I could not disagree more. We need good data. Far too often the discussion devolves to, "Well I work in a hospital and we see lots of cyclists with head injuries," (yes, but you don't see the cyclists who ride around for years never getting head injuries) versus, "I've ridden around for years and gotten a serious head injury," (yes, but if you had gotten a serious injury you would likely be incapacitated or dead and in no position to be writing anything).
I've also seen studies that compare injury rates of helmet-wearing cyclists versus non helmet wearers without taking into account that helmet wearers are different in other ways than non-helmet-wearers. My guess is that helmet wearers are the kind of cyclists who have fewer accidents in general than non-helmet wearers. (Not you, Patrick, but at least around here, cyclists without helmets tend to be disproportionally drunks and deadbeats.) I would really like to know the chance that a helmet will protect me from an injury that I otherwise would have gotten. Maybe the range of accidents in which a helmet makes a difference is vanishingly small-- maybe in most accidents either the helmet is unnecessary and useless, or the helmet is too little and the cyclist dies anyway. Maybe my helmet would protect me in a large range of accidents that I might have. But right now, the available data isn't telling me. Anecdotal arguments are useless. I want the numbers. -- -- Anne Paulson My hovercraft is full of eels On Wed, Mar 16, 2011 at 8:20 AM, Seth Vidal <skvi...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Wed, Mar 16, 2011 at 12:10 PM, Jan Heine <hein...@earthlink.net> wrote: >> >> At Bicycle Quarterly, we are considering looking at the statistics and >> figuring out whether helmets make riding safer, whether risk compensation >> really is a factor, etc. I believe there is a need for real data, rather >> than opinion, on the subject. It's not that hard to figure this out, >> especially when you compare different countries and populations. But of >> course, like most quasi-religious topics, it would be a hotly debated issue. >> What do you guys think? >> > > It is one of my least favorite topics to read about in any forum. > > Please don't include it. It just stirs up trouble and gets no one anywhere > good. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
