As such, the Friday installment of Dear PooBah reader mail is going to be slightly delayed (for those of you who were waiting with baited breath). Never fear - I have received some very interesting letters lately that I wish to share with you - but like with most things in my life right now - I will be a little late.
That said, I hate to leave you, dear reader, empty handed on a Friday. Therefore, today I bring you a cautionary tale of riding helmetless. Yesterday, on my commute, i was, in fact, riding without a helmet. I realize that this rubs many of you the wrong way, and I can only justify my actions in saying that I'm a big boy and accept the risk. Ninety percent of my morning commute is down the MKT, however, so I feel pretty comfortable that with only the occasional Shih Tzu or jogger to avoid while travelling at a moderate speed, hopefully the risk of me incurring a fatal head injury is low.....and what can I say - I love the feel of the wind in my hair.
However, I want to sincerely thank the THREE people that yelled at me to put a helmet on. I have not only chosen to take your suggestion under serious advisement, but am dedicating this Friday morning post to a Public Service Anouncement (PSA). Children of the 80's should be quite familiar with the PSA concept as many sitcoms we watched were dedicated to some kind of PSA about once a year. Memorable examples include when Nancy Reagan went on Diff'rent Strokes (spelled with the ebonically-sensitive dropped 'e' to reflect that black people were in the show) who warned the lovely Drummond family about the dangers of drug abuse...
So for the three individuals I passed yesterday concerned about my melon - thanks once again and here's your COMO CYCO helmet-use PSA.
Reader mail is coming soon!
Pedal on!
The reason I wear a helmet is so that when I crash and break my arm, I don't have a million people saying "If only you'd worn a helmet..."
ReplyDeleteThe Bike League lists the 5 most important things you can do to increase your safety on a bicycle. The last thing on that list is wear a helmet. That means there are 4 things you should do that are more important than wearing a helmet.
I don't recall the exact order, or phrasing, but it's along the lines of, use lights at night, don't ride against traffic, stay off the sidewalks, stop @ stop signs, use the lane that serves your destination. Ok, that's 5, so that must not be quite right, but I know it is close.
Also, the Dutch folks don't really wear helmets. Maybe it has something to do with them practically being born on bikes, so they know how to deal. I personally am a fan of Europeans and trust them most of the time when it comes to matters of bikes, so I'm not sure about this one. I do typically wear a helmet anyway. Because I am klutz.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you both:
ReplyDeleteI think there are many things other than wearing a helmet that will increase your safety on a bike - but somehow, the plastic and foam melon lid has become a representative panacea for bike safety.
Furthermore - I too am a fan of Europeans in general and while on a business trip to Italy last week, was blown away by the number of bike commuters i saw. I would say less than 10% of them wore helmets. That doesn't make them any "better" than us, but their wine and cheese certainly do.