Island Life: National Landslide, or Key-Fuelled Rage?
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With you on that Zippy.
Fingers Fahey Deputy Mayor of ChCh and disgraced Dr brought that mad idea to NZ.
The logical extent of which is body armour - just give me a gun to shoot up SUVs.His failure (amoung others) was to put the cost of safety onto cyclists rather than on the roading itself to make safer spaces to promote cycling.
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You're no doubt also opposed to wearing seat belts on the basis that we should just make roads safer places for cars.
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So less people are driving now seat belts are compulsory?
This was the direct effect of cycle helmet laws.
I'm limiting myself to cycles as transport not racing. As with walking or running, if cycling at a casual speed a helmet is not required for safety.
Seat belts on the other hand are used in vehicles that travel at unnatural speeds and we need the racing harnesses while we at it remove of those lap belts in the back seats.
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Bicycles move pretty fast too, and give you all the protection your own skin can provide.
But I personally don't like helmets. I can see the argument for children, and unfortunately modeling is a powerful force so adults really have to wear them as an example. But I don't like them and they do put me off cycling.
I think there's a great deal of discretion in it though. I seldom wear a helmet, and I've driven past lots of traffic police who didn't care. They could see I was an adult riding carefully along with their head up, looking for danger, rather than a kid, or a fitness nut staring at the ground in front with about 90% of their concentration focussed on the pain in their legs. Or worst of all, the selfish kind that ride side by side, or right in the middle of the lane.
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What's with all the bitching about bike helmets? Seriously, do you people actually not understand how vulnerable your heads are? You can be as careful as you like, but unless you don't go more than about 10 km/h you're at risk. Shit happens. I had my bike slide out from under me as I was rounding a corner at maybe 20km/h, because there was a little bit of grease that I hadn't seen. My head could quite easily have hit the ground. A friend cracked a solid-shell helmet after her bike went from under her while doing a U-turn. No helmet and she'd quite possibly be one of the vegetables you read about, and she's a careful cyclist.
You can be as arrogant and cocky as you like, but you're not invulnerable. If you ride in traffic, there's risk. Being as alert as possible won't stop some blind retard from opening their car door just as you go past, and then what do you do?
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So less people are driving now seat belts are compulsory?
This was the direct effect of cycle helmet laws.
Which is kinda silly. If people choose to stop doing something, because you have to wear the safety equipment - tough for them. I don't let my son onto his grandfather's boat without a lifejacket. I don't let him into a moving car without a seat belt. We don't question these things.
I'm limiting myself to cycles as transport not racing. As with walking or running, if cycling at a casual speed a helmet is not required for safety.
My son fell off his bike last year, at a relatively slow speed, and just because of the way he fell, his head hit the ground, and his helmet caught most of that. I don't know what the damage would have been done if he hadn't been wearing a helmet, but I'm happy he was wearing it. The speed of the bike also isn't the only thing you should be concerned about. Most bicycle accidents happen as a result of interaction with vehicles, and they'll throw you off your bike at real speed.
While most bike accidents, a helmet won't help you, that doesn't mean that they're not useful. My mother used to work at Starship with children, and was a big advocate of compulsory helmets, she saw the results of not wearing them.
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Did you know that the minimum height for a human skull to crack when dropped on a hard surface is about 7 feet?
That's why I believe professional basketballers should wear helmets in the bathroom.
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What's with all the bitching about bike helmets?
Kind of obvious really. They're hot, uncomfortable, and they mess your hair up. They make your head stink, and generate sweat which runs into your eyes. They're another thing you have to carry around. They take away the nice feeling of the wind in your hair. There is no denying that they reduce the enjoyment of cycling.
Yup, you're more at risk. I fully accept that. You're also at risk not wearing a helmet in a car, and a lot more people die from head injuries in cars than on pushbikes. Do you wear a helmet in your car?
I'm not saying we shouldn't wear them, but they do take a little something away. They reduce the enjoyment of cycling - that is a fact.
Being as alert as possible won't stop some blind retard from opening their car door just as you go past
That's why I ride very carefully past parked cars. Whizzing by them is the retarded act, much like speeding around corners. Yeah, that also takes the fun out of cycling too, to have to slow down when it's really dangerous, but there you go - if you're into safety, then sorry man, less fun. I also ride on the footpath when going uphill.
Bikes are inherently unsafe. Of course the individual should do what they can to minimize risk. But there's an obvious trade off point that everyone reaches when they realize the safest thing to do with a pushbike is never to ride it at all. I will not cycle wearing body armor. I don't get a WOF check done every 6 months. The helmet I have doesn't protect the face. I don't have carbon fibre brakes. My bike doesn't have a bell, or a light, or indicators, or brake lights, or a bumper, or padding on the bar, or a crumple zone, or a roll cage. It's just a cheap and fun way to dick around in spare time.
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So less people are driving now seat belts are compulsory?
<pedant> If they were, it would be fewer people. </pedant>
Yeah, I like feeling the wind in my, um, scalp, when I cycle too. And I sweat like a horse.
But I'll take the helmet, every time. When I was 10 I saw an 8 year old kid knocked off his bike by a car at a country crossroads. The kid wasn't going very fast at all but I can still hear the sound his head made when it hit the concrete curb. Ever been to a coconut shy at a gala day? A bit like that, only mushier.
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I saw a car collide with another and burst into flames, and the occupant burned to death. But I don't wear a fireproof suit when I drive.
I think children should wear helmets (also seen a kid almost killed too), and for that reason, I'll be wearing one when my son is old enough to know what a bicycle is. But I will also be riding less - it just won't be the pleasure it was. I'm just being honest. You can't tell me it's the same because it simply is not.
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You're also at risk not wearing a helmet in a car, and a lot more people die from head injuries in cars than on pushbikes. Do you wear a helmet in your car?
Hang on Ben, a lot more people use cars everyday. What are the relative injury rates ? And, no, I don't wear a helmet in a car, but always when on a bike.
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You're also at risk not wearing a helmet in a car, and a lot more people die from head injuries in cars than on pushbikes. Do you wear a helmet in your car?
I once met an A&E surgeon who wore a helmet in his car and refused to travel by car at certain times of the day on certain days. Mainly after 10.00pm Thursday through Saturday as I recall.
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Hang on Ben, a lot more people use cars everyday. What are the relative injury rates ?
Dunno. Do you? But what difference does it make? If you spend more time in the car then that just means you're more likely to smash your head one day doing that, than you ever will be riding a bike, especially if, like most people, you never ride a bike anyway.
And, no, I don't wear a helmet in a car, but always when on a bike.
How about before it was not compulsory? Be honest now. When you saw a Stackhat, did you think "Hey that looks cool and fun, I must rush to the store to get one of those".
I once met an A&E surgeon who wore a helmet in his car and refused to travel by car at certain times of the day on certain days. Mainly after 10.00pm Thursday through Saturday as I recall.
I thought it was not legal to wear a helmet when driving a car, except on a racetrack. Anyone know?
But hey, good on him for being extra cautious. Sounds damned inconvenient to me, especially for a shift working surgeon. Did he wear his helmet on the bus during those late nights when he wouldn't drive?
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I guess it was just a reaction to dealing with the injuries and their consequences that led him to it. I seem to remember he recognised it as pretty eccentric himself but I guess you can see only a finite number of people incapacitated by brain injury before you start taking your own precautions.
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Yup, as far as eccentricities go, that's one of the good ones. Personally I just drive slowly. Except when the coast is clear.
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