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Bike helmets: what the science says about an American safety obsession | Hacker News

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34419406

Possibly the most dorky article I ever read. Equating wearing a helmet as a bad thing because it makes bicycling look scary is like saying wearing a seat belt makes it too intimidating for group X (women, minority, etc) to drive.

This is the opening paragraph, which sets the tone for the rest of the article

Last year, health officials in Seattle decided to stop requiring bicyclists to wear helmets. Independent research found that nearly half of Seattle’s helmet tickets in recent years went to unhoused people, while Black and Native American cyclists in the city were four times and two times more likely, respectively, than white cyclists to be cited.

...

Helmet mandates intimidate potential riders, they argued, by framing cycling as an activity so dangerous it necessitates body armor.

My brain is to big to risk getting damaged while riding, thank you

:marseybiker::marseybigbrain:

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Caring about whether you look lame outside of specifically social situations is foid/teenager tier behavior. I'm fine looking like a dork if I'm share the road with cars. I hope this doesn't turn into another culture war issue though

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I hope it does and i hope it creates drama in the cycling communities

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Post as a driver that you think cyclists should have to wear helmets if they want to share the road.

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>If I hit a cyclist I would feel bad but, y'know things happen. Nothing that can be done. :marseyjoint:

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The real culture war issue is whether you put your helmet straps over or under your sunglasses.

:!#marseyjones:

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Over

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Nah, imagine how fun it would be:

>Despite making up only 13% of cyclists, unhoused and BIPOC individuals comprise 51% of cycling fatalities. This is evidence of institutional racism.

>:derpprocessing: How many of them were wearing helmets?

>:marseynpcmad:

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Mutts law.

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Chuds don’t bike so it’ll be a lib civil war.

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:marseyagreefast:

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So long as you don’t have the biker unitard I think you’re good in 99% of social circles

If you do the only consideration is having anything less than 60 miles on an odometer when your feet leave the pedals

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the coolest people I know all have a bike unitard

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I’m not here to read your L’s

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They are all IRL dramachads but go off ig

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Neurodivergent hands typed this comment.

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You ride bicycles?

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Helmets are bulky and 4 strags

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Try to make it into a culture war thing. Post on Twitter about how bike helmets are a feminine trait pushed by liberals

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Helmet mandate makes it less straggy to wear them. Now your just complying with the law instead of doing it freely and therefore being a :marseynerd:

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I almost always wear a helmet when i ride in the city because

A. It's :marseyhomofascist: AF

B. The last time i contemplated ditching it entirely Allah made me witness 2 people get TBIs from a mouthful of concrete after going OTB

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![](/images/16740054846969948.webp)

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I'm fatter with an underbite plus my gunt is MUCH more hairy

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:#marseybear::space::!marseyblush:

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I have gigantic quads tho because i only ride track ratio fixies

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:#marseyspecialpat:

Lift weights with those noodle arms, honey bear.

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:marseyskeletontrex:

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:#soycry:

>AAAAAAH DONT THEY KNOW HOW DANGEROUS IT IS TO RIDE WITHOUT A HELMET?! THEYLL FALL DOWN AND DIE!!!

![](/images/16740053501850207.webp)

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these are just normal bikestrags. when americans think of a cyclist they mean a cute twink dressed in a condom riding a road bike in the middle of a highway during rush hour.

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Turns out in civilized nations cars do not share the road with bikes

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The dutch aren't people

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They are GODS

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>Last year, health officials in Seattle decided to stop requiring bicyclists to wear helmets. Independent research found that nearly half of Seattle’s helmet tickets in recent years went to unhoused people

extremely high IQ plan to kill off people of no house

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Just lmaoing at the though of SPD writing a crackhead a ticket for no helmet while he's taking a fat shit in a bus stop

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What’s a fine gonna do to protect them lmao

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Wearing a helmet is dorky, cracking your skull open is punk rock

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There actually was some study done that concluded that Australia’s mandated bicycle helmet laws (and they actually do go out of their way to enforce them) caused fewer people to bike around.

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Sounds like a win-win.

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Dropping the mandates means ill never again witness a drunk abbo cycling with a helmet liner electrical taped to their head

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My favorite drunk cyclist moment was when a dumbass ran into the side of a bus and knocked himself out, so everyone had to get off the bus and wait for an ambulance to pick him up. :marseyunamused: Cyclists like to pretend that cars are their enemy but it's amazing how often they frick up mass transit for the rest of society.

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should just wear a motorcycle helmet if you care about looking cool also it will help you keep your teeth if you faceplant

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They have DH mtb helmets that are like lightweight motorbike helmets

Some ebike riders :marseypuke: wear them

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For anyone with basic physical abilities and common sense, cycling is just as safe as walking; fatties and morons are the vast majority of people who get into potentially fatal accidents. Making helmets optional can only really improve society.

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Skullcels seetheing at helmetchads

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What if I trip on a crack and fall without a helmet on?

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morons

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Doesn't matter how good of a cyclist you are in a place like philly. The drivers all suck (so do most of the cyclists) so you're probably still gonna get clipped by somebody making a right turn from the left lane.

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Yeah but a helmet doesn't save you from that either

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Correct, but it'll probably reduce my likelihood of brain damage even if it don't protect my neck

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When you fall from your bike you’ll be going faster and in most cases also have a further distance to the ground, meaning there will be more g-forces on your neck and upper body so you’re way more likely to hit your head on a fall from your bike than from your feet.

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Repealing the law could make riding more safe. Helmet mandates intimidate potential riders, they argued, by framing cycling as an activity so dangerous it necessitates body armor. That, in turn, can suppress ridership, and take away the safety benefits of riding in numbers. The more bicyclists take up space on the road, the more visible they become to drivers.

That's optimistic, one :marseysteer: will still wreck them.

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You’d have to believe that without helmets you’d have like 100x more bikers for that no helmet mandate -> more safety mechanism to make any sense whatsoever.

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Ehhhh keep in mind that in most crashes your helmet doesn't really do shit. I mean if you land head-first it's important but most of the time that's not the case. You're more likely to get your leg fricked up (which thankfully is usually not life threatening).

Like a cyclist around here died because a truck made a right turn into them and ran them over. No helmet is gonna save you in that situation.

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Seems like an easy way to get more organ donors :marseynoooticer:

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Wearing a helmet makes you a cute twink

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More or less gay than a cycling chapeau

![](/images/16740079433631306.webp)

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:#marseysquint:

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![](/images/1674043582821338.webp)


https://i.rdrama.net/images/17191743323420358.webp

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I'm posting from a 640x480CRT

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Black and Native American cyclists in the city were four times and two times more likely, respectively, than white cyclists to be cited.

We have to get rid of it because Black people dont do it, episode 50

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Equating wearing a helmet as a bad thing because it makes bicycling look scary

Well we all know they can't get away with saying wearing a helmet makes bicycling look super gay (it really does) so how do you expect them to phrase it?

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>doing r-slurred stunts and barely not killing yourself

>i was wearing a helmet so its ok

what safety culture does to a mfer.

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I can't even get my partner to stop riding with his bike lock hanging from his neck or around his shoulder and torso :mar#seyclown3::marseyh#ead: :marseydepressed:

Good luck forcing the average cyclist to make good decisions.

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You probably should wear a helmet but making it the law is stupid

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Only if not wearing a helmet shifts 90% of all damages to the cyclist would it make sense.

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I have a helmet anyway because i do mountain biking so i just wear it when i ride to work :marseyshrug:

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Nice post, bro! I posted it to twitter.

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Bike helmets don’t look like giant r-slur domes anymore so there’s no excuse. It shouldn’t be mandated to wear tho

Motorcycle helmets and seatbelts arent require to be worn here as it should be but I still do

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And the new helmets are actually a lot better at preventing tbis because they have collapse zones around the head.

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Yeah MIPS is pretty great. I took a hard spill on MTB last year and my mips equipped helmet prevented any sort of disaster

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Dude... I thought my reddit history was something to be ashamed of. All you do is talk shit and lie. You def don't have that mindset. You're leading people to belive you're a skinny, racist, homosexual, that hates women but supports islam?

Snapshots:

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I hate bicyclists. I used to cater for a large biking event and they were always uppity pains in my butt.

I needed an 8ft gap to get my van full of food through. Despite having the entire goddarn lakeside park available, people kept kickstanding their bike right in front of me as I slowly crept forward.

After parking, they'd lean their bikes against my van. Not a company van, mind you, but my personal property. At one point the director of the whole thing decided she needed to change her shirt and without asking, went in my van to change in the front seat (with the windshield facing the finish line).

Bunch of self-absorbed twinks.


https://i.rdrama.net/images/17191743323420358.webp

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>Black and Native ameriKKKan cyclists in the city were four times and two times more likely, respectively, than white cyclists to be cited.

I'm going to guess because they were more reckless. Black people always get as close as possible to vehicles


https://i.rdrama.net/images/17191743323420358.webp

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