I’m sorry, but a grown man wearing a bicycle helmet, when he’s not training or racing like LeMond, is just — is just . . . Well, I think Dukakis looked better in his tank, is all I’m saying.
P.S. I understand the imperative of setting an example for your daughter. Still . . .
P.P.S. I did like it when Obama swatted that fly. What’s he done since?
P.P.P.S. Oh, yeah: bin Laden.
P.P.P.P.S. I also liked it when he called Kanye West a “jackass.” So don’t say I’m down-the-line anti-Obama.
Personally, I'm all for it. In fact, before he steps on anything more risky than an escalator, the man should be wrapped in Styrofoam and bubble-wrap.
If anything happens to the guy, we're stuck with Joe Biden.
I'm not sure how to make things worse than they are today, but I'm positive Joe Biden does.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"If anything happens to the guy, we're stuck with Joe Biden."
Wow, that's a very scary thought. Forget that little helmet he has, put a full face motorcycle helment. The thought of President Biden is freaking scary!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI always figured that was why he chose Biden--to make double sure that people would do everything in their power to protect him, so we wouldn't get stuck with Joey.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIs that a girl's bike he's riding. Double Dukakis.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAnyone who rides a bike without a helmet is either nuts or stupid.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTotally agree. Enough with the "we walked uphill in the snow both-ways" holier than thou stuff.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOh please. Maybe Obama can appoint you his 'Helmet Czar'?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAll of that, and a bad parent if he'd do it in front of his children.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI've taken to wearing a helmet once I realized the fragility of the human skull falling onto concrete or steel (to clarify, when riding a bike...). Personally, I'd like to be able to engage in all life's wonderfulness, and it's freaking hard when you're impaired following a brain injury.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAs kiddos in the 70s we used to run barefoot down caleche-strewn allies, across streets so hot the pitch was bubbling, and through patches of goatheads. Now fully grown men deck themselves out like they're scaling the east face of Anapurna when riding a bike down to the park. To my mind, this is the ultimate symbol of the feminization of the American man.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse2004 Figures for Head Injuries:
Bicycles 151,024
Baseball 63,234
Football 51,953
Skateboards 18,743
External Link
(page 2)
I guess bicyclers are just following the lead of all those femmy footballers and baseballers.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseInteresting stats. Makes one wonder though, given BHOs decisions and actions, if he hadn't fallen off a bicycle several times and suffered one of those injuries before he started wearing a helmet? (He does look dorkey though.)
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSo???
Life is tough and sometimes cruel. Even though we have "progressed" and "evolved" we can never make life perfectly safe. And I for one would not want it so. If you have never hurt after falling off a bike, you haven't really learned the limitations of either the bike or yourself.
Show me a man who has not faced challenges, even (or especially) dangerous ones, and I'll show you a liberal - a liberal who thinks HE knows what is best for you. He probably has statistics to back up his prohibitions. (He also probably throws a baseball like a girl.)
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf you go flying off a bike and whack your helmet against the asphalt, you'll still feel quite a jolt. It's not like you're encased in foam rubber. You'll have learned something about your limitations (or the bike's), but you won't have incurred brain damage in the process.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe problem with those stats is that there are many more people biking than partaking in other sports and head injuries as defined in the article include injury to the ears, mouth, eyes and face which would not be protected by a typical bike helmet.
And yes, he's riding a girls bike on a path at a speed not likely to cause injury even without a helmet.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseJust what constitutes a head injury? Does a little boo-boo qualify? And I daresay Americans spend vastly more hours in the seat of a bicycle than they do playing baseball, football and riding skateboards combined.
Bottom line, I suspect the chances of suffering any sort of a significant head injury during the course of normal, non-competitive biking, are not considerably higher than being struck by lightning. But we live in a safety-uber-alles society where the Waffen Health SS have cowed even formerly redoubtable conservatives.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe quoted report doesn't present a good definition and the statistics aren't really right--as someone else pointed out, you need an incidence rate, incidence rate per ride, or something similar.
I wish I had time to dig up the proper statistics, but on a quick search, here is a study estimating the incidence of traumatic brain injury from bicycling. It estimates the incidence as 22/100,000 per year (plus or minus 8/100,000). The incidence of lightning strikes is estimated at 1 in a million, or 1 in 775,000 depending on how you calculate. So yes, the risk of traumatic brain injury from bicycling is much higher than the risk of getting hit by lightning.
The paper I cited has a link to a Cochrane review of the benefits of helmets, if you're interested.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseLorraine,
The incidence of traumatic brain injury from motor vehicle accidents is 114.5/100K. Why then aren't all the cringing sheeple decked out in Bell helmets when behind the wheel of their Volvos?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'm as libertarian as the next, but seriously, tone it down. I don't want to force adults to wear helmets for their own safety, but criticizing adults for doing so voluntarily, and for trying to be good examples, is just childish, and reeks of the petulence of immaturity.
Also, Waffen SS? Thanks, because all we need is to keep analogizing to the Nazis for things like bike helmets. Because that's exactly like state control of the media and gassing Jews. And, frankly, I'm quite PERSONALLY offended by any comparison to Nazis that doesn't involve genocide.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis stats would make a lot more sense when presented as percentage of people who do each activity.
For example, 151,024 is what percentage of cyclists? 63,234 is what percentage of baseball players?
I'm guessing when it's presented that way, a whole different picture is painted.
I'm not arguing against helmets, just want clearer stats.
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