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Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons

bikebiz.com

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Re: Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons

#51

Post by herodoturtle »

mabbo wrote: post #32

This feels a bit like the narrator in "Fight Club" explaining "the formula" car manufacturers use. > Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one. Pedal Me has done the math on what the average settlement for a traumatic brain injury to it…

Let's see how that works out for them. Being clever.

Edit: this was a tongue in cheek reference to the follow-up line in Fight Club (after the scene alluded to by OP).

Re: Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons

#52

Post by yellowapple »

I'm sorry, and pardonner mou Français, but what in the actual fuck?

Should delivery drivers not wear seatbelts because they might not be as afriad that they'll fly through the windshield? Should linemen not wear harnesses because they might be more confident working on power lines? Should warehouse workers not wear hi-vis jackets because they might be more confident working around forklifts? Should construction workers not wear helmets because they might be more confident working in areas with falling objects?

And I love the "if something bad happens, it's obviously the rider's fault" mentality here. I guess cars never hit bikes, right? Or bikes hitting other bikes? Or other accidents that, you know, are entirely unavoidable or otherwise have nothing to do with the rider being at fault?

If I was a staff rider, I'd be putting that helmet on and telling Pedal Me to eat an OSHA-sized bag of dicks if they have a problem with it. Banning helmets "for safety reasons" might not be the absolute dumbest thing I've read this year, but it's up there.

Re: Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons

#54

Post by nkingsy »

_Wintermute wrote: post #40
sva_ wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you fall on asphalt without a helmet, you can very easily get seriously injured

And this is why you always wear a helmet when walking or going for a jog?

It’s very hard to fall on your head at 10 mph or greater when jogging

Re: Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons

#55

Post by Sebb767 »

_Wintermute wrote: post #24
Sebb767 wrote: post #15

How dare those guys drive on roads with cars! This seems insane. Even if the data supported this, anyone from the PR department should have seen how much bad press this generates from a mile away.

From their point of view, it's like if a delivery company banned drivers from installing roll-cages and racing harnesses - the initial question should be, why on earth do you think you need that?

It's more like if a delivery company banned their drivers from installing seat belts and airbags. Even if you are a perfect driver, other people aren't and on a bike, your will be the one hurting after a crash.

Re: Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons

#56

Post by littlestymaar »

Yet another example of the terrible and lasting impact the so called risk compensation myth has had on society. Another great contribution of the Chicago school of Economics to the misery of the world.

About the story behind this harmful myth https://slate.com/technology/2021/11/risk-compensation-debun...

Re: Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons

#57

Post by DeBraid »

throwawayhelmet wrote: post #44

Okay, true story. Years ago I struggled with this exact logic regarding skiing with helmet. After serious consideration I decided to start skiing so carefully that I do not need a helmet. As you may guess at this point, The very first day I left my helmet home, I got into an accident and got a skull fracture. I started using my helmet again after that. (But another safety related thing I have started to really doubt.…

I have the exact opposite experience.

My first time ever wearing a helmet on the slopes I slammed head-first into a tree. Got up, laughed it off, and rode away. Better lucky than good.

Re: Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons

#58

Post by sswaner »

perlgeek wrote: post #5

This assumes that the risk primarily originates from the riders, not from other traffic participants. Is there any data to substantiate this?

As an active cyclist that was my first thought. Auto drivers texting while driving is my bigger concern. I wear a helmet to hopefully survive that encounter.

Re: Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons

#59

Post by somewhereoutth »

_Wintermute wrote: post #40
sva_ wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you fall on asphalt without a helmet, you can very easily get seriously injured

And this is why you always wear a helmet when walking or going for a jog?

When did anyone fall off a walk or a jog?

Re: Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons

#60

Post by whimsicalism »

saghm wrote: post #37
perlgeek wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was one study about that, which was... not very robust science. It relied on self-report of the biker (and if I remember correctly, it was just a single one, so not enough data).

> It relied on self-report of the biker (and if I remember correctly, it was just a single one, so not enough data). Unless I'm misunderstanding what's meant by "self-reporting", it sounds like regardless of how many riders they got data from, it would say that there are 0 fatalities to bikers because people who are dead don't respond to surveys.

This is not a study of biker fatalities and my intuitive guess is they would be significantly higher for bikers without helmets for a number of reasons.
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