Oddly Enough, A Fashionable Wig Will Not Prevent A Concussion

Oooooh, sassy!

Haha holy crap Kasa! Are you ok? Time to refill the xanax prescription. Actually, I neither complain about bike lanes or ride in Critical Mass. I notice however that you complain rather loudly about not being able to find a man.

http://seattlest.com/2007/06/28/desperate_seatt.php#comment-1136708

Here's a little free advice I'm sure you won't take: the reason guys don't like you isn't because they're all gay or "total dicks" as you put it. It's because guys don't tend to like nasty, foul-mouthed skanks with personality disorders. You should work on it.

Dearest velo-

We are ragging on you because we think you're an idiot. Not wearing your helmet in Seattle is fucking stupid and irresponsible, and we are telling you so because we can. You can get all worked up because someone's calling you on it, but it doesn't change the bare fact that you are a fucking moron every time you step on your bike.

As for the 911 comment? It's resentment about people expecting others to take care of them when they willfully fuck up, and if you can't get that comment you're a bigger moron than I thought. I bet you complain about Seattle's shitty bike lane system too, don't you? You probably even ride in Critical Mass. Ass.

Loves,

Kasa

LisaPaige, I think it's fine that you wear a helmet. If you wanted to ride in full body armor, I wouldn't say anything against that either. Everybody makes their own choices about the level of protection and risk. What I don't get is why people constantly feel the need to rag on those who choose not to wear a helmet. I am not saying that you did, but look at the original post ("why are you so dumb?") or some other commenters on here ("idiots" "I wouldn't call 911..."). I didn't call anyone "so dumb" or an idiot...or say I wouldn't help out someone who'd been hit by a car...but I'm the one with my panties in a knot? Not them?

I think Velo's panties are the only ones out of this group that might be tied in knots. Yah, I do think it's safer to ride on most streets in Amsterdam - yet even with that, bikes still get crunched there.

I'm not tsk-tsking anything or anyone. Just making an observation.

I also rode a bike without a helmet when I was a kid - and I agree with you that parents were less frightened about it then. Yet when I was kid, I wasn't commuting to work or sharing the streets with speeding cars.

As an adult, I would just prefer to wear a helmet to increase my chances of not getting my head bashed in. That's where I draw my own line.

Velo-

Please chill out.

You seem freaky.

So you're saying Amsterdam is safer to ride right after telling us a story about how you were there on vacation and saw a cyclist squashed by a car? Um, ok...

My point was that in other countries (where, believe it or not, people actually have accidents, just like Americans) many people ride bicycles without helmets. And if you get your panties in a knot over such things, you'd have a really hard time walking around in these places without constant tsk-tsking.

Sure it is safer to wear a helmet. You can still die if you get into a bike accident with a helmet, though. It would be safer not to ride a bike at all. Where do you draw the line?

Like most people over a certain age, I spent many hours of my childhood riding around on a bike with no helmet. They didn't even have helmets for kids. It's not that my parents loved me any less, or that accidents didn't happen back then. It's just that people weren't so damned frightened and freaked-out about everything that could possibly go wrong!

Sounds like the guy forgot the helmet part of his Hair Helmet.

For what it's worth, when I was in Amsterdam two years ago, I witnessed a helmetless woman on a bike get hit by a car, thusly cracking her skull on the pavement. The Dutch bleed just like we do, 'cept maybe with a little more THC in it. Or not.

Anyway, as I'm sure you're aware, Velo, Amsterdam is designed completely different than Seattle is. Bikes are boss there - cars are the exception. The town is much more well-suited for bikes and peds than it is SUVs and Hummers, making it relatively safe(r) to ride without a helmet.

I'm just sayin'.

velo, I don't see any sanctimony on here, we just don't understand why you don't wear your damn helmets. And as of yet, I haven't heard any good reasons. So until then I'll just keep on thinking it's laziness and/or the cool factor.

Also, as my mom always said, if Amsterdam jumped off a cliff, would you?

The Dutch are notoriously thick-skulled. That's why they still live below sea level. NEXT!

Wow, I hope you folks never travel to Amsterdam. Tons of cyclists and nobody ever wears a helmet there. Not even little kids in bike seats. You'd all be going insane with self-righteousness!

If you don't need to wear a helmet (which is fine, totally your choice), then you also don't need someone to call 911 when your head meets the pavement unexpectedly. Because you should be totally fine to just take care of that yourself, not having needed the helmet in the first place. Problem solved!

Thanks for the links, kids.

It can be a little confusing trying to figure out the proper bike/car relationship, but I say treat the cyclists with respect, treat the bike as a car and don't let the few mouth-breathers out there compromise the safety of all those actually following the rules.

Awesomely, it is legal to ride on the sidewalk in Seattle. Just not at full speed and mowing over pedestrians.

here is a link specifically for seattle

Seattle Bicycle Traffic Laws

the wonderful thing about the internet is that you can look up information you are unsure of.

King County Bicycle Traffic Laws

I'm confused about the bike laws in Seattle. When I lived in Bellingham, it was against the law to ride a bike on the sidewalk. Is that the case in Seattle? Also, is it kosher for cyclists to ride side-by-side down the street - or should they be in single file so you can actually pass them without having to change lanes?

I have much respect for cyclists on the road, but it's hard to treat them as motorists when I see them doing things that are illegal for motorists, like running through red lights and such.

I'm back on my bike, too, commuting from West Seattle to downtown a few days a week. It's heartbreaking to see the beautiful boys and girls of the bikerati with nothing to protect their brains. That kind of pretty should be in the gene pool, but the kind of dumb that thinks it's okay to skitter in and out of traffic without a bucket? Maybe not.

I wear a helmet when riding as well. I did find the following link to the possible study that kasa mentioned. It's from the University of Bath in the UK.

http://www.bath.ac.uk/news/articles/archive/overtaking110906.html

One interesting bit from the study:

"To test another theory, Dr Walker donned a long wig to see whether there was any difference in passing distance when drivers thought they were overtaking what appeared to be a female cyclist.

Whilst wearing the wig, drivers gave him an average of 14 centimetres (5.5 inches) more space when passing."

Perhaps the injured cyclist was just trying to gain some more space on the trail...

Oh, please dearest sciencevsromance, can you direct me to a study, or anything showing how helmets are "controversial"?

I hear this stuff all the time and nobody seems to have anything to back it up.

Yup, the bike riders without helmets ... too cool to be safe. I can't tell ya how many times I have observed the 3 feet behind or to side of them. They have no regard for anyone but themselves, taking up an entire lane going 2 miles an hour. If you are going too slow you should be on the sidewalk ... walking your bike!

Believe it or not, I've met bike hobos who seem to be laboring under the misconception that helmets cause more injuries than your head slamming against the concrete at however many miles an hour. Also, there is a study out there (I've read it, but god knows where it is now) showing that cars pass closer and faster to bikers wearing helmets (and dude bikers). Some idiots use this as an excuse not to wear helmets.

Then of course there are the folks biking so short a distance that they don't bother, I'm sure.

Sigh.

helmets are actually pretty controversial and not especially common overseas.

Bike's are getting a lot of coverage this week.

Today, I went to lunch at the Taco Time over on 15th West.

A bicyclist was riding on the sidewalk, which is bad enough, but he was riding against traffic. My friend driving was looking to the south to enter the southbound lanes. She's an attentive driving and looked to the north before pulling out and saw the oh-so-oblivious bicyclist riding by. I don't know how many drivers would have done the same.

I'm all for bicylists. Far above cars. I'm not for idiots who don't obey the traffic laws. It's for their own safety. Car, bike, or ped.