Date: Fri Jan 15 13:07:47 2010
From: Michael Dodd <mikeydodds@xxxxxxxxx>
I agree with the use of helmets especially when it comes to working and yes wearing a bike helmet does occasionally save lives. The problem with Australia and New Zealands mandatory helmet laws are that they stopped people from riding bikes. On Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 3:03 PM, Austin Bauman < austin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > helmet saved me yesterday. Frame broke while I was riding. I went > over the front and dug into the ground head first. If it weren't for > the helmet, it would have been a lot worse ... (or if I had been > naked). > > Pics: > > http://musiccitycycling.us/comments.php?DiscussionID=76&page=1#Item_0 > > > > On Thu, Jan 14, 2010 at 9:39 PM, Michael Dodd <mikeydodds@xxxxxxxxx> > wrote: > > *I* think the sydney morning herald are turning into the good guys.... > > > > > http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/never-mind-the-nudity-wheres-your-bike-helmet-20100113-m6xo.html > > > > *"Cathy Duder, the New Zealand police officer who stopped two naked > cyclists > > at the flashy beach resort of Whangamata just before Christmas, let them > off > > with a warning - not about the nudity but about the lack of protective > > clothing on their heads.* > > > > *On the nudity front she was blase. "They were more shocked than I," she > > mused, though that's a little hard to swallow. The chaps were sober, > after > > all, and must have known they were laying bare their privates for > scrutiny. > > Yet the senior constable dismissed the nakedness as an innocent bid for > > ''total freedom''. The absence of headwear, though, that was serious.* > > > > *The incident shows how eccentric NZ really is. I mean yes, it adds > piquancy > > to the field of bike-seat erotica, from Alexander Waugh's observation > that > > his great-grandfather Alfred was obsessed by "pretty girls on bicycles" > to > > Paul Keating's preferred pejorative for investigative journalists as > > "bicycle-seat sniffers". Globally, though, it must principally be seen as > a > > good fashion opportunity squandered, since cycling, you may have noticed, > is > > suddenly chic.* > > > > *This isn't just about the purist fixies (those uber-primitive bikes > without > > gears or brakes derived from New York's West Indian courier tribes) > versus > > sedate '60s ladies' bikes that now, renovated, outsell new ones. Suddenly > > there is a whole new world of cycle fashionistas - clothes, bags, > > accessories for self and bike including handlebar cup holders.* > > > > *Helmets, however, are decidedly uncool. Many argue helmets save lives. > But > > the opposing arguments are equally numerous and, actually, pretty > plausible. > > Not only are proper randomised studies hard to come by - like, where are > the > > volunteers? There are also unanswered questions about how helmets modify > > cyclists' behaviour, making them less likely (some say more) to take > risks. > > Or how helmet-wearing relates to personality type and gender (the > causality > > here being reversed).* > > > > *But the point really is this. Countries with highest bike use and no > helmet > > laws also have fewest bike fatalities - Denmark and the Netherlands being > > the most obvious. Copenhagen initiated the Slow Bicycle Movement, the > > non-lycra approach to cycling. There, 37 per cent of commutes and a > > staggering 55 per cent of all trips are by bike. In Sydney, where > cyclists > > are routinely spat on and abused, it's more like 1 per cent, but rising.* > > > > *In London I used to cycle everywhere, not at first from choice - though > it > > did prove addictive - but because driving was like pushing slugs through > > mud, and the alternatives even more disgusting. I'm saddened to report I > > never cycled nude, or for that matter helmeted, but I did do it in peach > > suede stilettos, long diamante earrings, houndstooth miniskirt, fur-lined > > mittens and ankle-deep snow, sometimes all at once. Only for the snow was > I > > stopped by police.* > > > > *No such nonsense in Sydney. Arriving here we were advised to quit > cycling, > > much as they tell you to move to the burbs to procreate. (Why children > have > > this special claim to mind-numbing boredom I've never understood although > > perhaps, again, the causality is inverted; it's the tedium that aids > > conception.)* > > > > *"Nup," they shook their heads sagely. "No one cycles here. London, sure, > > people have manners. Not here. Much too dangerous." And for a while - OK, > a > > decade - I caved in. Sold the bike, played safe. As a mother you feel > > obliged to stay more or less alive.* > > > > *Now I've thought again. Not about survival, about cycling. And not just > as > > exercise - twice round the park with the lycra legions then > fossil-fuel-it > > home for breakfast - but as transport. I like streets, real world, > feeling > > purposeful. I also like those little bike-logos, strewn round the streets > > like welcome mats. They change nothing, legally, except how it feels on > that > > fragile, whizzy machine. And, it finally dawned, only if people do it, > will > > people do it.* > > > > *Plus - and this is key - it's fun. Exhilarating, even, to arrive at the > > opera or the formal meeting with raised pulse, no parking worries and > zero > > emissions. It has a rakish, adventurous quality - not nude, but close.* > > > > *Imagine my surprise then to be recently stopped by police. Not for being > > nude (which I wasn't) or even for riding on a footpath without > appropriate > > signage (which I was). "We're cracking down on cyclists without helmets," > > said the coppers, writing my details into their notebooks.* > > > > *A true road warrior would have checked their credentials. How did I know > > they even were cops, not petrol-head thugs on a road-rage revenge binge? > But > > I was fully occupied not coming back with some kind of kamikaze quip. > > "Cracking down, officer? On cycling without helmets? You kidding me? What > > about cracking down on our third-generation neighbourhood smack dealers > over > > there? Or the local housebreaking fraternity?"* > > *The best way to encourage cycling is enhancing safety, but the best way > to > > do that is to increase numbers. Circular argument. Fining cyclists won't > > help. Cycle lanes will (instead of promises); stopping the gas-and-telco > > guys leaving long, tyre-grabbing road scars; smoothing kerb crossings > that > > are routinely the size of the Tamarama escarpment; giving priority at > > lights. Then maybe your standard cyclists will behave more like homo > sapiens > > and less like, well, Tony Abbott. But next time you're tempted to nude > > highway cycling, remember, the roads are to share. Like the sign says. > Cover > > your load. Fines apply. Mine eyes dazzle"* > > _______________________________________________ > > Messengers mailing list > > Messengers@xxxxxxxxx > > http://ifbma.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/messengers > > > > > > -- > Austin Bauman > Owner / Messenger > Green Fleet Messengers > > http://www.greenfleetmessengers.com > > work: (615) 463-0602 > cell: (615) 870-8848 > austin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > > > "When you send a bicycle, you replace a car." > _______________________________________________ > Messengers mailing list > Messengers@xxxxxxxxx > http://ifbma.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/messengers >