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Fishing by push bike


Fenix

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Many car drivers / passengers suffer serious head injuries during collisions which could also be avoided by occupants wearing helmets.

 

(Only problem is that they may then see themselves as F1 drivers and drive accordingly!)

 

 

(Interestingly, there is an increased risk of being in a traffic accident when cyclist wear a helmet. It's not certain whether this is a result of 'risk compensation' behaviour of helmeted cyclists, or less care is taken by motorists who see protected cyclists as less vulnerable, or some physical reason such as reduced hearing (owing to increased wind noise), a higher centre of balance, restricted head turning of helmeted cyclists etc.

 

In most traffic accidents, as opposed to simply falling off, a helmet offers little protection, although it certainly does benefit inexperienced riders and children who are more likely to come off, especially when riding off-road and/or on the pavement.)

 

ps I always wear a helmet (but not in the car).

I think a little protection is always going to be better than no protection though. I understand that if hit properly by a car a helmet isnt going to improve your chances much but if you fall off onto the pavement or similar it is better than connecting with your skull.

 

Yes I too would wear a helmet if cycling or doing any kind of motorsport. When out on the crossers a while back one of our mates thought it was clever to ride his machine over a jump with no helmet on despite us saying it was stupid. He just laughed. That was until he hit a rut before the jump and smashed into the side of the mound narrowly missing a rock with his head. Needless to say he said he wouldnt do it again. He was very lucky and he knows it.

 

I dont think I would wear a helmet in the car either lol (unless on the track) as with airbags etc these days the chances are you are going to be saved fro major head injuries by that and if you are going too fast for an air bag to be effective then the deceleration forces and car crumpling all around you would most likely do the damage regardless.

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There is a rump of the cycling community who get very militant about helmets - I think mostly because they are afraid of being forced by law to wear them the way that motorcyclists are or the way car occupants are forced to wear seatbelts. Maybe there is some risk compensation going on, maybe drivers are less careful around them, maybe the statistics are incorrectly interpreted. I know that if I came off the bike I would rather be wearing one than not, and that whether wearing one or not I am at all times trying to avoid that eventuality! Maybe 20 year olds think they are invulnerable with a helmet?

 

What I do find odd is that like Leon and me and the vast majority of people I see cycling on the road, all these militant "helmets don't make you any safer" bods wear helmets. Which makes me think that their point is political rather than practical.

 

There's a chap over on the Lotus owner's forum who believes that he would be dead without his cycling helmet - as it was, he still suffered a fractured skull and needed (needs) a lot of facial reconstructive surgery. Taken out by someone with no licence or insurance, driving the car without permission. :angry:

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What I do find odd is that like Leon and me and the vast majority of people I see cycling on the road, all these militant "helmets don't make you any safer" bods wear helmets. Which makes me think that their point is political rather than practical.

 

 

When in-car safety started to become an issue, and (real) minis were popular, it was found that although being involved in a collision when driving a mini would likely be a disaster, because of their smaller size and better handling (and possibly perceived greater vulnerability of mini-drivers), the chances of actually being involved in an accident whilst driving a mini was much lower, so that it was actually safer driving a mini, than a larger car with greater in-car safety.

 

It's largely the same with helmet wearing.

 

In a number of countries when compulsory safety-helmets for cyclist were introduced, the death and accident rates for cyclists actually increased significantly.

 

 

 

So, my head tells me that I'm much more likely to have a serious injury when wearing a helmet.

 

But my superstitious nature makes me feel very uncomfortable when riding bare-headed!

 

 

 

Especially if you are not used to wearing a helmet, the hassle (not to mention expense) of putting on and wearing a helmet, particularly on hot days (which is when my helmet is likely to end up on the handlebars, rather than getting even more sweaty and hot), or having to carry a helmet into the shops/work when the bike is parked etc ., especially when just 'popping round the corner' is when compulsion becomes unattractive, especially when the information we have says that overall risk is increased.

 

Suggest that a car-driver/passenger should consider wearing a helmet for their own safety, and you get exactly the same 'political' response from car-drivers as from some cyclists.

 

If it is to be made compulsory, make it compulsory for all road-users, bus and coach passengers as well :) :)

RNLI Shoreline Member

Member of the Angling Trust

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I'm not really on any side of this argument but thought i'd say, my mums work friend used to cycle every day to work through the centre of taunton until one day a post van pulled over, knocked into her and made her come off, she went headfirst into the pavement. It was touch and go, she was in a coma but eventually after a few days came round and after a bit of temporary memory loss she eventually regained full health, this was last year and she's now fine and back to work. She was wearing a helmet, the doctors said they were completely positive that if she wasn't she'd be dead.

 

But saying that, i don't wear a helmet on my push bike, living in a small village traffic is pretty calm and i don't even ride it that often so i take my chances

As famous fisherman John Gierach once said "I used to like fishing because I thought it had some larger significance. Now I like fishing because it's the one thing I can think of that probably doesn't."

 

 

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I don't think they should be compulsory, Leon, I'm generally fairly libertarian about these things.

 

I wouldn't even be in favour of restricting mandatory helmets to those who class themselves as "vulnerable road users".

 

I don't think crash safety standards, seatbelts, airbags, ABS or stability control should be mandatory either - especially not on pushbikes :)

 

I just think helmets are cheap, not really inconvenient and if you do end up hitting your head, better than nothing. I don't think evidence that compulsory helmet laws are counter-productive is the same as evidence that wearing a helmet is counter-productive - one of the objections raised to compulsory helmet laws is that it discourages cycling and that increases the risk for those who do cycle, so it is recognised that the scenarios are different.

 

I guess I am just a little uncomfortable with what I perceive as the reluctance to say "wearing a helmet is good practice" for fear of either being forced to wear one or of being held to be contributorily negligent in the event of being injured without one. It looks like posturing which may be at the expense of someone else's head injury.

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...and if the doom merchants are right, and food as well as fuel becomes too expensive for ordinary folk, there is always boiled pike and turnips........

 

fig7csteeringwasabitheapz5.jpg

 

Fantastic, my dad would carry pike home just like that.

"Some people hear their inner voices with such clarity that they live by what they hear, such people go crazy, but they become legends"
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Inevitable, I think, Leon.

 

What I do find strange is some of the inconsistency in the rules. For instance, if you wish to carry a child in this, even on a short low speed urban journey:

 

range-rover1.1.jpg

 

You are breaking the law unless you strap them into one of these:

 

car-safety-seat.jpg

 

Yet you can quite legally stick them in one of these and take them down the dual carriageway:

 

chariot-cabriolet-bike-child-trailer-closeup-with-child-inside.jpg

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I take my hat off to all anglers who use a bicycle to go fishing on. I am well impressed and salute you all.

From a spark a fire will flare up

English by birth, Cockney by the Grace of God

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On the subject of helmets, my son Matthew would probably not be here if he hadn't his on when he left work Christmas eve 2yrs ago. As he cycled out from the back of the cycle shop where he worked his chain broke and he was thrown off and across the road hitting his head on the kerb smashing his helmet and knocking himself out!! Luckily his boss was behind him and got to him quickly as he could have beeen hit by a car as he was lying unconscious in the main road.

 

Luckily he survived with only minor injuries, so yes I am on the side of in favour of them.

 

lyn

One life, live it, love it, fish it!

 

 

 

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