Kurt Erlenbach

I don't leave the driveway without a helmet. I know that if I fall off the bike, the helmet might keep me from a knot on the head, or maybe worse. But this is well over the line, even for me. This girl fell off her bike and her helmet was run over by a bus, and she says the helmet kept her from getting run over by the bus, and the media eats it up. This is the worse sort of pro-helmet propaganda.

https://www.wesh.com/video/26102237/detail.html

Looigi

I dunno. If the tire rolled over her helmeted head and as the helmet crushed it allowed her head to be spit out from under the wheel like pinched watermellon seed, it could have saved her life. It would be kind of a freak accident though.

I've had enough non-freak accidents on bicycles and motorcycles where I smacked my head hard enough to significantly damage helmets, a few in rather casual circumstances where you'd least expect it, that I always put one on. I need no propaganda other than my own to convince me to wear one. I'm against laws requiring it, though.

Cyclaholic

Just more proof that helmets are lifesavers and you people claiming otherwise is just irresponsible. Wear your helmets, and if not then at least don't discourage others from enjoying the benefits of this critical piece of life saving equipment.

closetbiker

if you believe that the helmet saved her, Bell has some more helmets they want to sell you

(and they don't care how many more have to die, as long as they keep selling 'em)

Cyclaholic

it's not a question of whether you believe or not, the fact is that it did save her life, and a fact is a fact

I can't think of a more profit-worthy company than bell, they're doing god's work and saving lives, sounds like you're jealous of their commercial success while remaining ethically above reproach

closetbiker

Sure sounds like it is a question of faith for you. I imagine you must worship at the alter of Bell.

There is no reasonable proof the helmet saved her life, in fact to believe so is unreasonable for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that cycle helmets aren't made to be run over by busses, such collisions lead to other injuries that cause death, and that there are many others who have died of head inujries while wearing helmets after being hit by busses, and many others who haven't while being helmetless.

If someone can swallow what is being fed to them in this presentation, they are gullible enough to engage their faith in something that may lead them into greater danger.

Of course, if someone has faith, reason or logic need not apply. If someone dies while wearing a helmet he/she is just being called home to the greater purpose.

Cyclaholic

You tried to prove the helmet didn't save her life and failed, the fact that she's still alive is proof that it did, not faith but fact.

A helmet is safety equipment, just like a parachute. Saying bike helmets don't save lives is like saying parachutes don't save lives, would you opt out of wearing a parachute if you had to jump out of a plane? didn't think so... see? even YOU admit the fact that helmets save lives.

...Bell is doing god's work, if you hate helmets you hate god, why do you hate god?

MrCjolsen

How many cyclists have died because they were wearing a helmet?

skye

Not as many as motorists have died not wearing a helmet.

The point is that Cycling Is Not Dangerous. Really. It's not.

surgeonstone

You are either jesting or in desperate need of a course in logic.

closetbiker

I think the issue is more that I... really dislike... people who lead cyclists into a greater danger by worshiping a false idol...

Unreasonable

... what has he ever done for me?

Forknroad

I rode all the way across town yesterday. I was wearing a helmet and I made it back safe and sound. I didn't hit anything or fall but that doesn't matter - God decided my time was not yet up because I had a bucket on my faithful head. Proof again that my helmet saved my life. Praise the helmet.

Why do you need a parachute at all? Shouldn't your faith in the all-mighty be enough to keep you safe? Jump man, jump!

OK, not even I can joke this good and keep a straight face. I hate Bell.

And I smell a troll.

closetbiker

Either that or a complete (insert your favorite mentally challenged term here)

Really. Believing the helmet saved her life, because someone said so...

ctyler

Given that your country has a mandatory bicycle helmet law in some states, I can understand your comments. But then, as a result of that mandate, hardly anyone cycles.

"Contrary to popular belief, there is no good evidence that compulsory helmet laws have improved the safety of cycling. Indeed, the contrary is indicated.

For Victoria, a statistical analysis by Robinson suggested that for the same cycle use as before the law there would now be no fewer head injuries and more total injuries to children. In the Australian Capital Territory, admissions of cyclists to public hospitals hardly changed."

CYCLING IS NOT DANGEROUS. It's the nut jobs behind the wheels of a cars, buses, and trucks that are dangerous.

degnaw

I suppose it's possible (if unlikely) that the helmet saved her life. Perhaps the bus tire pushed the helmet an inch or two before crushing it, keeping her head out of its path. Or something.

Also, the video isn't showing up for me.

closetbiker

if that were the case, the head would have cleared the tire had not a helmet been worn. Perhaps the presence of the helmet was the cause of the crushing...

at any rate, people hear this type of thing and think, cycling's dangerous, wear a helmet. They don't think, ride or drive safe, or that these types of incidences are rare and easily avoided.

njkayaker

That's because you are trying too hard!

Very funny.

MrCjolsen

No, but a helmet makes it safer. I'm a very good swimmer who had done several mile swims in the SF bay, some even without a wetsuit. But when I go kayaking, I wear a life preserver. Would I drown if I fell out of the boat or it sank? No. Could I swim to shore? Sure. I have never needed a life preserver. But there's that one in 10000 chance that one time I don't wear one could be the time that I actually do need it.

BTW, in my garage I have a helmet with a big dent in it. Had I not been wearing the helmet when I dented it, that dent would have been in my head and I do not see any possible way I could have survived.

mikeybikes

Can anyone not tell when someone is jesting?

mikeybikes

Do you wear a helmet while walking for that one in 10000 chance that you will trip and fall and hit your head against the sidewalk?

njkayaker

Not everybody, it seems.

He's already "won" that lottery. It isn't tripping-and-falling that is MrCjolsen problem! He might be somebody who should wear a helmet!

Forknroad

Whoa there Buckwheat -- you have absolutely no rational basis or proof to make such a statement, especially when you're slamming others for making assumptions based on unfounded beliefs. Careful pal of what you surmise, or you too might start seeing the pious light at the end of the road.

closetbiker

the difference is I used the word, perhaps.

Pure speculation, and as good as all other speculations

Forknroad

makes no difference - it's an erroneous statement.

Really? And yet you bash Faithman for doing the exact same thing. Time to be honest with yourself here - you can't have it both ways. If you're going to call others for making unfounded claims, you shouldn't be making them yourself.