[*BCM*] grim scenes saturday... any news?

[Greg Howard]

not wearing a helmet is simply idiotic -- to call it optional is
disingenuous at best.  And many local hospitals or other organizations
will sell you one (admittedly an ugly one) for $5; BUMC used to do
that.  It would be helpful for BNB or Massbike to be able to refer
folks to who and where sells them cheaply.

however, as Turtle says, a helmet won't stop cars from hitting you.
They will protect your fragile brain, but only within a relatively
narrow range of impacts.  The emphasis in the press on whether a
cyclist was wearing a helmet is, more often than not, pure
blame-the-victim.  If someone flattens you with a Hummer, or hits you
at faster than about 20mph, it hardly matters.

Everyone should wear helmets.  But overemphasis on helmet use and
promotion is a band-aid solution for planners and public health folks
who can't see any bigger picture view of cyclist safety.


greg


On Sun, Aug 2, 2009 at 12:06 PM, Spike Mccue<spikemccue at gmail.com> wrote:
> That the car driver was not wearing a helmet seems absurdly beside the
> point. Do you really think helmets are optional? Preventing brain damage and
> death has always seemed rather important to me.
>
>
>
> On Aug 2, 2009, at 11:56 AM, Matt Woolhouse <matwoolhouse at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> And
> not everyone can afford one, even when they want one.
> I just bought a helmet for $40.
> I've been to many bike stores in the area and
> they are relatively cheap.
> -M
> ________________________________
> From: Turtle <turtle at thewiseturtle.com>
> To: Boston Critical Mass <list at bostoncriticalmass.org>
> Sent: Sunday, August 2, 2009 11:49:59 AM
> Subject: Re: [*BCM*] grim scenes saturday... any news?
>
> Another lesson in not hugging the right side of the road, unless
> you're turning right.  It's impossible to say if the car driver had
> just passed the cyclist and cut him off, or if the bike driver was
> trying to pass the car driver on the right.  Either way, this kind of
> thing is easily preventable (i.e. it's not an "accident") when
> everyone follows the normal rules of the road of making a right turn
> from the rightmost side of the road, and passing on the left.
>
> Also, isn't it interesting that even cyclists feel it's important to
> point out when others cyclists aren't wearing helmets.  Presumably the
> car driver wasn't either, but no one bothers to mention that.  Helmets
> are optional.  And they don't stop cars from crashing into you.  And
> not everyone can afford one, even when they want one.  And, even when
> worn correctly (which the vast majority aren't) they can still cause
> more problems than they solve (limited visibility being one of them).
> I do choose to wear one, but I don't believe it's particularly
> important in the grand scheme of things (except when it comes to my
> husband, because I'm kind of irrational around him, and because he's
> sort of a car magnet, and gets hit far more than most folks).
>
> Just my two cents.
>
> Hopefully everyone will learn something from this unpleasant mistake.
>
> Peace, Love, and Bicycles,
> Turil
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