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From: bill@sdcsvax.UUCP (Bill Appelbe)
Newsgroups: net.bicycle
Subject: Re: USCF HELMET RULE
Message-ID: <1433@sdcsvax.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 19-Feb-86 21:45:55 EST
Article-I.D.: sdcsvax.1433
Posted: Wed Feb 19 21:45:55 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 21-Feb-86 05:38:15 EST
References: <173@oasys.UUCP> <446@tekred.UUCP> <60@tekchips.UUCP> <6184@cca.UUCP>
Reply-To: bill@sdcsvax.UUCP (Bill Appelbe)
Distribution: net
Organization: EECS Dept. U.C. San Diego
Lines: 22

I wear a helmet for a simple reason ... It saved my life once!

I was rear-ended, by a VW driven by a teenager merging from a ramp onto
a major road, at a speed fast enough to send my head through his windshield
(and melt my backpack, while sliding up his hood, and knock teeth out of my
rear cluster). Needless to say, I had quite a few cuts, and minor concussion,
but after a 24hr. checkout I was out of the hospital and back to normal
(and back on my bike, of course!). I ride a lot, and have seen the results
of someone not wearing a helmet too (they hit a pedestrian, while on a
kamakize-like downhill run at night without lights ... the poor pedestrian
was simply crossing the dark road, not expecting a 'misguided missile'!).
The net result was the pedestrian was shaken, the bicyclist put in a coma,
from which he never returned. If you come off a bike, you are likely to
hit the ground at 10-20 mph, quite likely on your head! If its direct,
and there is no convenient mud or soft dirt ....

Helmets are not a replacement for defensive cycling (they are no help against
the danger of fracturing your spine). If you do not want to wear a helmet
that's fine by me, but I AM SURE GLAD I DID NOT THINK THAT WAY A COUPLE
OF YEARS AGO!

     Cheers -- Bill