Great job Rick! This is my current fav comic strip. Thanks for providing this relevant entertainment outlet for those of us who enjoy cycling in whatever form, i.e. recreational, sport, pro … Keep inking it in the original vision & spirit you had for this strip.
If you look back through the strips you will see clues to a long standing difference of view on h*lm*ts between Joe and Yehuda. A few people seem startled that anyone would consider riding without one. Airing the issue should at least make them aware that it is not as clear cut as they might have thought.
Where I live it’s law that no matter of age, a helmet is to be worn. About 75% of the people I see still don’t wear one though. Being a courier in heavy traffic, I probably should, but really haven’t thought my reasoning out of why I don’t. Maybe a confidence thing?
Urban Bomber: I seem to remember not wearing a helmet while bicycling in college (rather foggy memory now!). Partly it was just that I was only riding around campus on footpaths, but I think I also had a vague sense of them being uncool, something my mom would tell me to wear. Probably no one else wore one either.
I almost always wear one now because (1) I commute in traffic every day, and (2) I’m older and have my own children, so I suppose I’m becoming an old fogey. Besides, it IS the law here (Maine) for everyone under 16, and <parental cliche alert> I want to set a good example for my kids (as well as other kids who will see me).
BikeForums.net has a thread devoted full-time to the helmet debate, on the Safety & Advocacy forum. May I suggest that those interested in perpetuating that debate (or maybe even learning something) take it there? Thanks.
@John A. Ardelli
Rick said that he planned this topic several months ago in an interview on The Fredcast cycling podcast. You can listen to the interview at http://www.thefredcast.com/?p=326
I agree with Joe, sure I know that a helmet won’t protect me if I get hit and ragdoll or similar situations. But if I’m grazed and get pushed into the curb, I’d rather have one. But like we said in the infamous helmet debate post about 4 days ago, it’s really a matter of opinion and people are going to have dramatically different views. Lets not start the helmet flame war again.
Note the Victoria 1999 statistics – for all riders having accidents, the ones without helmets had a significantly higher proportion of deaths and serious injuries than those proportions for the helmet wearers. Which is pretty much what you’d expect.
And I think I just made my point about lack of intelligence, didn’t I? Sorry for the waste of your time, and the extra work required of a bunch of electrons.
1. Tough issue for a comic strip, but kudos for trying Rick. Will watch to see how it goes.
2. This really needs to be a live and let live issue, I think. There are people who feel quite strongly about both sides of it. Comments like the very first one about style are just inflammatory and frankly do nothing to help. Can’t we all agree that there are people who disagree with us who aren’t morons but who have just come to a different conclusion about risks/benefits.
I completely agree with Don. Yehuda is way off the mark. You don’t use helmets because of “a car problem” – you use them because you’re moving at (relatively) high speeds with (relatively) little protection. My dad had a bicycle accident this past weekend on a ped/bike trail. He broke his collar bone and cracked his helmet through in five different places. No car involved, indeed no one else was hit at all (he was swerving to avoid an obstacle), but I thank God that his helmet was there to absorb that impact instead of his head.
Rick – it’s great how you have the characters providing voice for different segments of the cycling population. That life, rather than the jokes, is what keeps me coming back.
OK. So we’ve come down to it. Helmets look dorky and even the ones that are supposed to look cool, like Joe’s, look dorky because we’re really not riding at 90 mph. What we need is for someone to come up with an actually cool looking helmet. Maybe the Kickstand can run a contest for a styling helmet. What do you think, Rick? Got space on the server for people to draw and download their new and improved?
…at least until the state tries to tell me I -have- to wear one, then I’m suddenly going to have trouble finding one that fits, or I’ll wear it on my elbow.
My son (16) has a cute H, kind of looks like an army one.
I recently read a book called Pedal Power and the author spent some time in Amsterdam and gave it a chapter or two. He asked cyclists there why they don’t wear *those things* and most looked bemused and said because it’s up to the cars to look out for US, and if I wear one, I’m giving motorists an excuse not to be as careful.
That’s a good idea. A friend of mine (the guy who made the yehuda action figure prototype – http://www.joetait.com/art/ceramics/ceramic_29/) worked on some conceptual helmet ideas that made them look more like a hat.
Mindy – right on! However I wear one to commute (I’m bald and need a hat!( and most racers (aka road bike riders?) wear them too. But Joe Average here in The Hague (or should that be Yehuda Average?) would agree that the cars have to take responsibility for being hard and fast. btw, if a car hits a cyclist or pedestrian here, his insurance pays even if the other party was at fault. Nothing like a financial incentive…
The Victoria study you linked shows that helmeted riders are injured *more* than non-helmeted, not less. Which is consistent with all of the Australian studies showing that mandatory helmet laws do not reduce injuries, but do reduce the number of cyclists.
RichardT, you read the paragraph with that chart? The fatality rate was a bit higher, but nothing in that chart examines what caused the deaths, nothing said about head injuries. Same goes for the rest… they investigated injuries and they are HIGHER for helmet wearers. Nothing about head injuries either way, just that your more likely to be injured when wearing a helmet. That seems to be the result in pretty much all studies that use real records.
@Andy
Erm yes, there were more injuries for the helmet wearers. There were also a lot more helmet wearers than non-wearers in that country, which might explain things. Or are you implying that the very act of wearing a helmet will make you more likely to crash? Larger surface area to hit? This would seem ridiculous.
The stats indicate that if you do get into an accident, it’s more likely to be fatal if you’re not wearing a helmet.
“BikeForums.net has a thread devoted full-time to the helmet debate, on the Safety & Advocacy forum. May I suggest that those interested in perpetuating that debate (or maybe even learning something) take it there? Thanks.”
You can learn things on A&S?
I wear my helmet on my work commute, but I also routinely hit 45+mph on some downhill stretches.
When I’m just sporting my cutoffs and a t-shirt to go to the grocery store, I usually just grab my Euskaltel cap and go.
My helmet is a great place to decorate. I have yet to see another cyclist with a (helmet) hood ornament, and I always get comments about how people like my helmet.
In spite of that, I still did protest Vancouver, Washington’s recently passed mandatory helmet law. First it was just for kids, and I was fine with that for the most part. But then they said adults too, and that was enough to tick me off. And mind you, this is not some adult saying this, but a high schooler who has elected not to drive.
@RichardT, I know your reply was @Andy, but… I recommend you do some more reading. Helmet laws DO relate to higher rates of injury while decreasing the number of cyclists. Various reasons/theories, mostly that people take more risks since ALL injury rates (not just head) go up with helmet usage. Helmet advocates don’t advertise that they are designed to protect your head from a fall from a STATIONARY bike. When your helmet breaks rather than crushes in a crash… it didn’t do squat to protect you. Pedestrians are the ones that should be wearing mandatory helmets under the premise that they save lives.
@Scott
I’ve heard of the helmet –> reckless cycling theory, but I’m not sure it’s been substantiated, though it’s still worth considering.
Even if it’s entirely true, it’s not a reason to say “Let’s advocate against helmets”, it’s a reason to say “Let’s teach children that helmets don’t make them immortal, and teach them to cycle safely”.
Because of this I can understand why you might have concerns applying helmets at the population level, but I personally benefit because (a) I have the additional protection of a helmet and (b) I don’t cancel out that benefit by cycling recklessly.
It’s not law where I live to wear one, but I do. I don’t want to be knocked down and killed and people to say “she should have worn a helmet, it could have saved her life.” I’d rather “she did everything she could to keep safe and be seen, but the car driver…”
p.s When is Yehuda going to sell her a rain cape?!
Just to clarify, I’m not for making helmets mandatory, I just think they’re a good idea. Mandatory helmet wearing is just nanny state behaviour – helmet wearing affects nobody but the wearer.
Unless you’re wearing one of those old German army helmets with a spike on the top.
@RichardT <<There were also a lot more helmet wearers than non-wearers in that country, which might explain things.>>
It is the rate, not gross numbers. So it does not explain anything.
<< Or are you implying that the very act of wearing a helmet will make you more likely to crash?>>
Studies conducted by Chicagoland Bike Federation has shown that car drivers drive almost one foot closer to a helmet wearing bike rider than a Yehuda Moon.
They attribute it to the perception that the helmet wearing ones are more experienced/skilled and hence would need less space.
I don’t advocate against helmets, but I also don’t like the laws. Why would we want laws that we can demonstrate have an adverse effect at the population level? It always starts as a “might be a good idea”, then it’s a ‘suggestion’, then a ‘recommendation’, then ‘mandatory’… always using the scariest phrase in politics, “If it might just save one child” (hey, no matter how many it injures…).
The site you linked to is a good start for some serious reading on the subject, compare the pros and cons, the projections given by helmet advocates vs. the real world statistics of what happens when they are mandated.
I believe in live and let live. If you don’t want to wear a helmet, then don’t.
I don’t believe the statistics referenced in any of these studies posted online. Most of the time nowadays when a group does any kind of study, they know the outcome they want before the study starts and they just manipulate the statistics to give them the outcome that was predetermined. To me, wearing a helmet is common sense. It’s easy insurance.
I wear a full-face downhill helmet when I ride (on the street) because getting your face sewn back on feels like a whole colony of ants took up residence under your skin. I also think that the gov’t has no business enacting mandatory helmet laws until we have gov’t provided health care. That old saw about “We all pay for an injured cyclist” is just so much male bovine digestive byproduct until we actually <i>do</i> start paying for it.
Two things. If helmet wearing is sensible for cyling, then surely it is sensible for other activities where a head injury is likely; traveling in a car, walking, sitting on a bar stool drinking, playing football (soccer) etc. Therefore if you ride with a helmet but choose not to wear one for other activities that have a risk of head injury, are you any more or less reckless that if you chose not to wear a helmet for cycling? An anecdote for you. A fair few years ago, I was taking my sons to school. One of them insisted on whizzing in and out of all the driveways along the road. Eventually, he came a cropper and hit his head on a gate post, narrowly missing a jagged metal gate hinge and quite badly gashing his head. Would his injury have been less if he had been wearing a helmet? Surely it would. But wear a helmet to walk to school?
I can’t believe you’re so cynical about statistics. Just look at http://www.cyclehelmets.org/ , where it’s quite clear they don’t have any kind of agenda or foregone conclusions.
“That said, why hasn’t anyone remarked that Yehuda failed to sell her a lock?”
It’s the “strange and unusual” theory of bicycle security: The weirder or more individual your bike looks, the less anyone wants to steal it because it’s easier to recognize and harder to fence.
Funny you bring that up, because about 6 years ago, I did manage to tear my face off while mtn. biking. In fact, it took over 250 stitches to reattach my chin and front of my face to my skull. I don’t recall the colony of ants though.
Regardless, I do think a helmet helped me there, as when I got it back from the woods where it came off my head in the crash, there was a big dent in the front where it was impaled on a rock.
I also wear a helmet on road rides where I go pretty fast and get chased by lots of dogs that might knock me down.
On the other hand, quite often, I will go without one while riding around town, as I don’t really think it will protect me when Joe A$$h@le runs me down with his Avalanche.
In fact, I have taken more broken helmets off my head when by myself, crashing on a side street or parking lot.. then again.. I am a dumbass and ymmv.
I have visited that web site, and in my opinion they started off with the assumption that bicycle helmets don’t do much to protect bicyclists. And that is fine with me. I don’t have a problem with that. And of course they aren’t going to admit to it. And I am fine with that too. All I am saying is that it is easy to manipulate statistics to get the results that you want to get. So I just don’t pay much attention to the arguments flying around.
I wear a helmet because I think its easy insurance. It doesn’t cost much and it doesn’t bother me to wear it. If other people want to make a statistical analysis out of it, that is their choice. I have better ways to spend my time, like going for a bike ride
Quoting Fiona: ****It’s not law where I live to wear one, but I do. I don’t want to be knocked down and killed and people to say “she should have worn a helmet, it could have saved her life.” I’d rather “she did everything she could to keep safe and be seen, but the car driver…” ****
ROFL, I think the same way! I thought I was the only one. I always ride in the bike lane, have proper lights, etc., because I don’t want to hear any excuses if a motorist ever hits me.
Machoness by not wearing a helmet has been banned in the Tour de France even in the mountain stages where the incidence of crashes and falls are low. Is anybody here in the group more macho than Tour de France cyclists?
‘move to Holland if you want to live in “the land of the free”.’
You mean where you are required to use a bike lane if one is present? (OK, I’m not 100% sure of this, but I know many European countries do have such laws…)
ok ok, we can bash other countries all we want but the truth is that a large majority of them have a much higher population of cyclists that we do here in the states. Sure drive to work that’s 20 miles away, thats fine, but do you really have to DRIVE the mile and a half to pick up a gallon of milk?
My point is that the cities in the US were built with mass transit in mind, so untill we figure out a way to fix the problem with how our cities get laid out when they are expanded and also how to correct the areas that are already there, it’s going to be hard to convince the average lazy Joe.
….no reference to the Joe in the image above…..
Broadly, the pro helmet lobby focuses on the strong evidence that in the event of a crash, head injuries are reduced by wearing a helmet. The anti lobby uses a wider range of arguments, including risk compensation (opinions running at 2:1 that it exiists) and promoting increased cycling and safer facilities or behaviour. Nobody puts an actual estimate of number of lives saved by helmets to lives lost through discouraging cycle use.
“You mean where you are required to use a bike lane if one is present? (OK, I’m not 100% sure of this, but I know many European countries do have such laws…)”
Yeah, that may be a law there. It’s hard to see that encroaching into your freedom when roads have one car lane and three bike lanes separated from the cars by a median! I guess that means you’re not free to ride in the car lane, but why the heck would you want to?
Out for a ride with my Uncle one night we came up to a major intersection where we were turning left. They had two car left-hand-turn lanes and four for bikes! LOL – what a trip! I’ve enver seen such a thing in the US.
Tour De France goes at break-neck speeds. Yes even on the biggest and baddest mountains, they go faster than, let us say, the fastest speed Yehuda achieves during his commute.
About European laws: Jeez, you could get arrested in some countries if you had a small drinking night with some buddies and three of you fell asleep in the same room. (if that room is not certified for more than two peeps.)
Mandatory helmets in the Tour have nothing to do with speed and everything to do with politics. It would actually make more sense for Yehuda to wear a helmet than a Tour rider as anyone exceeding 12mph is riding outside their design limit in any case.
And in America you can get Tazered for riding a bicycle on an airport road or sentenced to 40 years for being the victim of computer malware. Google Stephen Orsak and Julie Amero.
Stupid… I wear one and it’s not required. Yes it IS a car problem, but if that car hits me, then it’s my problem too and I can’t control the cars but I can protect my skull.
Warning – Long Story Coming – My two cents.
Three years ago if you had asked me why I wear a helmet I would have told you I’m trying to set an example for my kids. I wanted them to wear one and felt that the best way to do that would be to model the behavior. I certainly didn’t think I needed a helmet. What’s a helmet going to do for me if a car decided to run me over. I was an experienced cyclist and certainly could avoid accidents and didn’t need a brain cage.
Then I changed my tune quick. I wasn’t watching as I should and crashed into a concrete post (about 7MPH). I saw the post at the last second and was reaching for the brake levers when the front wheel hit straight on. Then the top of my helmeted heat hit the post. I felt it down my neck to my lower back.
I cracked the helmet and bent the frame and all I could think of was “I would probably be dead or a vegetable if it wasn’t for this helmet.
A helmet won’t provide complete protection, and in a car crash probably none. But there was a strip in which Yehuda hit some black ice; that’s happened to me. I was very glad my skull was not bouncing on the pavement with only my hair–such as is left–to protect it. (There are some women around here whose hair probably WOULD protect them, but that’s another rant.)
I want to see the helmet the “dashboard” guy wears. I’m a new commuter and don’t know why those things don’t have mega headlights and blinky side and taillights and are covered with reflective dayglow yellow tape in front and dayglow orange in back.
We took the training wheels off my son’s “freestyle” bike this year. He thought how much fun it would be to zoom down the hill at the park… rough landing. The third time he asked, “What happened? Where am I?” We took him to the doctor for an MRI, slight concussion. I wear one so he can’t ever say I don’t.
Helmets don’t really do a lot. And seriously, fuck em. Haven’t taken a header in years, or even had an unplanned stop. If you’re fucking up hard enough that the top of your head is at risk, you need to get off the road, or at very least out of my lane. And seriously, if you pull that shit in front of me, a concussion is the least of your worries. Fuck around and get cut. BIKE CITY
When I was in my teens and the helmet was mandatory, I laid my bike down due to a patch of sand. The helmet took a gouge about two inches long and a three quarters of an inch deep just about over my temple. I’m not saying it saved my life, but I am saying I’m glad I didn’t have to find out. Given that, I will almost always wear a helmet. It may never happen again, but it only takes once.
I don’t wear my helmet because of cars, I wear mine because of black ice, mud, unexpected sand, “where the h*** did that pothole come from”, tire blowouts, general malfunctions, sudden squirrels, ninjas….
Seems Yehuda’s all about style.
Great job Rick! This is my current fav comic strip. Thanks for providing this relevant entertainment outlet for those of us who enjoy cycling in whatever form, i.e. recreational, sport, pro … Keep inking it in the original vision & spirit you had for this strip.
This could get messy …
Would you hold off for a moment until I get the popcorn made and get comfortable.
http://www.cyclehelmets.org/
Chicken or the egg: did Rick start this because of the discussions about bike helmets in the comments, or was this already planned…?
Uh oh. I sense a conflict brewing.
If you look back through the strips you will see clues to a long standing difference of view on h*lm*ts between Joe and Yehuda. A few people seem startled that anyone would consider riding without one. Airing the issue should at least make them aware that it is not as clear cut as they might have thought.
Where I live it’s law that no matter of age, a helmet is to be worn. About 75% of the people I see still don’t wear one though. Being a courier in heavy traffic, I probably should, but really haven’t thought my reasoning out of why I don’t. Maybe a confidence thing?
Urban Bomber: I seem to remember not wearing a helmet while bicycling in college (rather foggy memory now!). Partly it was just that I was only riding around campus on footpaths, but I think I also had a vague sense of them being uncool, something my mom would tell me to wear. Probably no one else wore one either.
I almost always wear one now because (1) I commute in traffic every day, and (2) I’m older and have my own children, so I suppose I’m becoming an old fogey. Besides, it IS the law here (Maine) for everyone under 16, and <parental cliche alert> I want to set a good example for my kids (as well as other kids who will see me).
BikeForums.net has a thread devoted full-time to the helmet debate, on the Safety & Advocacy forum. May I suggest that those interested in perpetuating that debate (or maybe even learning something) take it there? Thanks.
@John A. Ardelli
Rick said that he planned this topic several months ago in an interview on The Fredcast cycling podcast. You can listen to the interview at http://www.thefredcast.com/?p=326
<a href=http://www.cyclehelmets.org>http://www.cyclehelmets.org/</a> recommendation seconded.
Helmets aren’t designed to protect against motor vehicles, and the statistics show they don’t.
Gettin’ a little too preachy lately…how bout something funny every now and then
You Go Kevin!
Where did all the plants go?
I agree with Joe, sure I know that a helmet won’t protect me if I get hit and ragdoll or similar situations. But if I’m grazed and get pushed into the curb, I’d rather have one. But like we said in the infamous helmet debate post about 4 days ago, it’s really a matter of opinion and people are going to have dramatically different views. Lets not start the helmet flame war again.
http://www.cycle-helmets.com/helmet_statistics.html
Note the Victoria 1999 statistics – for all riders having accidents, the ones without helmets had a significantly higher proportion of deaths and serious injuries than those proportions for the helmet wearers. Which is pretty much what you’d expect.
I love the posts (on both sides) that say, “This is my view about helmets. Now that I’ve had my say, let’s not argue about them here.”
(I wear one to be deceptive. People who know me, seeing me with the hat, may be tempted to think I’m intelligent after all.)
I love the posts (on both sides) that say, “This is my view about helmets. Now that I’ve had my say, let’s not argue about them here.”
(I wear one to be deceptive. People who know me, seeing me with the hat, may be tempted to think I’m intelligent after all.)
And I think I just made my point about lack of intelligence, didn’t I? Sorry for the waste of your time, and the extra work required of a bunch of electrons.
1. Tough issue for a comic strip, but kudos for trying Rick. Will watch to see how it goes.
2. This really needs to be a live and let live issue, I think. There are people who feel quite strongly about both sides of it. Comments like the very first one about style are just inflammatory and frankly do nothing to help. Can’t we all agree that there are people who disagree with us who aren’t morons but who have just come to a different conclusion about risks/benefits.
Grocery shopping is not an extreme enough activity to require a helmet … but biking too and from might well be. Depends on the roads, cars, etc.
If the shakers made a helmet, maybe Yehuda would wear one. Ah … well crafted and joined birch …
Yeah
I completely agree with Don. Yehuda is way off the mark. You don’t use helmets because of “a car problem” – you use them because you’re moving at (relatively) high speeds with (relatively) little protection. My dad had a bicycle accident this past weekend on a ped/bike trail. He broke his collar bone and cracked his helmet through in five different places. No car involved, indeed no one else was hit at all (he was swerving to avoid an obstacle), but I thank God that his helmet was there to absorb that impact instead of his head.
“It’s a car problem Joe. Why make bicyclists try and fix it with a styrofoam hat?”
Because being right won’t save your melon.
Rick – it’s great how you have the characters providing voice for different segments of the cycling population. That life, rather than the jokes, is what keeps me coming back.
OK. So we’ve come down to it. Helmets look dorky and even the ones that are supposed to look cool, like Joe’s, look dorky because we’re really not riding at 90 mph. What we need is for someone to come up with an actually cool looking helmet. Maybe the Kickstand can run a contest for a styling helmet. What do you think, Rick? Got space on the server for people to draw and download their new and improved?
If I have one I’ll wear it…
…at least until the state tries to tell me I -have- to wear one, then I’m suddenly going to have trouble finding one that fits, or I’ll wear it on my elbow.
Sure it is a car problem.
0,01 per cent of holanders use the helmet.
But not wearing helmet doesnot make more cyclepaths.
My son (16) has a cute H, kind of looks like an army one.
I recently read a book called Pedal Power and the author spent some time in Amsterdam and gave it a chapter or two. He asked cyclists there why they don’t wear *those things* and most looked bemused and said because it’s up to the cars to look out for US, and if I wear one, I’m giving motorists an excuse not to be as careful.
Yeah yeah, I know this ain’t Amsterdam.
Ninja, the plants are in the lobby/lounge.
This strip is shot at the basement work shop.
@Dorkrider
That’s a good idea. A friend of mine (the guy who made the yehuda action figure prototype – http://www.joetait.com/art/ceramics/ceramic_29/) worked on some conceptual helmet ideas that made them look more like a hat.
Mindy – right on! However I wear one to commute (I’m bald and need a hat!( and most racers (aka road bike riders?) wear them too. But Joe Average here in The Hague (or should that be Yehuda Average?) would agree that the cars have to take responsibility for being hard and fast. btw, if a car hits a cyclist or pedestrian here, his insurance pays even if the other party was at fault. Nothing like a financial incentive…
@RichardT -
The Victoria study you linked shows that helmeted riders are injured *more* than non-helmeted, not less. Which is consistent with all of the Australian studies showing that mandatory helmet laws do not reduce injuries, but do reduce the number of cyclists.
RichardT, you read the paragraph with that chart? The fatality rate was a bit higher, but nothing in that chart examines what caused the deaths, nothing said about head injuries. Same goes for the rest… they investigated injuries and they are HIGHER for helmet wearers. Nothing about head injuries either way, just that your more likely to be injured when wearing a helmet. That seems to be the result in pretty much all studies that use real records.
@Andy
Erm yes, there were more injuries for the helmet wearers. There were also a lot more helmet wearers than non-wearers in that country, which might explain things. Or are you implying that the very act of wearing a helmet will make you more likely to crash? Larger surface area to hit? This would seem ridiculous.
The stats indicate that if you do get into an accident, it’s more likely to be fatal if you’re not wearing a helmet.
“BikeForums.net has a thread devoted full-time to the helmet debate, on the Safety & Advocacy forum. May I suggest that those interested in perpetuating that debate (or maybe even learning something) take it there? Thanks.”
You can learn things on A&S?
I wear my helmet on my work commute, but I also routinely hit 45+mph on some downhill stretches.
When I’m just sporting my cutoffs and a t-shirt to go to the grocery store, I usually just grab my Euskaltel cap and go.
My helmet is a great place to decorate. I have yet to see another cyclist with a (helmet) hood ornament, and I always get comments about how people like my helmet.
In spite of that, I still did protest Vancouver, Washington’s recently passed mandatory helmet law. First it was just for kids, and I was fine with that for the most part. But then they said adults too, and that was enough to tick me off. And mind you, this is not some adult saying this, but a high schooler who has elected not to drive.
I started wearing one twenty years ago. Seemed like a very good idea at the time, even though I hadn’t gone down since learning to ride a two-wheeler.
That said, why hasn’t anyone remarked that Yehuda failed to sell her a lock? What kind of lock?
I bet the Bakfiets has a built in O-ring lock.
@RichardT, I know your reply was @Andy, but… I recommend you do some more reading. Helmet laws DO relate to higher rates of injury while decreasing the number of cyclists. Various reasons/theories, mostly that people take more risks since ALL injury rates (not just head) go up with helmet usage. Helmet advocates don’t advertise that they are designed to protect your head from a fall from a STATIONARY bike. When your helmet breaks rather than crushes in a crash… it didn’t do squat to protect you. Pedestrians are the ones that should be wearing mandatory helmets under the premise that they save lives.
@Scott
I’ve heard of the helmet –> reckless cycling theory, but I’m not sure it’s been substantiated, though it’s still worth considering.
Even if it’s entirely true, it’s not a reason to say “Let’s advocate against helmets”, it’s a reason to say “Let’s teach children that helmets don’t make them immortal, and teach them to cycle safely”.
Because of this I can understand why you might have concerns applying helmets at the population level, but I personally benefit because (a) I have the additional protection of a helmet and (b) I don’t cancel out that benefit by cycling recklessly.
It’s not law where I live to wear one, but I do. I don’t want to be knocked down and killed and people to say “she should have worn a helmet, it could have saved her life.” I’d rather “she did everything she could to keep safe and be seen, but the car driver…”
p.s When is Yehuda going to sell her a rain cape?!
Just to clarify, I’m not for making helmets mandatory, I just think they’re a good idea. Mandatory helmet wearing is just nanny state behaviour – helmet wearing affects nobody but the wearer.
Unless you’re wearing one of those old German army helmets with a spike on the top.
@RichardT <<There were also a lot more helmet wearers than non-wearers in that country, which might explain things.>>
It is the rate, not gross numbers. So it does not explain anything.
<< Or are you implying that the very act of wearing a helmet will make you more likely to crash?>>
Studies conducted by Chicagoland Bike Federation has shown that car drivers drive almost one foot closer to a helmet wearing bike rider than a Yehuda Moon.
They attribute it to the perception that the helmet wearing ones are more experienced/skilled and hence would need less space.
I don’t advocate against helmets, but I also don’t like the laws. Why would we want laws that we can demonstrate have an adverse effect at the population level? It always starts as a “might be a good idea”, then it’s a ‘suggestion’, then a ‘recommendation’, then ‘mandatory’… always using the scariest phrase in politics, “If it might just save one child” (hey, no matter how many it injures…).
The site you linked to is a good start for some serious reading on the subject, compare the pros and cons, the projections given by helmet advocates vs. the real world statistics of what happens when they are mandated.
Why not just go all the way and wear body armor?
Oh, right…
Crayons taste like purple…
I believe in live and let live. If you don’t want to wear a helmet, then don’t.
I don’t believe the statistics referenced in any of these studies posted online. Most of the time nowadays when a group does any kind of study, they know the outcome they want before the study starts and they just manipulate the statistics to give them the outcome that was predetermined. To me, wearing a helmet is common sense. It’s easy insurance.
I wear a full-face downhill helmet when I ride (on the street) because getting your face sewn back on feels like a whole colony of ants took up residence under your skin. I also think that the gov’t has no business enacting mandatory helmet laws until we have gov’t provided health care. That old saw about “We all pay for an injured cyclist” is just so much male bovine digestive byproduct until we actually <i>do</i> start paying for it.
Two things. If helmet wearing is sensible for cyling, then surely it is sensible for other activities where a head injury is likely; traveling in a car, walking, sitting on a bar stool drinking, playing football (soccer) etc. Therefore if you ride with a helmet but choose not to wear one for other activities that have a risk of head injury, are you any more or less reckless that if you chose not to wear a helmet for cycling? An anecdote for you. A fair few years ago, I was taking my sons to school. One of them insisted on whizzing in and out of all the driveways along the road. Eventually, he came a cropper and hit his head on a gate post, narrowly missing a jagged metal gate hinge and quite badly gashing his head. Would his injury have been less if he had been wearing a helmet? Surely it would. But wear a helmet to walk to school?
@Derek
I can’t believe you’re so cynical about statistics. Just look at http://www.cyclehelmets.org/ , where it’s quite clear they don’t have any kind of agenda or foregone conclusions.
“That said, why hasn’t anyone remarked that Yehuda failed to sell her a lock?”
It’s the “strange and unusual” theory of bicycle security: The weirder or more individual your bike looks, the less anyone wants to steal it because it’s easier to recognize and harder to fence.
@Opus da Poet
Funny you bring that up, because about 6 years ago, I did manage to tear my face off while mtn. biking. In fact, it took over 250 stitches to reattach my chin and front of my face to my skull. I don’t recall the colony of ants though.
Regardless, I do think a helmet helped me there, as when I got it back from the woods where it came off my head in the crash, there was a big dent in the front where it was impaled on a rock.
I also wear a helmet on road rides where I go pretty fast and get chased by lots of dogs that might knock me down.
On the other hand, quite often, I will go without one while riding around town, as I don’t really think it will protect me when Joe A$$h@le runs me down with his Avalanche.
In fact, I have taken more broken helmets off my head when by myself, crashing on a side street or parking lot.. then again.. I am a dumbass and ymmv.
@RichardT
I have visited that web site, and in my opinion they started off with the assumption that bicycle helmets don’t do much to protect bicyclists. And that is fine with me. I don’t have a problem with that. And of course they aren’t going to admit to it. And I am fine with that too. All I am saying is that it is easy to manipulate statistics to get the results that you want to get. So I just don’t pay much attention to the arguments flying around.
I wear a helmet because I think its easy insurance. It doesn’t cost much and it doesn’t bother me to wear it. If other people want to make a statistical analysis out of it, that is their choice. I have better ways to spend my time, like going for a bike ride
Cheers!
@Derek
OK, maybe my sarcasm levels weren’t set correctly …
I do in fact concur, that site isn’t a neutral discussion, it has a clear agenda.
I could go either way in the benefits of a helmet. However, when it comes to mandatory laws,
I thought we lived in the land of the free
LOL Jason, move to Holland if you want to live in “the land of the free”. Not exactly the “home of the brave” but that ain’t America anymore either…..
Fiona,
That is exactly why I call my helmet lawyer protection. I also have a big sticker on the back that says helmet laws are for lawyers.
While I never want to be in a news-worthy collision, I still think it would be quite funny when the lawyers come up and see what my helmet says.
I haven’t the energy to read all the posts (just like everyone else who posted their two cents).
I don’t usually wear a helmet, even in traffic.
If I had the attitude that I was too fragile to cycle I’d drive my car.
Cycling is more risky than driving. I don’t care. I really am better than drivers. It’s not a belief, it’s a fact.
I don’t see being killed on my bike as the worst way to go (although I don’t have kids depending on me).
If I survived a bike-car collision I’d just end up going batman and killing drivers for risking my life when they pull stupid crap.
It’s probably best I don’t wear a helmet most days. I feel like hurting people when they get too close.
F___ drivers.
Signed- unstable Jeff
Quoting Fiona: ****It’s not law where I live to wear one, but I do. I don’t want to be knocked down and killed and people to say “she should have worn a helmet, it could have saved her life.” I’d rather “she did everything she could to keep safe and be seen, but the car driver…” ****
ROFL, I think the same way! I thought I was the only one. I always ride in the bike lane, have proper lights, etc., because I don’t want to hear any excuses if a motorist ever hits me.
Mindy
I don’t wear a helmet….my turban provides plenty of padding.
Machoness by not wearing a helmet has been banned in the Tour de France even in the mountain stages where the incidence of crashes and falls are low. Is anybody here in the group more macho than Tour de France cyclists?
‘move to Holland if you want to live in “the land of the free”.’
You mean where you are required to use a bike lane if one is present? (OK, I’m not 100% sure of this, but I know many European countries do have such laws…)
ok ok, we can bash other countries all we want but the truth is that a large majority of them have a much higher population of cyclists that we do here in the states. Sure drive to work that’s 20 miles away, thats fine, but do you really have to DRIVE the mile and a half to pick up a gallon of milk?
My point is that the cities in the US were built with mass transit in mind, so untill we figure out a way to fix the problem with how our cities get laid out when they are expanded and also how to correct the areas that are already there, it’s going to be hard to convince the average lazy Joe.
….no reference to the Joe in the image above…..
So it’s 1233 am edt. The strip is still for 7/9/08. When do th new strips post?
I usually finish the day’s work up around 3:00 am…
Nah – our servers are in a different time zone… I think there’s a three hour difference with EST.
rick–nice to see you read the comments. i really enjoy the strip; would you like to be on my radio show to talk about it?
For an exhaustive comparison of a representative selection of pro and anti helmet advocates see the UK Dept of Transport report:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/research/rsrr/theme1/bicyclehelmetsreviewofeffect4726
Broadly, the pro helmet lobby focuses on the strong evidence that in the event of a crash, head injuries are reduced by wearing a helmet. The anti lobby uses a wider range of arguments, including risk compensation (opinions running at 2:1 that it exiists) and promoting increased cycling and safer facilities or behaviour. Nobody puts an actual estimate of number of lives saved by helmets to lives lost through discouraging cycle use.
“You mean where you are required to use a bike lane if one is present? (OK, I’m not 100% sure of this, but I know many European countries do have such laws…)”
Yeah, that may be a law there. It’s hard to see that encroaching into your freedom when roads have one car lane and three bike lanes separated from the cars by a median! I guess that means you’re not free to ride in the car lane, but why the heck would you want to?
Out for a ride with my Uncle one night we came up to a major intersection where we were turning left. They had two car left-hand-turn lanes and four for bikes! LOL – what a trip! I’ve enver seen such a thing in the US.
@the mostly reverend
Email me at comics @ yehudamoon.com.
@Rene
Tour De France goes at break-neck speeds. Yes even on the biggest and baddest mountains, they go faster than, let us say, the fastest speed Yehuda achieves during his commute.
About European laws: Jeez, you could get arrested in some countries if you had a small drinking night with some buddies and three of you fell asleep in the same room. (if that room is not certified for more than two peeps.)
Mandatory helmets in the Tour have nothing to do with speed and everything to do with politics. It would actually make more sense for Yehuda to wear a helmet than a Tour rider as anyone exceeding 12mph is riding outside their design limit in any case.
And in America you can get Tazered for riding a bicycle on an airport road or sentenced to 40 years for being the victim of computer malware. Google Stephen Orsak and Julie Amero.
I wear one because my sweetie would kill me if she caught me without one. Now THAT’s love.
Sorry, but I’m with Yehuda on this one.
Just want to add a small factum, because “Tour de France” is cited as example:
Wearing helmets is compulsory since 2004 for drivers at professional competitions since 2004 (regelementation of the International Cycling Union).
Always difficult to find out if someone wears something to protect himself when wearing is required
Stupid… I wear one and it’s not required. Yes it IS a car problem, but if that car hits me, then it’s my problem too and I can’t control the cars but I can protect my skull.
Warning – Long Story Coming – My two cents.
Three years ago if you had asked me why I wear a helmet I would have told you I’m trying to set an example for my kids. I wanted them to wear one and felt that the best way to do that would be to model the behavior. I certainly didn’t think I needed a helmet. What’s a helmet going to do for me if a car decided to run me over. I was an experienced cyclist and certainly could avoid accidents and didn’t need a brain cage.
Then I changed my tune quick. I wasn’t watching as I should and crashed into a concrete post (about 7MPH). I saw the post at the last second and was reaching for the brake levers when the front wheel hit straight on. Then the top of my helmeted heat hit the post. I felt it down my neck to my lower back.
I cracked the helmet and bent the frame and all I could think of was “I would probably be dead or a vegetable if it wasn’t for this helmet.
My two cents – I’m off
I think that brains belong on the inside of one’s skull, thank you very much.
A helmet won’t provide complete protection, and in a car crash probably none. But there was a strip in which Yehuda hit some black ice; that’s happened to me. I was very glad my skull was not bouncing on the pavement with only my hair–such as is left–to protect it. (There are some women around here whose hair probably WOULD protect them, but that’s another rant.)
I want to see the helmet the “dashboard” guy wears. I’m a new commuter and don’t know why those things don’t have mega headlights and blinky side and taillights and are covered with reflective dayglow yellow tape in front and dayglow orange in back.
We took the training wheels off my son’s “freestyle” bike this year. He thought how much fun it would be to zoom down the hill at the park… rough landing. The third time he asked, “What happened? Where am I?” We took him to the doctor for an MRI, slight concussion. I wear one so he can’t ever say I don’t.
Helmets don’t really do a lot. And seriously, fuck em. Haven’t taken a header in years, or even had an unplanned stop. If you’re fucking up hard enough that the top of your head is at risk, you need to get off the road, or at very least out of my lane. And seriously, if you pull that shit in front of me, a concussion is the least of your worries. Fuck around and get cut. BIKE CITY
I find it ironic that a cartoon with a main character being a cyclist who was killed by a car (Fred) would advocate not wearing a helmet O.o
Drivers will be drivers; not wearing a styrofoam hat won’t change their behavior…
When I was in my teens and the helmet was mandatory, I laid my bike down due to a patch of sand. The helmet took a gouge about two inches long and a three quarters of an inch deep just about over my temple. I’m not saying it saved my life, but I am saying I’m glad I didn’t have to find out. Given that, I will almost always wear a helmet. It may never happen again, but it only takes once.
I don’t wear my helmet because of cars, I wear mine because of black ice, mud, unexpected sand, “where the h*** did that pothole come from”, tire blowouts, general malfunctions, sudden squirrels, ninjas….