Image: simonvc
Okay, there are no more excuses to be like the guy in the photo. Wear your helmet! I have worn my helmet ever since I was a kid, and even though I made it 10 years without crashing or getting hit, it only took one afternoon’s ride to leave me sprawled out on the pavement, bleeding, cursing, and with a serious concussion. Good thing I was still wearing my helmet though, or I would have died.
If you think this is an isolated incident, check out this post from Treehugger. A recent study in Canada has shown that helmet laws (and therefore increased use of helmets) among children reduces bicycle related fatalities by 50%. Over the same period, the adult death rate due to bicycle crashes rose 5%. There is no similar law requiring that adults wear helmets.
And really, why should this surpise anyone? Lots of people have lame excuses like “helmets make me ride less safely” or “helmets aren’t going to save me anyway,” but let’s be serious, that’s just stupid. I have no problem with people risking their own life over keeping their hair nice and poofy, but we need to stop pretending that helmets don’t save lives every day.
Happy riding!
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© 2008 EcoModder.com Taken from No More Excuses to Not Wear a Helmet.More sweet posts from EcoModder:
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I don’t know why anyone would ride w/o one… it’s your freaking BRAIN.
oh brother…scare tactics is a show on Sci-fi. Stop trying to scare people.
For Children the helmets REDUCED fatalities. For adults, the Statistics say otherwise. In adults fatalities where INCREASED. Why? I don’t know. Do people who wear helmets just starting, or scared drivers? Who knows? You would need to do more studies and there’s too many variables. It would cost too much.
No offense, but I think people should be a little scared. If you want to ride a bike you shouldn’t take you life so lightly, :). I’m not saying you shouldn’t ride because it’s evil, but if I succumbed to peer pressure as a kid I’d be dead right now and you can’t really argue that point.
Aquilonian, there was no helmet law for the adults examined in the study. Only the kids _had_ to wear helmets - adults were free to keep their skulls unprotected. That’s how most Canadian municipalities with helmet laws do it - only minors are required to wear helmets, adults are permitted to be as foolish as they wish.
Calgary also has the same law, and I still wear a helmet, although I know many who do not. The explanation I hear most often is pretty weird: People claim they would rather die of a brain injury than be paralysed by a neck injury. If this weren’t a false dilemma, I guess it would make sense. It is a false dilemma, though, as many brain injuries don’t kill, they just damage.
I’ve seen brain-injury re-hab patients. When I bike, I wear my helmet.