Here are my FAQs about my helmet use that I share with friends and family to prove I am the bike obsessed person in their life:
Do you ever wear a helmet? Sure, I wear a helmet sometimes. I am more likely to wear a helmet if it is cold, dark, rainy, or all of the above. Also, I am more likely to wear a helmet if I am going fast, like for exercise. I am also more likely to wear a helmet if I am going for a very long ride, like a tour, where I will be riding on roads with trucks going fast. Do you ever not wear a helmet? Sure, I often don’t wear a helmet. I am less likely to wear a helmet if I am riding at a casual speed, on an upright bicycle and on streets with slow traffic. Do you make your kids wear a helmet? Yes, it is the law here in Tennessee. Isn’t that a double standard? Not really…. We both follow the laws. Also, I have a lot more experience. I have been riding bikes for 40 years and have ridden more than 10,000 miles in the last few years alone. Wouldn’t a helmet make you safer in a wreck? Probably. I liken it to driving and walking for transportation. It is fairly safe, but crashes do happen. If you were in a crash, a helmet would probably help. I know a family that hit a deer while driving, and the antlers pierced the skull of one of the passengers. A helmet would have prevented that, but nobody I know would recommend that the passenger wear a helmet in the future, or not get in a car again. But aren’t you safer in a car, surrounded by 5000 pounds of steel and with a seatbelt and airbags? Yes, and still 40,000 people die every year due to cars. Just in the US! Also, about 280,000 people have traumatic brain injuries due to motor vehicle crashes each year in the US. I am sure many would have been prevented by a helmet. But isn’t walking safer since you are on a sidewalk? Still, 4,000 people die while walking every year in the US, many of them on the sidewalk, where cars occasionally crash. Would you recommend that motorcycle riders wear a helmet? Yes, study after study connects increased helmet use with a decrease in death rate among motorcycle riders. Aren’t there studies that connect increased bike helmet use with decreased deaths? Surprisingly, no. There are studies that show that many people who have been injured in a bike crash were not wearing helmets, but that is not the same. The safest places for biking are where people rarely wear helmets. Why are bike racers required to wear helmets? The same reason that car racers are required to wear helmets: they go much faster than you and I do and they travel in a very tight pack. If you bike like a bike racer, you might want to consider a helmet. My Questions for You: Would wearing a helmet while driving make you safer, less safe, or about the same? Most people I ask admit that it would probably make them safer, but nobody I know wears a helmet for driving, even when driving at night, in the mountains, in the rain or in the snow. Or driving fast surrounded by big trucks. Nobody I know has even considered it! And I think that is fine. Would wearing a helmet while walking make you safer, less safe, or about the same? Most people I ask say “about the same.” Because of this, nobody I know has ever considered wearing a helmet when walking. I think wearing a helmet when driving or walking (and biking around town) would make you safer, but it is not SO dangerous, and a helmet would not make you SO much safer that I would recommend wearing one all the time. I don’t know why people so consistently single out biking as a particularly dangerous activity that requires helmet use. Also, “unintentional injury” is the leading cause of death in people ages 1-44. Unintentional motor vehicle incident is the leading or 2nd leading cause of these injuries in people over 1 year old. Shouldn’t we be talking more about how to decrease these deaths and injuries rather than focusing so much on biking without a helmet? Remember, biking is very safe, and is good for your city. If you want to improve health, safety, or your town, ride a bike! With or without a helmet! Edwin -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
