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Well after reading the newspaper and seeing that helmets reduce brain related biking injuries by up to 88% I thought to myself, WOW! ALWAYS wear a helmet, but then i looked into the statistics in Canada. After doing some more research I came accross this chart which summarized what Transport Canada's website had already given me. http://www.magma.ca/~ocbc/fatals.html Based on the graph above I think it's safe to assume fatalities are down among bike riders BUT NOT BECAUSE OF BIKE HELMETS. Another research paper made me think that maybe if more people were on bikes since they were toddlers we'd have better bike handling skills. I'll summarize the paper; "More pedestrians and cyclists = Safer walking and Cycling". http://www.magma.ca/~ocbc/safeinnumbers.pdf Some other things that concerned me were the fact that 40,000 people a year in North America die from automobile related accidents and yet no safety precautions are being implemented in terms of helmets for drivers. Maybe I'm not seeing a clear picture but it seems the real question is: "When shouldn't you be wearing a helmet?" I mean. Come on. The same arguments used against cyclists who don't wear a helmet could be used for the common; pedestrian, car driver, rollerblader (these things don't even have BRAKES!), plane passenger, atv operator, or how about skydiver! So I ask the question now, are you wearing your helmet? In the event of a meteroid hitting you in the head are you ready? How come I'm not wearing a bubble suit yet? Anyway have fun bike ride with or without your helmet! FULL DISCLOSURE: I will do my leisurely riding without a helmet and any bicycle racing is with a helmet. |