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From: kehoe@reed.UUCP (Dave Kehoe)
Newsgroups: net.cycle,net.auto,net.politics
Subject: Re: more fire fodder
Message-ID: <3941@reed.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 2-Aug-86 18:12:27 EDT
Article-I.D.: reed.3941
Posted: Sat Aug  2 18:12:27 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 3-Aug-86 06:04:35 EDT
References: <484@water.UUCP>
Reply-To: kehoe@reed.UUCP (Dave Kehoe)
Organization: Reed College, Portland, Oregon
Lines: 35
Xref: watmath net.cycle:1896 net.auto:12099 net.politics:17989

> [statistical evidence that helmet use increases motorcycle fatalities]
>
>  Helmets are an unnatural weight upon the head of the rider and radically
>increase cranial temperatures.  Helmets severly restrict peripheral
>vision and significantly reduce hearing.  No helmet, regardless of cost
>or design, is capable of rejecting impact stresses above 13 mph, as Federal
>Dept. of Transportation testing has evidenced, and in lateral skids,
>helmets deteriorate at 2.5mph.

Any other explanations as to why helmets would kill riders?  These
explanations are vague and/or ambiguous:

-- "helmet weight": do motorcyclists' necks snap or something?
What did the helmets weigh?  Maybe I should where my featherweight
Kiwi instead of my fiberglass Bell Star LTD.  What speeds were
the victims driving at?  I rarely drive over 60mph, so maybe I'm
safer than the dudes who cruise by me at 90mph.

-- "higher cranial temperatures" sure are nice in the cool weather
Portland usually has.

-- "restricted peripheral vision": not that I've noticed.  And my
helmet vastly improves my straight-ahead vision when bugs hit.

-- "significantly reduce hearing": Helmets (and earplugs) significantly
reduce hearing *LOSS* too.  Ask any hearing pathologist.

-- "helmets are damaged by impacts above 13mph": so are bare heads.

If helmets are so lethal, why don't the pro racers die whenever they
dump there bikes during races?
-- 
"If you hear of any technical writing job openings, let
me know" -- D.Kehoe, whose employer recently went belly-up
Dave Kehoe   (503) 230-9454   ...tektronix!reed!kehoe