Sep 8, 2023Liked by Maurice Frank, Andrew Bulkeley
Indeed, 'the science' is correct that, if you find yourself being hit by a car, wearing a bicycle helmet is better than not (wearing a motorbike helmet is even better than that, and being wrapped in two tons of German steel and reinforced glass is best of all, of course). Trying instead to make it less likely you are hit by a car in the first place is the kind of simplistic, poor person coddling, dependency-inducing, touchy-feely, green nonsense that if anyone gives me a passport, I'll vote for every opportunity I get.
Wow, that Nature article loves dancing around the science that shows that life expectancies drop when you introduce bicycle helmet laws. Yes they protect you if you happen to hit your head (true also for wearing helmets in cars, but no one talks about that, and pretty unlikely on Dutch bikes.) But some combination of changes in driver aggression / magical thinking about helmet's protective abilities extending to the body, cyclist aggression / magical thinking, and making you less likely to get exercise, appears to be more likely to lower your life expectancy than the frequency of helmet-useful accidents raises it.
What about those cyclist airbags you see around people's necks? Maybe drivers don't see them and therefore don't subconsciously become more reckless towards the cyclist wearing them?
Sep 15, 2023·edited Sep 15, 2023Liked by Andrew Bulkeley
in fact Dr. Lowe bought us each one for my birthday, and we wear them in rush hour. But I doubt there's much science on them yet, except that the kind of impact studies in the Nature article.
EuGH. I had the dreaded tip option last week while buying a coffee. I don’t agree with tipping when the person is stood at the till serving me. What next, we have to tip people at H&M or Rossman when buying something 🤷
Indeed, 'the science' is correct that, if you find yourself being hit by a car, wearing a bicycle helmet is better than not (wearing a motorbike helmet is even better than that, and being wrapped in two tons of German steel and reinforced glass is best of all, of course). Trying instead to make it less likely you are hit by a car in the first place is the kind of simplistic, poor person coddling, dependency-inducing, touchy-feely, green nonsense that if anyone gives me a passport, I'll vote for every opportunity I get.
what about 'm10 goodness'?
Wow, that Nature article loves dancing around the science that shows that life expectancies drop when you introduce bicycle helmet laws. Yes they protect you if you happen to hit your head (true also for wearing helmets in cars, but no one talks about that, and pretty unlikely on Dutch bikes.) But some combination of changes in driver aggression / magical thinking about helmet's protective abilities extending to the body, cyclist aggression / magical thinking, and making you less likely to get exercise, appears to be more likely to lower your life expectancy than the frequency of helmet-useful accidents raises it.
What about those cyclist airbags you see around people's necks? Maybe drivers don't see them and therefore don't subconsciously become more reckless towards the cyclist wearing them?
in fact Dr. Lowe bought us each one for my birthday, and we wear them in rush hour. But I doubt there's much science on them yet, except that the kind of impact studies in the Nature article.
EuGH. I had the dreaded tip option last week while buying a coffee. I don’t agree with tipping when the person is stood at the till serving me. What next, we have to tip people at H&M or Rossman when buying something 🤷