cfsmtb in low earth orbit

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Incoming!!!!

Duck and cover, and kiss your arse goodbyeWarning! Warning! Danger! Danger!

Warning on `dangers' of wearing a bike helmet
Long touted as life-saving devices, bike helmets could actually increase the risk of brain injury, a lobby group claims. The Cyclists' Rights Action Group wants the Federal Government to warn the public and conduct an investigation into what it says is a considerably greater risk. President of the small Canberra-based group, Bill Curnow, said helmets could only protect riders against superficial injuries and the public faith in them was just based on 'propaganda'.

posted by cfsmtb at 1:53 pm

4 Comments:

  • Cycling is safe. Driving is dangerous. Helmets are irrelevant.
    (Courtesy )

    CRAG have a good point: helmet wearing should be down to individual choice. Public health arguments for the law just don't stack up in light of the actual results in     Australia and New Zealand. Helmet laws haven't reduced the number of serious head injuries as a proportion of all cyclists injuries. They're effective against painful but not life-changing knocks to the head, but more serious impacts so overwhelm the capabilities of a bit of polystyrene that it makes no detectable difference.

    The idea that helmets may increase the risk of rotational injuries, though not thoroughly researched, is not silly either. Helmets, particularly fashionably "aerodynamic" types with a duck-tail at the back, increase the effective lever-arm that's turning your head in a glancing blow.

    see cyclehelmets.org for more.

    OliverBendix at gmail.com

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:52 am, July 29, 2005  

  • Hey, that tag was closed when I previewed it!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:53 am, July 29, 2005  

  • An indian-style turban might be a groovy substitute?

    By Blogger BwcaBrownie, at 12:43 am, July 30, 2005  

  • I don't agree with the compulsory nature of current bike helmet laws, but I feel I must come out in support of helmets. I've written off two helmets in the last two years and am quite sure that had I not been wearing them at the time, both crashes would have result in serious trauma to my head. Granted, one of the accidents was in a XC race context, however the other was during a leasurely commute to work when I slipped on an oil patch and proceeded to head-butt the bitumen.

    I dunno, but for some reason looking at a helmet missing large chunks of foam and plastic from its back, or one with a set of cracks from front to back reminds me to never leave the house without one.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 12:31 pm, August 02, 2005  

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