

Considering that car incidents are vastly different however, I suspect a
helmet in a car incident doesn't have quite the same affect on head injuries.

And even if they have proven to be useful, the studies are almost certainly
with helmets that much more closely resemble a motorcycle helmet. In which a
case the convenience and comfort helmet have a much more significant impact,
which plays directly into my comment of "without a good reason"

Additionally, I'd really like to see the paper where that statistic came from,
sadly it doesn't give the numbers in the abstract. And while it's totally
anecdotal I know a non-zero amount of people (directly or indirectly) who have
had a head injury cycling, yet zero as a pedestrian. Despite knowing vastly
more people who spend vastly more time walking. Saying that you're more likely
to get a head accident walking is a pretty strong claim. Thus I'd like to see
strong evidence.

~~~
zurn
We can see from racing sports that helmets are good to have in high speed car
crashes. Rally drivers, Formula 1 drivers etc all wear them.

~~~
welly
What car drivers, outside motor racing, are driving at 150mph plus down the
high street?

------
rdtsc
I think the real danger is that smart people will find very complicated and
contrived reasons (twist statistics) to justify whatever they want to justify.

The real reasons are often personal, simple and embarrassing things like: "I
don't want to wear a helmet cause it is not cool", "I want to be contrarian",
"I will create controversy and get a lot of discussion focused around me". And
then it is just a matter of finding some statistics or anecdotes to support
the position.

This happens in every sphere of life.

It seems this is a case of that. The danger is now not only to himself to also
others if anyone starts listening and stops wearing helmets.

But I think in this case they went to far and the message contains its own
destruction so to speak. They tried to hard to justify it and they appear too
irrational to hopefully anyone take their advice to heart.

------
skierscott
For the past couple months, I've thought about John Gruber's stance against
helmets. After thinking it over, I'm inclined to believe it matters what
_type_ of biking you're doing. Your helmet usage should vary if you're riding
in the Tour de France or taking a NiceRide bike (rent by hour deal) around
town. Ditto for riding in an area that very bicycle conscious (bike lanes,
many bikers) vs not (busy street, curbed, etc).

If you're just beginning cycling, please use roads that are bicycle friendly.
Use a road with a wide shoulder or a bike lane and slow traffic. Don't use the
busiest curbed downtown street.

I speak as a severe traumatic brain injury survivor. I don't take any
unnecessary risk, explicitly to avoid the chance of re-injury. Growing up
around helmets as the son of two ski patrollers, wearing a helmet is a part of
life. It does not inhibit my riding and while drivers might be less careful
around me, I won't take that risk.

> Children and toddlers on foot are far more likely to receive traumatic brain
> injuries than cyclists

A traumatic brain injury is, at best, a severe concussion[1] and worst case
can result in death or a coma that lasts for months. I would just like to make
that clear.

[1]:[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traumatic_brain_injury#Severit...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traumatic_brain_injury#Severity)

~~~
andrewfong
> After thinking it over, I'm inclined to believe it matters what type of
> biking you're doing.

You should wear a helmet regardless. It's easy to misjudge. I remember seeing
a cyclist at U.C. Berkeley laying on the ground with blood pooling around his
head. No helmet. From what I can tell, he was zipping downhill and hit a water
fountain. You might think that the middle of a college campus is a fairly safe
place to bike given the lack of cars, but in truth, it can get dangerous
pretty quickly. Lots of student walking around not paying attention and, in
Berkeley's case, steep hills.

------
melvinmt
I never understood why adults in the US wear a helmet when they bike (I'm from
Holland, no one does that) but now that I've been cycling in LA for a while… I
understand. The roads are not built for bicyclists (this "bike map"
exemplifies the issue:
[http://cl.ly/image/1L3E2H063l1u](http://cl.ly/image/1L3E2H063l1u)) and
drivers are simply not aware. I dutifully wear the helmet here, while my Dutch
friends laugh at me.

~~~
rdtsc
Exactly. Comparing Holland to US is like night and day (well with regional
variations -- some cities try at least to build bike lanes).

> I dutifully wear the helmet here, while my Dutch friends laugh at me.

Better to be laughed at wearing a helmet than being laughed at while being a
vegetable.

> The roads are not built for bicyclists

There is another more insidious element -- in some parts of the country, there
is a negative aspect of motorist culture where motorists are irritated by and
hate bicyclists. Really doesn't make any sense but if you go on tours through
rural parts on a road bike, be prepared to be honked at and have beer cans
thrown at you. I wouldn't be too shocked to hear that on a secluded country
road you might end being a target and be specifically clipped or pushed off
road.

That probably sounds totally ridiculous to our but that happened to two of my
coworkers.

------
tonyg
The only times I've hit my head on the ground as an adult have been coming off
my bike. (Not that often, but still, three times is more than the zero for all
other causes combined.) In each of those three times, I've been profoundly
grateful that I've been wearing a helmet.

Adults tend not to fall over, voluntarily or in-, while walking around. There
are plenty of ways to fall over and hit one's head while cycling that aren't
under one's own control at all.

------
nickhalfasleep
This is like saying "If I drive a car without a seatbelt, I will drive safer!"
When I ride I wear a helmet and I've broken (full failure mode absorption at
impact) two in accidents; one was my fault, the other a slick spot at night
that surprised me. I'll keep wearing my and put them on my kids too.

~~~
savszymura
Don't forget to wear one when you're driving and walking too. And sleeping.
Might save your life.

Consider purchasing a bulletproof vest too, you never know.

------
xophe
We're all missing the most important point here:

>> Bike helmets discourage cycling.

Yes! We should require all CAR drivers to wear helmets. Imagine how less
likely drivers are to engage in road rage when they're wearing dorky helmets,
not to mention safety on the road.

------
adambatkin
The only good argument (in that article anyway) for not wearing a helmet seems
to be the Bath university study, which everyone has been citing since the day
it was released. But that's the only study I have seen on the topic. The fact
that other modes of transportation (walking, driving) would theoretically be
safer if you wore a helmet is irrelevant. And it's possible that helmets would
turn someone off from cycling, but that seems like a poor reason to not use a
bike.

~~~
knowtheory
There's a PLOS One paper which reanalyzed Ian Walker's 2007 data and claims
that the effect Walker demonstrates is illusory if you chose different
classification criteria for how to group data points:
[http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjourna...](http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0075424)

I tweeted w/ Ian Walker a bit about it, and though he hasn't written up a
reply he disputes their conclusions (just for full disclosure).

------
rasengan0
One can pour over all the meta analysis and rationalization to support a view,
but until one has experienced the reality of head trauma, talk is cheap.

Here's more cheap talk: [http://summaries.cochrane.org/CD001855/INJ_wearing-a-
helmet-...](http://summaries.cochrane.org/CD001855/INJ_wearing-a-helmet-
dramatically-reduces-the-risk-of-head-and-facial-injuries-for-bicyclists-
involved-in-a-crash-even-if-it-involves-a-motor-vehicle)

[http://summaries.cochrane.org/CD005401/INJ_bicycle-helmet-
le...](http://summaries.cochrane.org/CD005401/INJ_bicycle-helmet-legislation-
for-the-uptake-of-helmet-use-and-prevention-of-head-injuries)

Over 20 years ago, i rarely wore a helmet commuting, mountain biking. When
you're young, life seems forever. Luckily, I had some sense to listen to my
colleagues one day and wear my helmet while doing my usual run across some
headlands. I was volunteering at a clinic at the time and frankly I was weary
of the MD and NPs digging me for NOT wearing my helmet (they have seen it
all). My styrofoam plastic encased ANSI helmet literally saved my life
sustaining a rt temporal crushing cavitation that left me only with the
standard clavicular fracture and embedded asphalt abrasions to my nasal
bridge, upper and lower limbs that still reminds me today. Moreover, the
logistics of the Nat. Park Service, the nearby public hospital emergency room,
the public university insurance and my saviors at that free medical clinic
further eased my burdens from this unfortunate accident.

Believe me, I applaud changes in public policy encouraging mass transportation
with biking right up there in the fore, however, when it comes to health
behavior/policy look at more data.

and maybe consider a seat belt and stop smoking, too.

------
justinpaulson
> Let’s first get one thing out of the way: if you get into a serious
> accident, wearing a helmet will probably save your life.

Well thanks for wrapping up the debate in the first sentence after your intro!
If a helmet will save your life then why would you not wear it? It seems like
your argument for wearing a helmet in the car is a lot better than your
argument against wearing a bike helmet.

------
charleso
Do you bike faster than you can run?

Would you run, as fast as you can, head-first into a concrete wall?

No, it does not make sense to bike without a helmet.

~~~
jrockway
"Bad things only happen to other people. I would never crash my bike," is the
idea, I think.

Statistically correct, I guess, but I'm a pessimist so wear a helmet anyway.

------
D_Alex
There appears to be strong - IMO, conclusive - evidence that __compulsory
__bicycle helmet laws reduce the overall quality of life (with the main
mechanism being reduction of physical activity, and resultant deterioration in
health).

But repealing such laws seems hard, politically. Any ideas on how to support
such a repeal?

~~~
fsloth
In what way does the need to wear a helmet reduce your capability of cycling?
Last time I checked helmets were sold in the same shops as bikes.

~~~
boyaka
The fact that they require money, maintenance, and effort to use? It may be
minimal but it is there.

~~~
welly
What maintenance does a bike helmet need?

------
cyanoacry
I'm extremely skeptical of this viewpoint, if only due to the fact that the
energies involved in car crashes are an order of magnitude larger than those
involved in bike accidents.

Intuition says that a car might be traveling (on average) double the speed of
a bike--which puts us at 4x the amount of stored energy in your head which can
dissipate. Unfortunately, bicycle helmets are almost definitely useless at
this speed.[1]

It's also unclear if the same mechanisms for brain injury apply, though I
don't have any statistics on this matter. My impression is that strict blunt
force trauma is no longer the prevalent mechanism for injury in cars---you're
more likely to get whiplash or some sort of quick rotation that puts you in a
coma due to the brain sloshing around. Helmet or no helmet, it's difficult to
protect against rotational modes.

So even if we went with this article's suggestion of wearing helmets in cars,
there's a large possibility the numbers wouldn't look any better. I wear a
helmet on a bike because it maximises my protection given the amount of
inconvenience it gives me. Nothing about car statistics invalidates this
trade.

[1] [http://www.helmets.org/limits.htm](http://www.helmets.org/limits.htm)

------
hardwaresofton
Seems like there are lots of huge implicit qualifiers for this advice (I
disagree with it pretty much completely, but this stuck out to me): The writer
is in a country with one of the best road systems around, in a college town,
in a town with lots of people that bike.

This is terrible terrible advice for any place that doesn't fit that criteria,
and might as well be bad advice in the town that DOES fit this criteria.

------
here
As ridership in a given community increases, everyone's quality of life goes
up. In such cases, increased driver awareness and reduced biker isolation
increases safety for everyone -- drivers and pedestrians included.

Slowing cars down on streets where bikers and pedestrians are present will
save many lives, mostly those in cars, additionally some who are not.

------
xxgreg
I think the title is wrong - it should be:

"Why it makes sense to drive wearing a helmet"

Based on:

We can also approach it from the perspective of injuries per million hours
from a 1996 Australian study looking at head injury risk before the beginning
of any helmet laws:

Risk of head injury per million hours travelled

Cyclist - 0.41 Pedestrian - 0.80 Motor vehicle occupant - 0.46 Motorcyclist -
7.66

------
BorisMelnik
I hope this doesn't circulate, I was out with my kid (4 yo) today who fell and
tapped his head on the road, the helmet didn't save his life but probably
stopped a minor concussion.

I'm sure if I dug hard enough I could find evidence that cocaine can help the
human body in some type of way, that doesn't mean its right.

------
cigarpowder
Fascinating ideas... I was astounded to hear that drivers pass closer to
bicyclers wearing a helmet. I'd be prone to do so myself, as they do induce a
false sense of security for both parties. I also agree that perhaps drivers
and pedestrians should wear helmets as well.

~~~
SoftwareMaven
If it's true (there are others here who say it's disputed), I would bet it is
more because the driver trusts the cyclist more. The more the cyclist looks
like she is a competent, experienced cyclist, the less you worry she will
swerve toward you suddenly, fall over, or do some other random thing. The less
you worry about that, the closer you feel you can get.

------
tzs
Per million hours travelled is a terrible normalization method for comparing
travel risks. The problem is that risk is usually not uniform throughout a
trip.

A good example of this is air travel. Most of the risk in air travel is
concentrated at the end points. The high risk parts of flight are getting on
or off the ground, and flying through the high traffic area around the
airport. When flying at cruising altitude between the endpoints, the risk is
lowest.

Overall, a very long flight is more risky than a short flight, but if you went
by risk per million hours travelled the long flight might actually appear to
be less risky.

------
laserDinosaur
> wearing a helmet may create a false sense of security and induce risk-taking
> that cyclists without head protection might not make.

This is the argument that bugs me the most. Isn't this the same as saying "If
you're going hiking, taking a medical aid kit may create a false sense of
security and induce risk-taking that hikers without a medic kit might not
make.". No it's a dang medical kit, just take the damn thing!

------
gorhill
I fell with my bike a couple of years ago. On a cycle path. No cars around.
Nobody around. I just lost balance for whatever reason.

I will always remind vividly is how __hard __the side of my head hit the
pavement. No doubt it would have been really bad without the helmet. I ended
up with badly scorched fingers, a big mark on the helmet where it hit the
pavement, but no head injury. Please, use a helmet.

------
nm_101
This article seems to use total injury without reference the % of population
that participates in (being a pedestrian, driving in a car, riding a bike
etc.. )

Very well written - but a particularly poor content and irresponsible use of
statistics.

------
dllthomas
An interesting case. If wearing a helmet when walking becomes half as socially
acceptable as wearing one while biking, I'll seriously consider it.

------
Shorel
No, it only explains why professional racing drivers wear helmets, and other
drivers should too.

------
Shorel
I would wear a helmet all day if it had an oculus rift integrated.

------
Theodores
I have sold thousands of helmets in my time, they are an easy $$$ upsell with
a new bicycle. The sale is simple, people even know the FUD and have heard all
of the anecdotes. However, I don't wear a helmet myself and, when I sell
someone a helmet, there are a few things I do for them:

Sell them a hi-viz tabard or coat. These are cheap (tabard) or slightly more
than an average helmet (coat). The thinking is prevention better than cure. If
you can avoid the impact in the first place then that is a better place to be.
Hi-viz works, there are studies from 3M and plenty of others to prove it (if
you think 3M are biased). In real life I have been ticked off for not wearing
a helmet by riders in black - you know the ones - male, black clothing,
helmet, smart-arse attitude.

Make sure the helmet fits. There isn't a lot of point being strangled by a
blob of polystyrene foam. The straps have to be done up tight for the helmet
to do what it is supposed to do. Generally I point customers away from the
American brands - Giro, Bell - and towards the European brands because the
straps are much better on the proper European brand helmets. They lie flat
with the face and don't have buckles that catch the skin. Again, the no-viz
riders in black protected by their magic helmets rarely do the straps up and
you can flip the helmet up off their heads with a single finger.

Sell trouser clips and sensible footwear. In the UK leisure cyclists need to
be aware that a denim trouser caught in the chain (or a shoelace) will throw
you straight over the bars head first onto the road. Trouser clips (and stiff-
soled cycle-specific shoes) prevent that from happening.

Sell lights that work. The front light is probably more important than the
back. Just a basic flasher will do. Drivers are used to seeing idiot cyclists
on the road in front of them riding without lights, they are easy enough to
pick up with headlights. However, overtaking drivers do not expect some
cyclist coming the other way. So lights are vital particularly during the
spring/autumn/winter months.

For me, with interactions with customers, the helmet is also part of a use
scenario. Mountain biking? Doing back-flips on a BMX? Road-racing? Small child
on trailer? We actually have specialist and different helmets for those
scenarios. Same for people returning to cycling from having not been on a bike
for a while, we have affordable and easy to adjust helmets for those folk too.

My message is that cycle safety isn't just about wearing a helmet. Wearing a
helmet does not make you safe any more than an airbag makes a motorist safe.
True safety is to be found elsewhere, by being properly visible to all other
road users and in riding a bike that isn't going to self destruct due to some
unanticipated interaction with clothing. It is also in having the skills to
ride a bike in a way that is neither cowardly or cocky.

If you ride the same route every day and know every pot hole, recognise the
plates on the cars that pass you every day and have never had the slightest
chance of a mishap you do have to think 'why am I carrying this block of
polystyrene with me every day? Am I doing this just to please my car-driving
mother?'

Finally if made-in-China polystyrene was that great they would make the fronts
of trucks from the stuff.

------
vrish88
3D PIE CHART!!!!

------
tsmash
Aw, this is cute.

