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> I ended up with a crushed wrist and internal bruising, and I was lucky I even lived. And I bet you wear a seat belt every day in your car as an adult. Invin

> I ended up with a crushed wrist and internal bruising, and I was lucky I even lived. And I bet you wear a seat belt every day in your car as an adult. Invincibility is one of those myths you want to dispel when kids are young and the stakes aren't as high.

jimmaswell 10y ago
I wore my seat belt every day before that anyway, not even because I had to but because I wanted to. The only thing that really changed after that point was I didn't want to ride bikes anymore. I really can't be the only one who thinks brushes with death are not a good thing to have just because they can teach you a lesson when you're fortunate enough to walk away from them. Would you also say Russian Roulette is a good thing to try out because you might learn to value life more afterwards?
- cthalupa 10y ago
  What are the odds of dying due to a mountain biking accident? What are the odds of dying while playing Russian Roulette? The fact that the chance of a negative outcome exists does not mean that we should avoid the activity. Measure the reward vs. the risk.
- jon-wood 10y ago
  I can't help but think you're drastically overstating the danger of riding a bike, even in less than safe conditions. I was heavily into downhill mountain biking during my invincible teenage years and only even heard of someone doing major damage to themselves second hand (they managed to impact their spine flying head first off their bike into a tree trunk). Scrapes, bruises, cuts, and even bones heal relatively easily in children. At least for me learning that things will probably be OK was a valuable thing which has made me more comfortable taking calculated risks later in life, and the times things weren't quite OK taught me a healthy level of caution in calculating those risks.
  - CalRobert 10y ago
    "I was heavily into downhill mountain biking during my invincible teenage years " But those mountains probably didn't pose the risk of getting crushed by two tons of steel when somebody decides they'd rather look at their phone than the road.
    - jon-wood 10y ago
      They were more hills than mountains, and while they weren't full of traffic I crossed (and in some cases rode along) some pretty major roads to get to them.
- throwanem 10y ago
  One might argue that the correct lesson to draw, from a broken bone got by doing something stupid on a bike, is not that one shouldn't ride a bike, but rather that one shouldn't do something stupid. That's the lesson I drew from it, anyway. I'd be curious to know how old you were when you did the damnfool thing, and how your folks reacted to it. I was eleven or twelve and mine were generally unsympathetic, which suited me fine - it's not like I couldn't see in retrospect what a jackass I'd been, or like I wasn't quite properly embarrassed by the result. One does, after all, prefer to be able to say one earned a visible injury in some more respectable fashion than that!
  - jimmaswell 10y ago
    About 5. They pretty much blamed the kids present/the parent. They apparently biked down that all the time but also had a lot more bicycle experience.
    - throwanem 10y ago
      That's a very different situation indeed! I can see how it'd put you off cycling, too. But, again, I'd hesitate to generalize.

jimmaswell 10y ago

I wore my seat belt every day before that anyway, not even because I had to but because I wanted to. The only thing that really changed after that point was I didn't want to ride bikes anymore. I really can't be the only one who thinks brushes with death are not a good thing to have just because they can teach you a lesson when you're fortunate enough to walk away from them. Would you also say Russian Roulette is a good thing to try out because you might learn to value life more afterwards?

cthalupa 10y ago
What are the odds of dying due to a mountain biking accident? What are the odds of dying while playing Russian Roulette? The fact that the chance of a negative outcome exists does not mean that we should avoid the activity. Measure the reward vs. the risk.
jon-wood 10y ago
I can't help but think you're drastically overstating the danger of riding a bike, even in less than safe conditions. I was heavily into downhill mountain biking during my invincible teenage years and only even heard of someone doing major damage to themselves second hand (they managed to impact their spine flying head first off their bike into a tree trunk). Scrapes, bruises, cuts, and even bones heal relatively easily in children. At least for me learning that things will probably be OK was a valuable thing which has made me more comfortable taking calculated risks later in life, and the times things weren't quite OK taught me a healthy level of caution in calculating those risks.
- CalRobert 10y ago
  "I was heavily into downhill mountain biking during my invincible teenage years " But those mountains probably didn't pose the risk of getting crushed by two tons of steel when somebody decides they'd rather look at their phone than the road.
  - jon-wood 10y ago
    They were more hills than mountains, and while they weren't full of traffic I crossed (and in some cases rode along) some pretty major roads to get to them.
throwanem 10y ago
One might argue that the correct lesson to draw, from a broken bone got by doing something stupid on a bike, is not that one shouldn't ride a bike, but rather that one shouldn't do something stupid. That's the lesson I drew from it, anyway. I'd be curious to know how old you were when you did the damnfool thing, and how your folks reacted to it. I was eleven or twelve and mine were generally unsympathetic, which suited me fine - it's not like I couldn't see in retrospect what a jackass I'd been, or like I wasn't quite properly embarrassed by the result. One does, after all, prefer to be able to say one earned a visible injury in some more respectable fashion than that!
- jimmaswell 10y ago
  About 5. They pretty much blamed the kids present/the parent. They apparently biked down that all the time but also had a lot more bicycle experience.
  - throwanem 10y ago
    That's a very different situation indeed! I can see how it'd put you off cycling, too. But, again, I'd hesitate to generalize.