Posted on 05/14/2007 9:45:13 AM PDT by Ben Mugged
Spring is in full swing now, and a number of the straphangers (read: subway riders) in New York City, as well as citizens in other locales, are getting new tubes and tires and dragging their bikes out of storage. Bicycle riding is the skill you reportedly never forget, but there's a raging debate about whether or not you should forget your helmet when you hop on your two-wheeler. Last September a plucky psychologist at the University of Bath in England announced the results of a study in which he played both researcher and guinea pig. An avid cyclist, Ian Walker had heard several complaints from fellow riders that wearing a helmet seemed to result in bike riders receiving far less room to maneuver—effectively increasing the chances of an accident. So, Walker attached ultrasonic sensors to his bike and rode around Bath, allowing 2,300 vehicles to overtake him while he was either helmeted or naked-headed. In the process, he was actually contacted by a truck and a bus, both while helmeted—though, miraculously, he did not fall off his bike either time.
His findings, published in the March 2007 issue of Accident Analysis & Prevention, state that when Walker wore a helmet drivers typically drove an average of 3.35 inches closer to his bike than when his noggin wasn't covered. But, if he wore a wig of long, brown locks—appearing to be a woman from behind—he was granted 2.2 inches more room to ride.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciam.com ...
Very interesting
Bike ping!
Ping.
What about if you ride nekkid?
Bump for later reading.
Maybe they be safer if they make helmets out of CFL’s?
Probably follows the logic for the "Innocent vs. Guilty" arguments here on FR.
“...effectively increasing the chances of an accident”
Not the only thing to consider of course. There might be a higher risk of contact, but without a helmet any contact is more likely to prove fatal.
Interesting research though.
An economist named Sam Peltzman many years ago published a famous paper indicating that better safety restraints in cars promote riskier driving, as Microeconomics 101 would suggest. So it wouldn't surprise me if both of these effects withstood more rigorous analysis.
This gives me an idea for a product. Some bikes have those flags on the back to increase visibility. Perhaps something similar on the back that actually wobbles around and gives the impression it would veer over onto the cars’ venue would increase the safety margin for the cyclist. That’s the backup study I would do if I were in this field of inquiry.
Wear the helmet. I've seen what can happen up close and personal. She's lucky to be alive.
Just told my neighbor this story as he went biking w his kids in a carriage behind him (not using the safety belts in the carriage) and his answer to wearing a helmet: "Never!"
Perfect. Darwin in action.
I want to know why all the bike riders feel the need to get all duded up in the spandex racing outfits?!! They all have the total look along witht he obligatory water bottle! I always wonder if they are really going a distance or around a few blocks! I never see anyone in jeans or regular clothes any more. We used to rubber band our pants at the bottom but now everyone looks like fricken Lance Armstrong!
I did find that driving a beat-up looking older vehicle on the Capital Beltway seemed to grant me a half lane and a vehicle length more space than the drivers around me got.
Same basic debate with motorcycle helmets. I ride a large motorcycle, and I decided if I’m going to wear a helmet or not based on where I’m planning to ride. The loss of vision and hearing has to be balanced against the implied ‘safety’ a helmet provides.
I think it depends on your own outlook. After decades of riding in all traffic enviroments, I’ve concluded its best to have complete vision and hearing in most circumstances for the defensive driving I practice when out on the Intruder...but then again I live in a very rural area where the biggest dangers are large John Deere machines I don’t quite fathom, or a redneck teenager driving 70 mph on a tar and chip country road.
Expressway riding, or in the city, cause me to wear a helmt, in short. Otherwise, I’m using my senses to avoid an accident.
I know of a young preacher who died fairly recently following months of hospitalization after a helmetless spill. I never ride without my helmet, and I rarely ride on the street.
As a biker who braves rush hour New York city traffic every day, there is no way I would ride without a helmet. My favorite technique to guarantee greatest passing distance: take the whole lane. I take the entire far left lane so noone can squeeze past me. If there is a full on biking lane I take that.
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