I'm one of those terrible criminal cyclists that doesn't wear a helmet. Simple physics tells me that I've got plenty of time to put my hands out before I my head drops about a metre and a half onto the road in a crash. If I don't react, I'm already badly injured. I prefer to take the risk rather than have the pain of sweat running into my eyes a lot of the time.

So I've moved out of the city, where I had the occasional discussion with a policeman and no harm done.

Here in the country, they like to do a good job, so a few weeks ago I got my first ticket from a cop who forced me off the road and almost into a ditch so he could give me a lecture about road safety.

Then this afternoon, I rode through a random breath testing stop, and a cop stepped in front of me and pushed me towards the oncoming traffic, just because I didn't instantly stop for him (seriously, who is pissed and riding at 40kmh on a main road?). He had his back to it, but I could see a light truck coming the other direction. Could have been a manslaughter charge there.

Both times, for ID I've given them my Blood Donor card. Why? Well, the ad says 1/3 of you will need blood during your lifetime, but only 1/30 donate. It irks me when the case they highlight to humanise the recipient is a policeman with cancer, as I saw in the Good Weekend magazine (part of the Sydney Morning Herald). How ungrateful is he, I ask you. I've saved your life, cut me some slack!

Against that, there are about 40 cyclist deaths a year, many of whom had head injuries as well as the massive organ injuries and blood loss that killed them, and 400 head injuries needing hospitalisation. I dunno about you lot, but I think that hospitalisation is the default position for a headache these days. I got knocked out playing both soccer and rugby at school in the 70s, and there wasn't so much as the magic water bottle thrown in my direction.

So that's a high probability event, you needing a few units of blood (type O+, in my case, good for 90% of you) compared to a low probability one, that I get catastrophically injured while riding.

I'll take great pleasure asking the cops and magistrate if they think that me wearing a helmet is more important than some poor little 7 year old with leukemia getting the blood they need.

In the meantime, another cop told me that a doctor's letter will let me pass. Apart from the ones I meet at the beach, I haven't consulted one in years. So can one of you help me out?

It's the law...you (and many others) might not like it...but regardless...it's the law.

I always wear a helmet, mainly as an example to my kids.

Mr Milk said...

I'm one of those terrible criminal cyclists that doesn't wear a helmet.

Well naughty you. I appreciate all you said in your post but I have not an answer for you except that someone famous once said "The Law is an ass."

Sailhack said...
It's the law...you (and many others) might not like it...but regardless...it's the law.

I always wear a helmet, mainly as an example to my kids.

Strangely enough, that seems to be part of the rationale justifying the law when it was reviewed. Obeying the law sets a good example.

On that basis, ignoring helmet laws, all laws should be obeyed. Slavery? Gay Rights? No working married women?

I prefer to take the alternative position, that my bad example gives you something to bond over with your kids...."Look at that bad man riding without a helmet, we'd never do that" and, if they're a bit older you might mention his probable EPO habit

The question remains, why do you think it more probable you'll hit your head while windsurfing than riding your bike where the possibility of a random incident resulting in a brain injury is arguably far greater?

Personally I choose to wear a helmet because you know what, you might put your hands out in a crash...but then again you might not and anything that results in a reduction in the chance of a brain injury, however small, is worth the minor inconvenience of a bit of sweat and bad hair.

CJW said...
The question remains, why do you think it more probable you'll hit your head while windsurfing than riding your bike where the possibility of a random incident resulting in a brain injury is arguably far greater?

Personally I choose to wear a helmet because you know what, you might put your hands out in a crash...but then again you might not and anything that results in a reduction in the chance of a brain injury, however small, is worth the minor inconvenience of a bit of sweat and bad hair.

I don't, but I did, and I didn't feel like resembling Vincent Van Gogh at the time. Besides, I'm bald and I burn, so a hat is handy.

A bit of sweat? I don't know for sure that I sweat more heavily than you do, but I do drip steadily off my cap and easily drop 2 kilos or more on a ride. Sweating prevents heatstroke

mineral1 said...
You gotta be s...ing me Milk, you are sounding like a RR jet engine with all that grouchy grumbling.
I couldn't care less if you caved in your skull because you don't/wont wear a helmet.
However I do care about:
Bugger the impact it has on direct family members should you be in a vegetated state from a head trauma. Bugger the medicos who will try to patch you up and save your selfish life. Bugger the emergency workers who have to clean up your selfish mess after an accident. Bugger the tax payer who has to shell out for selfish people like you to be looked after for the rest of your miserable life should you be incapacitated.
Bugger the fellow citizen who hits the hospital in an emergence, who's life is then impacted due to a selfish person who didn't wear a bloody bike helmet, who is taking up precious resources.
I could just about bet you wouldn't pull that stunt on a building/mine/worksite when told to wear your safety gear.
You gotta be s...ing me Milk, you are sounding like a RR jet engine with all that grouchy grumbling.
I couldn't care less if you caved in your skull because you don't/wont wear a helmet.
However I do care about:
Bugger the impact it has on direct family members should you be in a vegetated state from a head trauma. Bugger the medicos who will try to patch you up and save your selfish life. Bugger the emergency workers who have to clean up your selfish mess after an accident. Bugger the tax payer who has to shell out for selfish people like you to be looked after for the rest of your miserable life should you be incapacitated.
Bugger the fellow citizen who hits the hospital in an emergency, who's life is then impacted due to a selfish person who didn't wear a bloody bike helmet, who is taking up precious resources.
I could just about bet you wouldn't pull that stunt on a building/mine/worksite when told to wear your safety gear, they would fire your coit in a second.
Harden up sunshine, wear your inexpensive helmet and be safe for a bloody change and stop whinging.

PS I have my nephew still alive happy and well, because his bike Helmut took the impact of his skull hitting the kerb, and not his raw head when a driver miscalculated an overtake on a corner.

So I guess you are a blood donor yourself, every 3 months

And if you don't care, why would you force me to wear the helmet. If I'm worse than a few scratches, switch me off. Like Hamlet said "to sleep, perchance to dream"

Alanna thinks irony is like rain on your wedding day, but that's just dumb f#@king luck.....

PS - thinking that 'giving blood gives you the right not to wear a helmet' would be the definition of illogical.

sausage said...
Alanna thinks irony is like rain on your wedding day, but that's just dumb f#@king luck.....

PS - thinking that 'giving blood gives you the right not to wear a helmet' would be the definition of illogical.

Not a question of gaining a particular right. Just a contrast between high probability events like you will need a transfusion some time, or that you will get heart disease if you overeat, or that your child will be retarded if you are in your 40s or more (OK, only about 5%), or the less than 0.!% chance that I will suffer a brain injury in a lifetime of cycling.

I'm one of those terrible criminal cyclists that doesn't wear a helmet. Simple physics tells me that I've got plenty of time to put my hands out before I my head drops about a metre and a half onto the road in a crash. If I don't react, I'm already badly injured. I prefer to take the risk rather than have the pain of sweat running into my eyes a lot of the time.
...

Simple physics? When you are catapulted you wont know your arse from your elbow. Been there and done it and I wouldn't ride without a helmet now. They really can quite literally save your life.

Limar make very light helmets that are pretty cheap and a $10 Halo headband can keep the sweat out of your eyes.
http://stores.ebay.com.au/INNOVATIVE-ACCESSORIES/HALO-HEADBANDS-/_i.html?_nkw=halo&submit=Search&_fsub=2&_sid=146296731

I think people make altogether too much of mandatory helmet laws violating their personal rights. It's just an f'ing helmet for God's sake not a star of David. What's more the oppression of the law is ever with us. It's the nature of the beast (the threat of condign punishment) and it really is best just to roll with it. Unless you have some profound scheme to fundamentally change the system I think you are pissing in the wind.

Other thoughts:
1) Of course the majority of the 400 head injuries referred to hospital turn out to be little more than headaches. It's because head injuries can be so deadly that they are very careful to check them all thoroughly.
2) I don't get the irony and I doubt that the magistrate would.
3) Good on you for giving blood and for reminding me that I should :)
4) If you can find a doctor that will give you a letter relieving you of the requirement to wear a helmet I'd like to hear his justification.

theDoctor said...
...
I believe in freedom and self determination, if I don't wanna wear a helmet...
how the hell does that effect anyone else...?
...

It only affects you. You'll get fined. :)
Or you could have a head injury ...

Oh man, where do you even start with such a stupid post, but hey I've just got home from work and have time to kill.

Mr Milk said...

I'm one of those terrible criminal cyclists that doesn't wear a helmet. Simple physics tells me that I've got plenty of time to put my hands out before I my head drops about a metre and a half onto the road in a crash. If I don't react, I'm already badly injured. I prefer to take the risk rather than have the pain of sweat running into my eyes a lot of the time.

simple maths suggests your simple physics theory is wrong. At a readily achievable speed of 30km/hr you are travelling at 8.3 metres per second, at that speed your head drop onto the road of a metre and a half takes around 1/5th of a second. Even if you were generous and allowed a full second of time to interpret and react to the unfolding drama your brain has already been splattered all over the pavement for 4/5th's of a second... and that doesn't include the accelerating affect of gravity, the whip effect of a lower down collision, or being hit by a car and thrown into the windscreen or bonnet with your unprotected head

So I've moved out of the city, where I had the occasional discussion with a policeman and no harm done.

good for you, that simply means you haven't fallen off yet and the policeman is a nice on that likes to give warnings at the first opportunity

Here in the country, they like to do a good job, so a few weeks ago I got my first ticket from a cop who forced me off the road and almost into a ditch so he could give me a lecture about road safety.

generally if you don't take the friendly advice on the finer points of helmet legislation (or anything else) given to you by a copper they might actually give you a ticket next time around.

Then this afternoon, I rode through a random breath testing stop, and a cop stepped in front of me and pushed me towards the oncoming traffic, just because I didn't instantly stop for him (seriously, who is pissed and riding at 40kmh on a main road?). He had his back to it, but I could see a light truck coming the other direction. Could have been a manslaughter charge there.

Manslaughter? I doubt it, definitely a coronial inquest, but no manslaughter charge. Imagine how much safe it would have been if you slowed down ready to stop, you know just like you would have done in a car.

Both times, for ID I've given them my Blood Donor card. Why? Well, the ad says 1/3 of you will need blood during your lifetime, but only 1/30 donate. It irks me when the case they highlight to humanise the recipient is a policeman with cancer, as I saw in the Good Weekend magazine (part of the Sydney Morning Herald). How ungrateful is he, I ask you. I've saved your life, cut me some slack!

WTF does being a blood donor have to do with it? It truly makes you sound like an arrogant tosser. I've never once given blood expecting anything back from anyone, I do it because I'm a good human being.

Against that, there are about 40 cyclist deaths a year, many of whom had head injuries as well as the massive organ injuries and blood loss that killed them, and 400 head injuries needing hospitalisation. I dunno about you lot, but I think that hospitalisation is the default position for a headache these days. I got knocked out playing both soccer and rugby at school in the 70s, and there wasn't so much as the magic water bottle thrown in my direction.

Go check your survey, hospitalisation usually refers to being admitted to a ward, ICU or HDU, not being treated/monitored in the emergency department for a few hours then cut loose.

So that's a high probability event, you needing a few units of blood (type O+, in my case, good for 90% of you) compared to a low probability one, that I get catastrophically injured while riding.

I still don't see the link between donating blood and not wearing a helmet?

I'll take great pleasure asking the cops and magistrate if they think that me wearing a helmet is more important than some poor little 7 year old with leukemia getting the blood they need.

I dare you to front up to the magistrate and try that one cos the inverse of what you are saying is that you would only save a kids life if you don't have to wear a helmet

In the meantime, another cop told me that a doctor's letter will let me pass. Apart from the ones I meet at the beach, I haven't consulted one in years. So can one of you help me out?

perhaps it might get you an exemption, but not retrospectively. I hardly think a doctor will issue a medical exemption, especially if you haven't seen one for so many years.

Mr Milk said...
Like Hamlet said "to sleep, perchance to dream"

Hamlet is a fictional character, & from memory (I didn't do drama at school but do remember some Shakespeare) - the reference was where Hamlet was pondering suicide...there are more efficient ways than riding a bike without wearing a helmet.

GPA said...
I can tell you that you do NOT have time to put your hands out when you are flying over the handle-bars.

Even if you could, your hands won't stop you in many cases. I fell head-first from a homemade scaffold (about 2.5m from the ground) onto a bitumen driveway when I was about 25. I was about as fit & strong as I'd ever been & managed to get my arms out in front to absorb the impact...result - torn shoulder ligaments, broken nose & some facial bark missing (very lucky it wasn't head trauma) and a sh!tload of stones embedded in both my palms.

Honestly, I don't agree with many laws that are in place for 'personal human protection' including the helmet law. I would no-doubt choose not to wear a helmet except when MTBing or when I know the ride might be dangerous. I'm glad the law exists for my kids safety though, so it's a bit of a conflict. They wear a helmet and have respect for the law which I'm happy with as I don't want to see them carted off in an ambulance with head injuries. It seems that the helmet law is mainly griped about by us 'oldies' that still remember riding our Dragsters & Malvern Stars around the streets as kids with the wind in our hair. Most kids (around here anyway) have gotten used to it & wear a helmet.

Do what you want, but know that it is the law and regardless of your opinion, it will be enforced by police. As for not slowing down through a RBT - that's just dumb & arrogant.

Mr Milk said...

I'm one of those terrible criminal cyclists that doesn't wear a helmet. Simple physics tells me that I've got plenty of time to put my hands out before I my head drops about a metre and a half onto the road in a crash. If I don't react, I'm already badly injured. I prefer to take the risk rather than have the pain of sweat running into my eyes a lot of the time.

So I've moved out of the city, where I had the occasional discussion with a policeman and no harm done.

Here in the country, they like to do a good job, so a few weeks ago I got my first ticket from a cop who forced me off the road and almost into a ditch so he could give me a lecture about road safety.

Then this afternoon, I rode through a random breath testing stop, and a cop stepped in front of me and pushed me towards the oncoming traffic, just because I didn't instantly stop for him (seriously, who is pissed and riding at 40kmh on a main road?). He had his back to it, but I could see a light truck coming the other direction. Could have been a manslaughter charge there.

Both times, for ID I've given them my Blood Donor card. Why? Well, the ad says 1/3 of you will need blood during your lifetime, but only 1/30 donate. It irks me when the case they highlight to humanise the recipient is a policeman with cancer, as I saw in the Good Weekend magazine (part of the Sydney Morning Herald). How ungrateful is he, I ask you. I've saved your life, cut me some slack!

Against that, there are about 40 cyclist deaths a year, many of whom had head injuries as well as the massive organ injuries and blood loss that killed them, and 400 head injuries needing hospitalisation. I dunno about you lot, but I think that hospitalisation is the default position for a headache these days. I got knocked out playing both soccer and rugby at school in the 70s, and there wasn't so much as the magic water bottle thrown in my direction.

So that's a high probability event, you needing a few units of blood (type O+, in my case, good for 90% of you) compared to a low probability one, that I get catastrophically injured while riding.

I'll take great pleasure asking the cops and magistrate if they think that me wearing a helmet is more important than some poor little 7 year old with leukemia getting the blood they need.

In the meantime, another cop told me that a doctor's letter will let me pass. Apart from the ones I meet at the beach, I haven't consulted one in years. So can one of you help me out?

This made my eyes bleed.
Thanks

Chris6791 said...
Oh man, where do you even start with such a stupid post, but hey I've just got home from work and have time to kill.

Mr Milk said...

I'm one of those terrible criminal cyclists that doesn't wear a helmet. Simple physics tells me that I've got plenty of time to put my hands out before I my head drops about a metre and a half onto the road in a crash. If I don't react, I'm already badly injured. I prefer to take the risk rather than have the pain of sweat running into my eyes a lot of the time.

simple maths suggests your simple physics theory is wrong. At a readily achievable speed of 30km/hr you are travelling at 8.3 metres per second, at that speed your head drop onto the road of a metre and a half takes around 1/5th of a second. Even if you were generous and allowed a full second of time to interpret and react to the unfolding drama your brain has already been splattered all over the pavement for 4/5th's of a second... and that doesn't include the accelerating affect of gravity, the whip effect of a lower down collision, or being hit by a car and thrown into the windscreen or bonnet with your unprotected head

Average speed 30 kph in a horizontal plane. Average speed 0 kph in the vertical. The formula used at my school was s=ut + 1/2 a*t*t. u=0, s=1.5, a=9.8 solve for t .
1.5= 5t*t
t=0.54 seconds

Climbing hard 15m/min. Dropping as fast as I dare might be 70 or so m/minute at 60-70kph. If I land on my head, I break my neck, as we see in the TDF or the Giro every few years

And let's not forget about the people use the helmet to protect their handlebars.