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There was a post recently in Australia where someone posted a picture of their helmet broken, saying they were glad to have been wearing a helmet. There were co

There was a post recently in Australia where someone posted a picture of their helmet broken, saying they were glad to have been wearing a helmet. There were countless posts of people having been involved in all sorts of accidents either from automobiles or themselves and all said that their life may have been altered following the accident had they not been wearing a helmet. Having grown up in Australia where they're mandatory, I don't think twice about it. I find the bickering about helmet safety in the US something very similar to your gun laws and gun violence. Stop bickering and splitting hairs and wear a damn helmet. You have to wear them when you're on two wheels with an engine.

latchkey 4y ago
Reminds me of this one... "A Florida attorney who opposed the state’s helmet law dies in a motorcycle crash. He wasn’t wearing a helmet. Ron Smith, who spent over a decade fighting Florida laws that required the use of helmets, represented a number of clients who violated state motorcycle requirements." https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-attorney-opposed-state-helmet-law-dies-motorcycle-crash-not-we-rcna54095 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-attorney-oppose...
- Kim_Bruning 4y ago
  I think that this article is about human-powered bicycles? In most of the countries I know of where normal commuters don't wear helmets on their bicycles, people do wear them on racing bikes, mountain bikes, mopeds, motorcycles etc. They are in different risk categories.
  - latchkey 4y ago
    The OPs point was more about the bickering than what vehicle. FYI, there are states in the US that don't require motorcycle helmets, which is also part of that bickering. In terms of risk... a head injury is a head injury... it doesn't necessarily matter how fast you're going or on what vehicle. I spent 4 years living in Vietnam. Helmets are mandatory there, but few people wear ones that would actually help you in an accident. They just wear a plastic cap that gets past the law. Other countries in SE Asia are similar.
    - seanmcdirmid 4y ago
      Arizona is famous for that. Lower power motor scooters used to be popular in Europe because they didn't require helmets. When the law was changed to make them required, people upgraded to higher power motor scooters (or cars) instead.
    - Kim_Bruning 4y ago
      In the Netherlands it went a bit further than mere bickering. There were large scale protests against children being killed in traffic [1]. In the end, instead of introducing more buses or mandating helmets for bicycles, they decided to fix the infrastructure instead. (other modes of transport still require helmets though, and sometimes also padding) [1] https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/may/05/amsterdam-bicycle-capital-world-transport-cycling-kindermoord https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/may/05/amsterdam-bic...
      - latchkey 4y ago
        These are all things that improve general safety for sure! They don't prevent you from being injured when you bang your head. A helmet does.
        Kim_Bruning 4y ago
        It's a difference in approach. Some people want to mitigate your injuries in an accident. Helmets definitely stop you banging your head in an accident. Other people feel that every accident is one too many, and want to prevent accidents outright. If you hardly have any accidents in the first place, the role of helmets is more limited. (You should still wear a helmet if you're riding a road bike or a mountain bike or what have you, since those kinds of bikes are more dangerous. You should also consider at least wearing a helmet and taking extreme care if your local infrastructure is not (yet) designed to be safe. )
  - NoPicklez 4y ago
    Reading the article it's about motorcycles. Where a friend of his said "He thought everybody should have their own choice". There are some things in life that you don't get a choice about, so that more often than not you get to go home to your family and so you're not a burden on your public health system. But I understand your point, either way, Bicycles share the road with motorists and can be hit by a car in the same way a motorcyclist would.
seanmcdirmid 4y ago
> Stop bickering and splitting hairs and wear a damn helmet. You have to wear them when you're on two wheels with an engine. Can you translate that into dutch?

latchkey 4y ago

Reminds me of this one... "A Florida attorney who opposed the state’s helmet law dies in a motorcycle crash. He wasn’t wearing a helmet. Ron Smith, who spent over a decade fighting Florida laws that required the use of helmets, represented a number of clients who violated state motorcycle requirements." https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-attorney-opposed-state-helmet-law-dies-motorcycle-crash-not-we-rcna54095 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-attorney-oppose...

Kim_Bruning 4y ago
I think that this article is about human-powered bicycles? In most of the countries I know of where normal commuters don't wear helmets on their bicycles, people do wear them on racing bikes, mountain bikes, mopeds, motorcycles etc. They are in different risk categories.
- latchkey 4y ago
  The OPs point was more about the bickering than what vehicle. FYI, there are states in the US that don't require motorcycle helmets, which is also part of that bickering. In terms of risk... a head injury is a head injury... it doesn't necessarily matter how fast you're going or on what vehicle. I spent 4 years living in Vietnam. Helmets are mandatory there, but few people wear ones that would actually help you in an accident. They just wear a plastic cap that gets past the law. Other countries in SE Asia are similar.
  - seanmcdirmid 4y ago
    Arizona is famous for that. Lower power motor scooters used to be popular in Europe because they didn't require helmets. When the law was changed to make them required, people upgraded to higher power motor scooters (or cars) instead.
  - Kim_Bruning 4y ago
    In the Netherlands it went a bit further than mere bickering. There were large scale protests against children being killed in traffic [1]. In the end, instead of introducing more buses or mandating helmets for bicycles, they decided to fix the infrastructure instead. (other modes of transport still require helmets though, and sometimes also padding) [1] https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/may/05/amsterdam-bicycle-capital-world-transport-cycling-kindermoord https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/may/05/amsterdam-bic...
    - latchkey 4y ago
      These are all things that improve general safety for sure! They don't prevent you from being injured when you bang your head. A helmet does.
      - Kim_Bruning 4y ago
        It's a difference in approach. Some people want to mitigate your injuries in an accident. Helmets definitely stop you banging your head in an accident. Other people feel that every accident is one too many, and want to prevent accidents outright. If you hardly have any accidents in the first place, the role of helmets is more limited. (You should still wear a helmet if you're riding a road bike or a mountain bike or what have you, since those kinds of bikes are more dangerous. You should also consider at least wearing a helmet and taking extreme care if your local infrastructure is not (yet) designed to be safe. )
- NoPicklez 4y ago
  Reading the article it's about motorcycles. Where a friend of his said "He thought everybody should have their own choice". There are some things in life that you don't get a choice about, so that more often than not you get to go home to your family and so you're not a burden on your public health system. But I understand your point, either way, Bicycles share the road with motorists and can be hit by a car in the same way a motorcyclist would.

seanmcdirmid 4y ago

> Stop bickering and splitting hairs and wear a damn helmet. You have to wear them when you're on two wheels with an engine. Can you translate that into dutch?