Here’s one of those breathless articles on how important it is to encase oneself in padding and a helmet when engaging in death-defying activities such as bicycling. I’m waiting for the “experts” to start pushing for joggers, then walkers to also wear lots of padding and helmets. Maybe they already do. Perhaps we should wear protective gear inside the house as well, whenever we decide we want to walk upstairs or — worse — downstairs. I’ll bet the statistics on accidents from people falling downstairs is staggering.
Eric Field was on his skateboard last August holding on to the back of a friend’s car when the board gave out and he flipped over.
How about dishing out some common sense … that would have protected a lot more than a ton of padding.
I used to roman ride horses, which means we stood up on their bare backs and jumped over hurdles. No padding but what fun. Also did kite waterskiing with no padding.
Jumped off the garage roof at 6 with a sheet tied to my neck and tried to play superman. Broke my leg but it didn’t stop me from doing it again the next year. I was bored.
Growing up, I did all kinds of crazy things involving the lake that we lived on. I swam halfway across it on a dare, played in the dam, jumped in right after the ice was off the lake, and even climbed trees to jump into the water at just the right angle to avoid the large, submerged rock. There was never any adult supervision, and none of us ever had life jackets.
However, I only remember one kid getting hurt. He had been diving off of the tree into the water (that was six feet deep and with the afore-mentioned rock) at night with a friend of his. He was very lucky to only break his arm.
It’s one thing to participate in something that has the potential to be dangerous, and quite another to be stupid.
Sorry, I’m not sharing in the disbelief with this article. Wearing protective gear is good common sense and I think that’s what the article is pushing. Parents who omit that part of teaching safe biking are in the wrong. How many professional cyclists do you see riding without helmets? It doesn’t detract from the experience, and it could save your child’s life.
>Perhaps we should wear protective gear inside the house as well
I do… goggles when I’m using a grinder, a mask when working with insulation in my attic, latex gloves while scouring with harsh chemicals. And those aren’t “death defying” activities, by the way. I even commit the cardinal sin of putting on my seatbelt before driving!
LVB — Everything you do in life carries a certain level of risk. The amount of protective gear one needs should reasonably match the risk involved. I think bicycle helmets are a little excessive for most people (that would exclude professional cyclists). Professional racecar drivers wear helmets in their cars, too — perhaps you think all motorists should wear helmets. Or consider these statistics:
So, if you go for a walk after supper, I hope you put on your helmet, goggles, and other protective gear. “Common sense” to me means taking reasonable precautions while accepting that we cannot eliminate all risk from our lives no matter how much protective gear we wear.
>“Common sense” to me means taking reasonable precautions while accepting that we cannot eliminate all risk from our lives no matter how much protective gear we wear.
Agreed, so it really comes down to where you draw the line on any given activity. What do you recommend are the reasonable precautions one should take while biking? According to the NEJM quoted in the article, “Wearing a helmet while cycling can reduce the risk of serious head injury by 85 percent.” And since wearing a helmet is about as “excessive” as wearing a hat, it seems like a wise move and a good habit to teach.
I’ll close with one statistic of my own, from the CDC:
“Universal use of bicycle helmets by children aged 4 through 15 years old would prevent between 135 and 155
deaths, between 39,000 and 45,000 head injuries, and between 18,000 and 55,000 scalp and face injuries
annually.”
http://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/CDCynergy_training/Content/activeinformation/resources/FAQ_Sheet.pdf
Come on CJ- you’re not taking your family on a stroll on our city’s highways are you, oops I mean neighborhood streets (snicker)
George: We strolled down Main street tonight and looked through the Field House. It looks like a viaduct now. And Main Street was like a highway. I was pulling the two little ones in a wagon, but didn’t put helmets on them. Horrors!
LVB: http://www.magma.ca/~ocbc/hfaq.html and http://bicyclesafe.com/helmets.html
Since helmet-wearing is not excessive, I’ll expect you to start wearing one whenever you drive or take a walk. Those activities are far more dangerous statistically than riding a bike!
As someone who occasionally rides his bike to work, I wear a helmet on city streets. I’ve found that there are just enough Peoria area drivers out there that like to toy with or pay no attention to cyclists and is the main reason why I avoid the “main roads” to work although they are the closest. It isn’t due to my lack of biking ability that I wear one as you won’t see me wearing one on a trail.
I always a kick out of government agencies peering into their crystal balls to predict what will happen if or what will not happen if…
If people would just stop (or start) ______ all these lives would be saved… saved for what?