Hey, Stephen -- I was wearing a helmet. It broke in several places.
Had I not been wearing one, I almost surely wouldn't be typing this now. The impressions of the trailer that my head hit were impressed into the helmet, and it would have cracked my skull, easily. I hit a stationary trailer at about 25 mph; the first thing to hit the trailer was the front wheel (the torque of which ripped the steerer tube through the head tube); the second thing was my head. If you know anyone who knows anything about skulls, ask them what would happen to a skull that hits something stationary at 25 mph. Of course I cannot know for certain, but the odds here are on my side. Heads crack. This was a perfect way to crack a head. Cracked heads frequently lead to brain injury. Another story is of a zero-mph crash: I stuck the front wheel into a cypress knee and simply fell over to the side (yes, I am embarrassed, not least because I actually am a fairly skilled off-road cyclist) and caught another root on the side of the head, just above the ear (a very easy way to crack a skull). I had a helmet on, but it concussed me anyway. So going slow is no protection, either. To my mind there's no upside to not wearing a helmet. A good bike helmet (which will cost about $50 for a top-of-the-line, last-year's model -- which is how I get them) is cool, comfortable, light, and sits high enough on your head you can forget you're wearing it. We love your comments, Stephen. Wear a helmet, your daughters righteous indignation aside. They'll find something else to ride you about, and we can look forward to years of your posts. m ------ "There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about." -- Margaret Wheatley -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2007 4:03 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: RE: [tips] Stained Glass Brain On 8 Nov 2007 at 13:54, Marc Carter wrote: > Oh! I have one: I had a crash (bike, broke my neck), and the cops > wanted to know what to do with the bike, and I said, "You could take > it to my office." > > One of my colleagues was in the ER before I was. It scared them. Good story, as was Tim's. But it raises a question. For context, first I provide a personal disclosure. I'm an occasional bike rider. I don't wear a helmet because: a) it impairs the sense of freedom I feel while bicycling b) it looks as though it must be hot and uncomfortable c) it looks silly (I'm vain, what can I tell you) d) it allows my daughters to act superior and lecture me So to justfiy what would otherwise be highly foolish behaviour, I selectively collect statistics showing that helmets don't work, and even if they did, risk homeostasis would cancel out any protection they might provide. It seems that quite a few TIPsters have survived bicycle crashes (me too). But unlike me, I imagine all you responsible folks were wearing helmets. Do you think they helped? Note. If you're going to tell me that the helmet saved you from brain damage, be warned that, allegedly like Dorothy Parker when hearing that Calvin Coolidge had died, I will ask, "How can you tell?" Stephen ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- ---
