Peter Clinch <
[email protected]> writes:
> Hadron Quark wrote:
>> "Cathy Kearns" <[email protected]> writes:
>>
>>> I unbelievingly often get called out for not wearing a helmet while pedaling
>>> to my daugher's school. Note that I run this same route, on the same roads
>>> (there are no sidewalks), at the same speed more often, yet not one person
>>> has mentioned I should be wearing a helmet when I go running.
>> Why would you wear a helmet when running?
>
> For the same reason you'd use one when cycling, since it's a similar
> level of risk with similar outcomes in case of accidents. Of course,
eh? Just because the statistics say there are similar injury numbers it
doesnt in any way equate the accident itself. And guess what : Ive never
known a runner injured by anything other than self punishment (sprains
etc) - Ive known lots of cyclists clipped by cars, hedges, spilled by
drainage grates and gravel etc.
> since we have a more reasonable comprehension of the risks of running
> and know it would be absurd and that's all right, just as not wearing
> one for cycling was all right up until cycle helmets were invented and
> then pushed as a solution in search of a problem.
Aha! You're coming from an angle I see. You're argument angle is
ridiculous : with this logic you would defend murder since it was
considered part of life until a legal system was invented to discourage
it. They were invented for a reason you know.
>
>> You arms dont get tangled in handlebars/cables
>
> Speaking as a cyclist of some experience I can never recall my arms
> getting tangles in cables or bars while cycling. My mum's been
> cycling almost daily for most of her 73 years and has never found that
> to be a problem either. I'd be surprised if Cathy does. Maybe you
> do?
When falling off a bike or hit by car when cycling its quite often the
case that bits of the body are indeed caight by the falling bike : maybe
I didnt describe it properly - I was hoping you could extrapolate. Ive
certainly had a couple of nasty falls with cleats I didnt disengage when
someone just walked out in front of me. Ive had a case where a dog
jumped at me and my reactions were to punch the dog as I fell rather
than curl up in the foetus and prtect my skull as I crashed to the
ground with the pedal jamming into my upper thigh. Not always of course
: I dont deal in extremes to support my cause.
>
>> you are very unlikely to be "clipped" by a wing
>> mirror
>
> About as likely if it's the same route on the same roads. And since
> mirrors aren't typically at head height, how is that relevant?
Are you just being obstinate? The clip of the wing mirror
was an example of being hit by a passing automobile. Bikes by their
nature tend to move around : especially in slipstreams - far more than a
runner would. In addition a runner should run into the traffic - not
with it. A bike doesnt generally have that luxury. A bike has more
momentum when travelling at 40kph down hill and hits a slippery surface
etc etc etc I wont go on. There is no comparison between running and
cycling. Well, minor.
>
> The way to avoid being clipped by mirrors is proper positioning that
> encourages proper formal overtaking manoeuvres rather than squeezing
> by, nothing to do with helmets (there is anecdotal evidence that
> wearing helmets /encourages/ poor overtaking, because the cyclist is
> perceived as "safe").
Anecdotal being the word. There is also evidence which suggests that the
helmet is a sign to the driver to consider the fact that flesh and blood
is up ahead and needs protecting. Just balancing the books on that
one. We live in the real world you see : not one where holding ones head
high and giving clear arm signals causes the traffic to slow up and give
you the right of way with a cheery wave.
>
>> Its totally different risk factors
>> with totally different accident results.
>
> Very similar accident results, and I don't see shy the risk factors
> should be that different. Getting hit by a vehicle running won't be
> much different to being hit while cycling, and in either case the
> energies involved are way beyond the specification cycle helmets are
> built to, which is for a low speed fall to the ground and nothing
> worse. I don't notice cyclists tripping (or a cycle equivalent) and
> falling (a primary cause of ER head injuries) more than runners.
>
> Helmets are basically just as applicable to pedestrians as cyclists:
> in typical roadgoing use, not much at all.
You clearly have strong views : so do I - I dont wear a helmet because I
dont like them and the risks are low since I'm a defensive cyclist of
many, many thousands of miles experience.
I'm yet to see anything,
however, that suggests to me that a Helmet can be detrimental in anyway
to safety. Forget all the nonsense about how ones head never hits the
curb etc : if ones head DOES hit the curb, AT a place covered by the
helmet then I can not, in my wildest dreams, see how the helmet can be
anything other than beneficial.
In your expert opinion?