Maybe the new law has had the opposite effect and given riders a sense of confidence that they can ride again ’cause it’s safer now? (tease )
btw – I was going to comment earlier on, but one our kittens got onto my keyboard and somehow scrambled the key assignments! I had to reboot to put it right.
“Cyclists who died of a head injury were three times less likely to be wearing a helmet than those who died of other injuries, according to the study, which was published in the CMAJ ”
This doesn’t show how likely an individual is to be killed whether wearing a helmet or now. It only says those with serious head injuries were less likely to have a helmet on “DUH”. But it does not say whether head injuries or other injures were more frequent or which kind of injury killed more riders. I bet people who died of chest injuries were less likely to be wearing body armor as well but that doesn’t prove whether its safer.
Since 1982 I ride my bike almost every day. Never had a serious crash, let alone any injuries. Never weared a helmet and sure never will. The fact almost every helmet user can tell so many storys about his accidents makes me frightend concerning helmets.
Similar to what I was thinking when reading that comment.
I know (personally, not counting those I’ve only heard or read about) quite a number of people who swear that a helmet saved their life. On the other hand, I know no-one who tells a story about how they hit their head on the ground (and regretted not wearing a helmet at that time), nor do I know anyone telling such a sad story about their relative/friend/etc. who died from a head injury. (I repeat again – I limit this observation to people I know personally, as one kind of determining “a study sample”). Not 100% sure what to think of it… but one possible theory, perhaps, could be that helmet-less riders tend to stay more alert and crash less. (?) I don’t claim this to be any argument either pro- or con-, as I really don’t want to engage in the helmet discussion. Just my personal observation.
I’ve heard of a similar phenomenon in regards to cars – there were fewer accidents when seat belts didn’t exist. When buckled in it gave people a false sense of safety and they would tend to drive less carefully.
This spring I wiped out on mud that had washed down into a bike lane and I slid headfirst into the curb, cracking my helmet. Say whatever you want, but I have a good friend who’s brain injured and she’ll testify that it’s no fun. I think wearing a helmet is like wearing a seat belt: You may never ever need it, but if you do, you’ll be glad you’re wearing it.
Except that helmets are designed to fail by crushing and tend to be trivial to crack. But you go on thinking the helmet saved your life. It’s not like you’d be willing to do the actual science to check.
Like you, falls are a non-issue with me. I have been riding since the early 70s and haven’t taken more than two minor spills per decade, never hitting my head. I question whether the extra weight and volume increases the hit count by making the head move more and farther while making the space between object and head shorter so that It is less likely to miss. Lastly, one is probably less protective in a helmet because the underlying fear is gone. The only time I ever had a head impact, it was on my face where a helmet wouldn’t have helped.
Yikes. I’m all for helmets, but that is one god-awful “study”. The lack of any kind of rigor in bicycle safety studies just astounds me.
Maybe it’s because bicycles are actually very safe! Serious injuries and fatalities are much more common in cars, and even by bike, most serious injuries and deaths involve an automobile.
Maybe I’m reading that article wrong, but it sounds like it needs some correlation as to what percentage of total cyclists are wearing helmets where this study was conducted. Just because only a third of the people who died from head injuries were wearing helmets doesn’t mean much, if only a third or fewer of total cyclists are wearing helmets.
Those numbers are frighteningly similar to the long debunked (but somehow still cited) Thompson-Rivara study.
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Seen too many people with traumatic brain injuries from seemingly ‘minor’ impacts, bike and non-bike, in my line of work. I wear a seatbelt, a helmet, and I quit smoking. Just because there’s anecdotal evidence of someone who hasn’t crashed their bike – or someone who smokes and is 90 years old, or someone who was ejected from their car in a crash and landed in a pond and it saved their life or whatever – doesn’t mean a blow to the head won’t scramble your brains and leave your loved ones changing your diaper.
You’re certainly right!
Just a side note – it is also quite clear, perhaps without any argument, that a knee-protector (or elbow-protector, etc.) would greatly reduce damage to the particular body part(s) in case of an accident. Some riders choose to use such protective devices (downhill riders, for instance), some other riders do not. I find it quite peculiar that, at least so far, I’ve never met anyone vigorously propagating the use of such protection for EVERYONE, or even suggesting this should be required by law. (Talking in general, so you don’t need to take it personally).
(And… yes, I’ve heard the argument that arms and legs are less crucial than the head, etc., but…)
When I was a track/cross country runner in HS during the 70s, if we saw someone else out running we almost always knew them, or at least recognized them. Then the boom came and strange runners were all over the place. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I knew most of the cyclists I would see, but not anymore. I don’t even recognize most of the ones that go past the house or school where I teach. That is a good sign, isn’t it?
I am an urban raised person. I don’t want to interrupt my reveries constantly just to give out oxytocin spikes to strangers. Especially as I do not enjoy the same biochemical responses during these social rituals. To demand a response to your greeting is as rude as to refuse one. Offer freely but do not resent those who choose to refrain please.
i’d have to agree. I always keep in mind that they may have more important things to pay attention too …like cars, hazards. I can recall many times in which someone waves and I didn’t wave back since at that moment I was not comfortable letting go of the handle bars due to something in my way.
wouldn’t less people be riding now because of that stupid helmet law?
you have established a nexus?
I was wondering what’s happening with Nanny State.
Yeah, me too. Some development on that story line would be interesting. Like she gets busted for hitting a cyclist or something.
Maybe the new law has had the opposite effect and given riders a sense of confidence that they can ride again ’cause it’s safer now? (tease
)
btw – I was going to comment earlier on, but one our kittens got onto my keyboard and somehow scrambled the key assignments! I had to reboot to put it right.
If you’ve been following the NACTO conference thread on BikePortland, you’d see there’s a real economic benefit to more bikes.
Now, watch out for those claws… kittens don’t know their own strength.
Maybe Yehuda doesn’t recognize them because he’s taken one too many shots to the head… BTW, Thistle’s still hot!
Disagree on first point.
Agree strongly on second.
Just found this: http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2012/10/15/study-shows-bicycle-helmets-save-lives
Won’t affect me – I always wear one anyway, but some may find this interesting.
How did this strip lead to helmets? HEre we go again ; )
“Cyclists who died of a head injury were three times less likely to be wearing a helmet than those who died of other injuries, according to the study, which was published in the CMAJ ”
This doesn’t show how likely an individual is to be killed whether wearing a helmet or now. It only says those with serious head injuries were less likely to have a helmet on “DUH”. But it does not say whether head injuries or other injures were more frequent or which kind of injury killed more riders. I bet people who died of chest injuries were less likely to be wearing body armor as well but that doesn’t prove whether its safer.
Since 1982 I ride my bike almost every day. Never had a serious crash, let alone any injuries. Never weared a helmet and sure never will. The fact almost every helmet user can tell so many storys about his accidents makes me frightend concerning helmets.
Similar to what I was thinking when reading that comment.
I don’t claim this to be any argument either pro- or con-, as I really don’t want to engage in the helmet discussion. Just my personal observation.
I know (personally, not counting those I’ve only heard or read about) quite a number of people who swear that a helmet saved their life. On the other hand, I know no-one who tells a story about how they hit their head on the ground (and regretted not wearing a helmet at that time), nor do I know anyone telling such a sad story about their relative/friend/etc. who died from a head injury. (I repeat again – I limit this observation to people I know personally, as one kind of determining “a study sample”). Not 100% sure what to think of it… but one possible theory, perhaps, could be that helmet-less riders tend to stay more alert and crash less. (?)
I’ve heard of a similar phenomenon in regards to cars – there were fewer accidents when seat belts didn’t exist. When buckled in it gave people a false sense of safety and they would tend to drive less carefully.
google “target risk”, it will leed you to a study that explains why people behave that way.
This spring I wiped out on mud that had washed down into a bike lane and I slid headfirst into the curb, cracking my helmet. Say whatever you want, but I have a good friend who’s brain injured and she’ll testify that it’s no fun. I think wearing a helmet is like wearing a seat belt: You may never ever need it, but if you do, you’ll be glad you’re wearing it.
Except that helmets are designed to fail by crushing and tend to be trivial to crack. But you go on thinking the helmet saved your life. It’s not like you’d be willing to do the actual science to check.
Like you, falls are a non-issue with me. I have been riding since the early 70s and haven’t taken more than two minor spills per decade, never hitting my head. I question whether the extra weight and volume increases the hit count by making the head move more and farther while making the space between object and head shorter so that It is less likely to miss. Lastly, one is probably less protective in a helmet because the underlying fear is gone. The only time I ever had a head impact, it was on my face where a helmet wouldn’t have helped.
Yikes. I’m all for helmets, but that is one god-awful “study”. The lack of any kind of rigor in bicycle safety studies just astounds me.
Maybe it’s because bicycles are actually very safe! Serious injuries and fatalities are much more common in cars, and even by bike, most serious injuries and deaths involve an automobile.
Maybe I’m reading that article wrong, but it sounds like it needs some correlation as to what percentage of total cyclists are wearing helmets where this study was conducted. Just because only a third of the people who died from head injuries were wearing helmets doesn’t mean much, if only a third or fewer of total cyclists are wearing helmets.
Those numbers are frighteningly similar to the long debunked (but somehow still cited) Thompson-Rivara study.
Stuart, I feel obligated to quote Mark Twain: “There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned LIES, and Statistics.”
Which is to say that Polls, Studies, and Statistics can be manipulated to say whatever you want them to say.
Ask who commissioned this “study”, how they will benefit from the data as presented.
Maybe this strip is out of place and not related to the helmet law story-line. Rick has done that in the past with backlogged comics.
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Die in a fire stupid spam bot. And take those P*N*S enlargement pills with you.
Careful, there’s a typo: “doesn’t even lookS at me”.
Thank you – fixed!
I thoughts that was vernacular.
Seen too many people with traumatic brain injuries from seemingly ‘minor’ impacts, bike and non-bike, in my line of work. I wear a seatbelt, a helmet, and I quit smoking. Just because there’s anecdotal evidence of someone who hasn’t crashed their bike – or someone who smokes and is 90 years old, or someone who was ejected from their car in a crash and landed in a pond and it saved their life or whatever – doesn’t mean a blow to the head won’t scramble your brains and leave your loved ones changing your diaper.
what type of helmet do you wear in your car?
You’re certainly right!
Just a side note – it is also quite clear, perhaps without any argument, that a knee-protector (or elbow-protector, etc.) would greatly reduce damage to the particular body part(s) in case of an accident. Some riders choose to use such protective devices (downhill riders, for instance), some other riders do not. I find it quite peculiar that, at least so far, I’ve never met anyone vigorously propagating the use of such protection for EVERYONE, or even suggesting this should be required by law. (Talking in general, so you don’t need to take it personally).
(And… yes, I’ve heard the argument that arms and legs are less crucial than the head, etc., but…)
Yehuda reporting that the rider “doesn’t even looks at me” may indicate something or another that probably doesn’t relate to helmets but might.
If Yehuda Moon became a film, who would play Thistle?
Halle Berry.
Spooky – that was the first name that crossed my mind too.
Or could it just be that there are fewer high profile black actresses?
Just curious — Have we ever seen Mr. Gin/Fizz’s father?
Yes we have. He appeared in a number of strips, especially about the time Thistle started working at Kickstand.
I’d propose Rosario Dawson. Awesome in MIB II!
bicyclists who pretend i’m not there always get a greeting from me
When I was a track/cross country runner in HS during the 70s, if we saw someone else out running we almost always knew them, or at least recognized them. Then the boom came and strange runners were all over the place. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I knew most of the cyclists I would see, but not anymore. I don’t even recognize most of the ones that go past the house or school where I teach. That is a good sign, isn’t it?
I am an urban raised person. I don’t want to interrupt my reveries constantly just to give out oxytocin spikes to strangers. Especially as I do not enjoy the same biochemical responses during these social rituals. To demand a response to your greeting is as rude as to refuse one. Offer freely but do not resent those who choose to refrain please.
i’d have to agree. I always keep in mind that they may have more important things to pay attention too …like cars, hazards. I can recall many times in which someone waves and I didn’t wave back since at that moment I was not comfortable letting go of the handle bars due to something in my way.