Dear Bike-Helmet Haters: I Am Sorry, You Were Right
Andrew Sullivan, I thought you were displaying poor judgment when I saw you trucking up the Rock Creek Trail, letting your freak dome fly. Guy we put on the cover, I thought you were the ass clown. And while I'll never come over to your side on the bike-helmet debate, I offer you an excellent argument against their use:
SCENE: Rock Creek Park, about 20 minutes ago. I feel something clunk into my helmet, then I feel something fall through the vent onto my very bald head.
Then I feel stinging. Not like the unpleasant tingle you feel after brushing past nettles, I'm talking SWEET MOTHER OF GOD stuff here.
Pull over. Unbuckle. THIS IS TAKING FOREVER! Yank off the helmet. A bee is cuddling up to one of the head guards. Head throbs. I catch my breath, feel the welt, take a sip of water.
Then in what's either a sign of my dedication to avoiding brain damage or a good argument that there's nothing to protect anyway, I knock the bee out, remount the helmet, and ride to work, every bump sandwiching my sting between skull and foam.
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12:16 pm
Whoa - a bee in the bonnet! Wake & bake, jump on the bike, riding on the trail, & OUCH! Dang, that'd be rough way to start a Friday. TGIF anyway - as they say, if that's the worst thing that happens ...
1:38 pm
Andrew, seriously...how many people get stung by bees while riding their bikes vs. get injured in collisions or falls on their bike. The two aren't comparable. HELMETS reduce injuries and can save lives. True in the 70's and early 80's riding with a helmet was for wusses, but nowadays, riding without a helmet is for wusses.
2:24 pm
I got one trapped in my sock this morning when running! so the helmet isn't the problem...: )
6:13 am
A bee trap! I like it. Could you glue some mosquito netting over the vents, or use one of those helmet covers?
You could just leave off the helmet of course - helmet laws have stopped a lot of people cycling and have done nothing for head injury rates, see Robinson DL. No clear evidence from countries that have enforced the wearing of helmets. BMJ 2006;332: 722-5. http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/332/7543/722-a. It appears that helmets break easily, but don't absorb the impact, see the engineers quoted at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_helmet.
A broken helmet has simply failed, and the widespread anecdotes on the theme of "a helmet saved my life" seem to owe more to wishful thinking than to science. The only definite connection is that helmets have strangled a few young children who were wearing helmets while playing off their bicycles. If someone with a bad allergy repeats your stunt then death by bee sting might one day be added to the account.
10:25 am
Bee in the helmet happened to me this morning on my way to work! Lucky it was when I was pulling up to a stop light. I took the helmet off but saw nothing, and realized it was in my hair.
I tried to shake it off, but it wouldn't let go, and ended up crawling around between my eye and my sunglasses! ACK!!! Luckily I got rid of it before it got me.
10:27 am
Hair ≠ problem for me!