Re: On my head be it if I don't wear a helmet

Phil W Lee wrote:
JNugent <JN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> considered Thu, 19 Feb 2009
23:25:20 +0000 the perfect time to write:

Adam Lea wrote:

JNugent wrote:
Daniel Barlow wrote:
JNugent <JN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
Daniel Barlow wrote:
JNugent <JN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
Then agitate for better helmets.
Why?
So that they are better made and offer better protection to cyclists
involved in accidents?
Unless you know of recent advences in materials science that I don't
and that the helmet manufacturers presumably don't either ("but they
suppressed the car that runs on water! conspiracy!") then the
fourfold increase in energy absorption necesary to protect against a
relatively slow 17mph crash necessitates a fourfold increase in
helmet thickness and concomitant increases in heat insulation (not
sure how that scales, I suspect there's another exponential in there
though). Although "better" on one criterion, this hypothetical
helmet would not be very good at all on many others.
And it still wouldn't do anything useful in 20mph crashes (not an
unreasonable speed for a fit cyclist), 30mph crashes (easily
achievable on a downhill even for a trundlie) or crashes involving
other vehicles where the energy imparted is vastly greater.
Even if you believe that "something must be done", it does not follow
that this is that something.
And even if they were better, they still wouldn't look "cool"?
What does that have to do with anything?
I rather suspect that it has everything to do with it.

And it is not just a guess. I can remember the days when if a driver gave you a lift and fastened his own seat-belt, it made you suspect that he was a nervous driver, lacking in confidence in his own skills and experience- because you perceived him as actively preparing to have a collision. If you offered a lift to someone who fastened the passenger seat-belt, you would, however much most would seek to deny it - feel miffed, because the act was tantamount to an adverse comment on your driving, even if they'd never seen yoiu drive. IOW, there were all sorts of things miced up in the topic, and a subdued feeling that wearing a belt was some sort of admission of failure or incompetence: not "cool".

It took compulsion to change that. And it did change.

Yes, now it's much more acceptable for people to be driving
dangerously.
At least among drivers.

I'm sorry, but only someone who has no idea what it used to be like forty or fifty years ago (compared with now) could even begin to believe that.

It's nonsense, but I do appreciate that it's part of one your biggest betes-noirs.
.

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