Letter: Bicycle helmet law won't cure injuries

Why is it mandatory for children but not for adults? Well the main reason that I read when this law was first passed, that it is a fact that the skull of these children is not fully formed and soft. Thus they are more exposed to injury than an adult is. This doesn't mean that adults shouldn't wear helmets, but we should have the sense to decide that our selves.

The law applies to children and not adults because as a society we believe that until the age of 18 people aren't responsible or educated enough to make potentially life altering decisions. I believe that wearing a helmet increases the risk of injury to children and adults alike. When I feel I'm riding in a situation where my likelihood of accident is increased I wear one. When I'm riding on bike paths in Chico I don't. It's not because there is no risk, but because I don't like wearing it.
We can all be more safe by staying in our homes with the doors locked all the time, but life is about living. Do what you enjoy, educate others about safety, and don't force personal protective equipment on people. The only way I could ever justify personal safety laws is if I have to foot the bill when people get hurt. As long as you pay your insurance premiums and you're not putting anyone else at risk, do whatever you want.

Unfortunately...a helmet is not going to help much when it comes to preventing a spinal cord injury. Speed, being propelled over the handle bars and then landing on top of your head is going to cause trauma to your spinal cord that no helmet is going to prevent. (Just as we have all seen with Christopher Reeve) It will however lessen the trauma to the brain. Providing rehab to a patient that has sustained both a brain and spinal cord injury is a very challenging task for many clinicians and weeks in rehab after weeks in the hospital. I have been a rehab nurse for 12 years and my family will NEVER ride their bikes without a helmet nor ride in the car without a seatbelt. These are not measures to prevent the accident from happening but to lessen the effect if there is an accident. Just because it did not work for some does not mean the device should not be used. Please wear helmets and Please follow the rules of the road when riding your bike.

when it comesto all these lousy laws we have,the helmet law is the most out of control law there is. my brother died wearing a lousy helmet and what was the point?It's really sad that a grown-up is told to wear a helmet while riding a bicycle, give me a BREAK!! We never worw a helmet in the 50's and I'm still around. Why don't you people focus on something inportant, like people that are hungry and homeless. Or, do us all a favor, GET LOST!!!

Sounds like a great idea after we push for more education for motorist. My husband is a bike commuter and he is almost hit daily. Not for running stop signs. Most motorist don't consider a bike rider part of the road. I see disrespect towards bike riders and pedestrians from motorist all the time in Chico. People cutting in front of bikes and pedestrians in crosswalks. I've seen motorists cut in front of STROLLERS, barely missing them. Motorist drive 25-35 mph in parking lots full of pedestrians. The law say's 5 mph but I rarely see that law followed.
So anytime you want to educate the bike riders lets start with the motorist because they are not the one's getting hurt.

Woo Hoo 2 wrote:

Maybe he should push for more education for bicyclists. Like what the laws are when riding on the road, what a "STOP" sign looks like, etc. etc.

Do I like Government regulating my life? No

Are helmets an absolute fix? No

Do I like idiots not wearing bike helmets and increasing MY health insurance rates because of their own stupidity as they crack their skulls on the pavement? No

chico wrote:

Sounds like a great idea after we push for more education for motorist. My husband is a bike commuter and he is almost hit daily. Not for running stop signs. Most motorist don't consider a bike rider part of the road. I see disrespect towards bike riders and pedestrians from motorist all the time in Chico. People cutting in front of bikes and pedestrians in crosswalks. I've seen motorists cut in front of STROLLERS, barely missing them. Motorist drive 25-35 mph in parking lots full of pedestrians. The law say's 5 mph but I rarely see that law followed.
So anytime you want to educate the bike riders lets start with the motorist because they are not the one's getting hurt.
<quoted text>

Well, if your husband is the exception then that is great. But from what I have seen that would make him a very rare breed here.

I agree that people go too fast in parking lots. I have also seen people walk out in front of cars in the same parking lots without looking.

I have seen bicyclists ride through stop signs without looking at all.

I see them in bike lanes riding side by side, or in packs, screaming for the cars to give them their 5 feet. If you were to do that then the car would have to be in the other lane dealing with oncoming traffic.

I hate to say it, but I think they need to start bicyclist classes like they have drivers ed classes. And give people a license. I know, it would be a pain in the ass, but maybe, just maybe, then more people would actually know what the rules and laws are for bicyclists and there MIGHT be fewer injuries/deaths.

The cycling environment is very, very different in the Netherlands, compared to almost any other country. From the attitude of motorists towards cyclists, to road design, it is not logical to compare the Netherlands to the U.S., U.K., Australia or most other countries. It would be great if other countries followed the example of the Netherlands when it comes to cycling infrastructure. As Peter French, co-convenor of CBD BUG, an Australian advocacy group which focuses on bike use issues within the CBD (Central Business District) stated: "If you look at the countries where there's really high levels of cycling, such as the Netherlands and Denmark, they have much smaller proportions of people being killed or injured over there, even though they don't wear helmets. It is because their governments have focused on safety programs which target traffic speeds and separating cyclists from fast moving traffic."

If you look only at absolute numbers, yes, more people are killed and injured in car accidents than in bicycle accidents. But when you look at things statistically, measured per trip or per mile, cycling has a far higher injury and fatality rate than driving. On a per mile basis, cycling is about 11 times as risky as driving. On a per trip basis, cycling is about three times as risky as driving. Before you get too upset about these numbers, remember that they really are irrelevant, and were only brought up show the idiocy of the whole "driving helmet" premise which is unfailingly brought up on every web site railing illogically against bicycle helmets. When you're in a car, you're inside a reinforced steel structure with multiple active and passive safety features to protect you. These include side airbags, head curtain air bags, front air bags, seat belts, padded dash, and safety glass.

This is not to say that there should be mandatory helmet laws for adult bicyclists. Education is better than compulsion.

Bicycle helmuts won't protect the children that bicyclists run over.
Bicycle helmuts won't protect the pets that bicyclists run over.
Bicycle helmuts won't save the driver the bicyclist rides in front of.

Give them tickets for going the wrong way, speeding, running stop signs, riding in packs! That will save more of them than helmuts, and the rest of us too.

Dean wrote:

<quoted text>You and "outraged" prove my point of just how stupid people are. You mental midgets really think a couple of anecdotal stories add up to some kind of proof helmets do not protect people from injury.
I kept my response short, but I guess it was too overwhelming for you two. I clearly said I was against mandatory helmet laws, but I am much more against people using a bunch of irrational sentiments to make some stupid and unintelligible point. For example, how long I have lived in this town has no bearing on the physical realities of the world. The forty years I have been peddling a bike in this town does not prove or disprove the FACT bicycle helmets help prevent injury and death.
Really, the assertion helmets to not protect is morally repugnant. What's next? Cigarettes are good for you? Seat-belts are bad and one is better off flying through a windshield? Good grief!

Wow, I see someone actually believes all the half-truths the media dishes out. Amazing. Go Dean!

Mark wrote:

Do I like Government regulating my life? No
Are helmets an absolute fix? No
Do I like idiots not wearing bike helmets and increasing MY health insurance rates because of their own stupidity as they crack their skulls on the pavement? No

Yet another reason why insurance is a total scam & should be scrapped.