Paul Lindsay ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) writes:
>>They believe that the increased use of bike helmets may have had an
>>unintended consequence:
>>that cyclists when wearing helmets take more risks.
> Interesting concept. Expanding the idea further, I have often
> wondered if injuries/accidents occur in a number of sporting
> activities due to the thought process of "I can't be hurt now that
> I am wearing all this protective gear".
"For every action there is a reaction" - Confucius or whomever.
We behave in accordance with the prevailing set of circumstances. In the
case of risk, consciously or sub-consciously, we assess conditions and accept
a certain level of risk in almost everything we do. For example, our winter
and summer driving practices where the speed at which we drive depends on
the surface condition of the road. We can look at this example as our being
more careful going from summer to winter driving conditions, but equally
it could be viewed as our being more reckless going from winter to
(the better) summer conditions. To use another obvious example, how more
careful would we be driving if we had 1920's brake technology in
our shiny 2001 Volvos and Hondas?
The issue is not whether behaviour changes. I don't think there's any
question on that. The question is whether the change in behaviour results
in a net benefit from the "safety" devices applied, a net loss or, as some
behavioural scientists believe, a state of equilibrium (risk homeostasis).
The latter meaning that any benefit is consumed in its entirety by
increased risk taking.
See Wilde, J. S., Target Risk, 1994, PDE Publications. Wilde is a Queens
psychology prof and has carried out research on the role of risk
homeostasis in traffic accidents. I think this work is still on-line at:
http://pavlov.psyc.queensu.ca/target/index.html
> There has been the (dare I mention his name?) Don Cherry school of
> thought that hockey injuries related to sticks have increased since
> the mandatory use of helmets. I would think that American-style
> football injuries are much higher than that of rugby where no
> protective gear is worn. And on a personal level (showing my age here)
> I can recall that wearing a full-face shield helmet while riding a
> motorcycle gave one a more "closed-in" safe feeling than the days when
> helmets were an option but not the law.
> ... Paul L.
>
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--
Avery Burdett
Ottawa, Ontario
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