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Strange anecdote: I once organized a workshop on reasoning about uncertainty and one of the attendants was a health official working on bike accident statistics
by 13415 5y ago
Strange anecdote: I once organized a workshop on reasoning about uncertainty and one of the attendants was a health official working on bike accident statistics. According to her, if going solely by the statistics, helmets would have to be prohibited in our country because people riding bikes with helmets had a significantly elevated risk of grave traffic accidents in comparison to those without helmets. Of course, she also said that you really couldn't use the statistics in this way and we agreed that it seemed likely that helmets could prevent serious head injuries.
Still, it was an odd finding. Presumably, people with helmets drove faster or more carelessly but she did not have any evidence for that at the time.
Edit (just in case): 1. I'm not an expert on any of this and it's just an anecdote. 2. I recommend wearing a good, certified helmet.
- detaro 5y agoOr people with more dangerous routes are more likely to wear helmets. There's also some data to suggest that drivers are less careful around cyclists with helmets, e.g. passing them with less distance. Somewhat related, specifically in the context of requiring helmets there's also arguments that people dislike them enough that the reduction in cycling happening would have worse overall effects than the injury reduction.
- mike_h 5y agoMore dangerous routes on a more regular basis (committed to commuting on roads with cars), and mountain biking: https://www.cyclehelmets.org/1261.html https://www.cyclehelmets.org/1261.html
- AlbertCory 5y agoThat's an interesting question: similar to seatbelts causing more dangerous driving. Maybe. However, we're talking about on campus here, not riding down Mission in the City.
- detaro 5y agoSure, the subthread here moved to more general helmet statistics.