Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ammo on April 28, 2009 at 5:51am

I meant Bern, not nerd. Word salad.

Ammo said:

Cycle smithy is where I got mine.

Joe Asbury said:

Ammo, where do you find Nerd brand? Tho, anything I put on is kind of nerd brand.

J

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Permalink Reply by Michael J Blane on April 28, 2009 at 6:24am

I wear mine all the time.

I'm worried watching parents without helmets riding with their kids who are wearing helmets. WTF?

A buddy, long time rider, doesn't ride on the streets or lakefront (Chicago). Instead, he drives his car with bike inside to the preserves and rides the paths. He never wore a helmet, "I am only on the path." Well, he was hit by a car while still in the parking lot. He was alone. Called a friend before passing out. Hospital for nearly a month. Coma for more than a week. Aphasia forever. Plate in head. Pins in hip. Now he wears his helmet all the time.

Don't be stupid. Wear a helmet.

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Permalink Reply by Eileen Doyle on April 28, 2009 at 6:50am

I wore a helmet more frequently when I had a bike job. Now not so often. Mostly because my head is too small for the helmet I bought, which fit when I was wearing all my winter gear. I don't know. It's true though. No amount of experience can prevent accidents since you can't control the actions of those around you. It can't save you from all accidents, but it can when it comes to direct head blows.
Boston's got a pretty cool program to promote helmet use: http://www.urbanvelo.org/issue6/urbanvelo6_p30-31.html

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Permalink Reply by Ian on April 28, 2009 at 7:42am

I wear a helmet because I don't want to be a burden to anyone who loves me enough to care for me and I don't want those I care about (or for whom I am responsible) to lose any benefit my life may offer. I know there are few certainties in life, but there is good reason to better my odds.

I suppose if I had no family, no debts, no responsibilities and ample insurance, I could try to justify my scalp blowing in the wind, and pray for death over significant injury if something went wrong.

You can do what you like, but I am not crazy about my tax dollars keeping your vain, vegetative body alive if you don't have the resources to cover your life's medical expenses that may not have been necessary if you wore a helmet, instead of educating children, feeding poor or caring for "innocent" health care consumers.

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Permalink Reply by root on April 28, 2009 at 11:37am

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Permalink Reply by Curt H Moore on April 28, 2009 at 12:14pm

Motorcyclist call them BRAIN BUCKETS for a reason. I've ridden cycles for over 40 years and despite living in Iowa where there is no helmet law I where my helmet while riding. It has saved me on the cycle as well as on the bike. You only have to see your helmet cracked to know it was worth the $50 bucks to save the grey matter (something that once you lose it doesn't grow back)
Be safe , be smart wear your helmet.
curt

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Permalink Reply by Joe on April 28, 2009 at 5:21pm

it's hot and uncomfortable. Before anyone chimes in on that poor excuse, I do know it's more uncomfortable to crack your skull...

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Permalink Reply by mradam on April 28, 2009 at 6:22pm

Helmet, always. I trust myself, but I can't control the other people on the road. Search youtube for "stupid drivers" and you'll get the gist... I haven't had any accidents, but all of my close calls have been vehicles pulling out in front of me - illegally - in broad daylight.

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Permalink Reply by RodimusPrime on April 28, 2009 at 6:57pm

I had the same complaint, all the same, i went and got a better helmet. I felt a difference in the higher end helmets than in the 20-30 dollars ones.
Joe said:

it's hot and uncomfortable. Before anyone chimes in on that poor excuse, I do know it's more uncomfortable to crack your skull...

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Permalink Reply by Rusty Piton on April 29, 2009 at 2:44am

I wear a helmet every time I ride.
I've smacked my noggin on the pavement too many times to even consider going out without one.

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Permalink Reply by Active Transportation Alliance on April 29, 2009 at 5:31am

We always wear our helmets and do require them for our rides like Bike the Drive!

On buying a helmet, you should make sure it has a CPSC (Consumer Products Safety Commission) sticker in it...most do, but definitely check.

Anytime you are involved in a crash or fall where your helmet takes a hit, you should get a new helmet...even if it doesn't look damaged.

You should also get a new helmet every two years because the protective styrofoam shells can weaken over time and with sunlight.

And we love the police video that was posted...definitely going up on our blog!

Safe riding,
Active Trans

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Permalink Reply by Lee Diamond on April 29, 2009 at 6:37am

Thanks Brian for your comments. I will make a mass one day, I have faith. The day I really look forward to is the day I can ride it with Jackson.

A further word on helmet use and my role in it:

In addition to building bikes to lend out for my rides, I also have stockpiled a collection of helmets for the rides as well. I try to encourage every rider to wear one and also have it in our waiver. Our posters, emails and postcards also ask every rider to bring and wear a helmet, and as mentioned, I now have a bunch to lend for the unprotected.

In the end, I believe not wearing a helmet is a purely selfish decision. You have the right to be a selfish person, but let's call it what it is. You are being a selfish person.

Now in every other regard, you may be an upstanding and noble person of impeccable character, but here, on this, you are being a selfish person.

It isn't as simple as whether you are willing to take the risk or not. What you are in effect deciding is that you have the right to be unencumbered at the expense of your family's very future, if you are indeed lucky enough to have family that will have to sacrifice everything to care for you if you suffer a brain injury. By everything, I mean everything. Careers, savings, retirement, personal time, everything. In our case it meant my wife had to give up her career to tend to our son, I gave up one of my careers to stay rooted near home, I rarely work less than 100 hours a week, we are over half a million dollars in the hole, and we HAVE and always HAD insurance. This is what a brain injury does to those you leave behind.

If you aren’t lucky enough to have insurance or family to care for you, then of course you are subjecting yourself to a very tough institutional future that is nonetheless an extraordinary societal expense. It isn’t imaginary, it is real actual dollars and costs. Whatever you say, it isn't just as simple as leaving you there on the street to grind into the pavement. The dollars rack up so quick you can't possibly imagine, from the moment someone calls 911.

Call it what it is....the act of a selfish person.

The anecdotal nonsense of whether helmet use even increases your safety or not is akin to the anti-seatbelt propaganda regarding chocking on the seatbelt, or being unable to extricate yourself from the car. No. You are being selfish and these arguments are your rationalization for not wanting to discontinue your selfish behavior.

Same with the leave it up to fate argument, or any argument at all. You may decide what your fate is, but you don’t decide the unintended consequences and the result for the rest of us.

You don’t want to do something and you come first.

THAT is the no-helmet wearing argument.

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