81–90 of 100 posts
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I wear a car. Much safer.
Safer for you perhaps (in "not getting run over" terms, not in "dying of obesity" terms). But certainly not safer for any pedestrians or cyclists on the road.
As a space for cycling campaigner ( http://www.cyclebath.org.uk ) helmet articles are an interesting problem that tend to identify cycling as a dangerous activity without extolling the health benefits of cycling itself. In places like New York, where their Citi Bike scheme has had huge success without helmets (23 million miles of riding, no deaths), utility cycling (commuting) has been made safe through a huge invest…
And you are being pretty ridiculous by mentioning the health benefits. Cycling without adequate infrastructure is dangerous. Much more dangerous than a bit of a cardio. It is far better for people's health to educate them to stand up and take a walk a few times a day.
Fix the infrastructure first. Then start encouraging the family to ride to work or school.
As a space for cycling campaigner ( http://www.cyclebath.org.uk ) helmet articles are an interesting problem that tend to identify cycling as a dangerous activity without extolling the health benefits of cycling itself. In places like New York, where their Citi Bike scheme has had huge success without helmets (23 million miles of riding, no deaths), utility cycling (commuting) has been made safe through a huge invest…
> Making people feel safe cycling to and from shops, homes, schools and their place of work. The real issue is actually making cyclist safer, not making them feel safer. Even segregated paths are not a solution if they have to cross traffic. I am not sure how to solve this problem short of pushing oil up to a $1000 a barrel - even then I suspect a lot of drivers would rather give up eating rather than give up their c…
Why ? Because if they are improperly designed like say their design doesn't match up with roundabouts or crossings etc then it is actually more dangerous to use them. Likewise often the cycle lanes have drains which can catch tyres.
Discussions of cycle helmets are usually very one sided, focusing on head trauma and completely ignoring other kinds of trauma as well as the positive health effects of cycling. Wearing the helmet doesn't just add a certain amount of padding to the head without any negative side effects: For example, motorists keep less distance while overtaking you [1] and making helmets mandatory reduces cycling by up to a third [2…
I would say the reduction in cycling is a pretty significant effect. I love cycling, but I am far too scared (or wise) to ever consider riding on a street shared with cars and trucks. In the end if anything goes wrong the driver will feel sad and I won't feel anything.
Learning these rules really makes all the difference. Would you prefer to get into an accident and not get killed (thanks to a helmet), or to significantly reduce your chances of getting into an accidents altogether?
A note on gear: get all the lights (front, back, laser lane) and reflectors (for individual spokes and tires too) that you can, set them up to blink, and use a bell and a mirror
As an avid, but fairly aggressive cyclist, I have gotten into a fair number of accidents. Some of the injuries sustained, and the ways in which other injuries would have been likely without a helmet in those situations, have convinced me that many of these studies don't take into account some very common situations in accidents. Direct head impacts are relatively uncommon, due to natural instincts to protect oneself.…
Helmets work. Governments around the world wouldn't be making them mandatory just to screw with people.
Being from Australia I can't fathom not wearing a helmet. Its like wearing a seat belt in the car, just something you don't notice doing anymore. Anyone who is discouraged from cycling due to having to wear a helmet would more than likely also be discouraged by many other reasons - bad drivers, bad weather, flat tire, etc.
I don't wear a helmet and I ride in downtown Toronto. Helmets save lives, but they also make motorist treat you differently. Also, they don't really save that many lives. Cycling without a helmet is safer than walking (kilometer for kilometer) and safer than being in the passenger seat while a new driver is driving.
The biggest threats from cars in my experience is when the driver doesn't know you are there.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would say the reduction in cycling is a pretty significant effect. I love cycling, but I am far too scared (or wise) to ever consider riding on a street shared with cars and trucks. In the end if anything goes wrong the driver will feel sad and I won't feel anything.
I've been cycling in traffic for almost 3 years in a country with no bike lanes and pretty bad motorist behavior regarding cyclists. It was scary the first month, but then you get used to it and you learn a couple of rules that reduce your chances of getting into an accident significantly [1] Learning these rules really makes all the difference. Would you prefer to get into an accident and not get killed (thanks to a…
I'll take a scientific study over a blog post, please. Or to be less glib, the statistics he quotes seems very open for interpretation. "Stat #3: As more people buckled on helmets, brain injuries also increased". Need I say it? I think we're all pretty post hoc ergo propter hoc'd out at this point
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>especially the helmet opponents are usually very outspoken and even rude, to the point that they lose credibility They have to be, because they don't have budgets and per diems. The pro-helmet side makes a fortune from selling helmets. The anti-helmet side runs on passion - whether that passion is for the truth as they see it (or as experiment and study have shown), or simply 'government out of my cornflakes' libert…
The "pro helmet side" in Internet forums does not have "budgets".
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> The point is, helmets and cycling create flame wars The point is, you are very much involved in creating flame wars by labelling the pro side as people who only have their superstitial, anecdotal fairy tales, while saying the contra side has all the cold, hard scientific facts. Let's just leave it at that.
It's just an observation of fact. Facts are known to be biased. If there are studies that show the benefits of bicycle helmet wearing, I'd be interested in seeing them.
http://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.f3817?ijkey=I5vHBog6FhaaL...