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Turns out, it can be safer to ride your bike without a helmet. Why? A study showed that cars get closer to bikers with helmets, probably because they feel bikers with helmets are better and more experienced bike riders. Best solution: don’t wear a helmet, and ride you bike in a way that suggests to drivers you have never ridden a bike before. That way, they will do everything they can to avoid you.
aksendz responding to a comment by KiMS1
07.1.09 - 11:49 pm
yeah i heard about that, something like they had a guy dress up in a skirt and wear a long blonde wig, watch the car space, then have him in full gear with a helmet and watched that space shrink.
at the same time though, i think majority of crashes happened due to people fucking up or not seeing potholes and such.
i think having a helmet, lights and a sober head is always the better bet.
that and avoiding riding with big groups where u dont know people or the skill they ride at.
KiMS1 responding to a comment by aksendz
07.1.09 - 11:54 pm
I am on the fence on this one. People should be free from Big Brother telling them how to live there life, but there needs to be rules for a society to function. Brakes make sense on a bike just like brakes make sense on a car. When you are given the responsibility to use the streets like cars you need to take safety into account.
Are you fucking kidding me? That's the most half-assed rationale to not wear a helmet I've ever seen. You're basically saying this:
I'm gonna changed what I'm doing IN THE VAIN HOPE that it will influence the behaviour of random drunk assholes in cars who are most likely to hit cyclists.
Yeah. I'm real sure not wearing a helmet is gonna help you there.
People always repeat that bullshit about drivers driving closer to you when you have a helmet on. Its retarded.
What about the driver who is blind drunk and doesnt even see you?
He has no idea if you're wearing a helmet or not. Even after your head smashes his windshield he probably still won't be able to tell you if you were wearing a helmet or not.
If you don't want to wear one thats fine. Its your choice... but dont fill peoples heads with retarded mythology.
You almost never get hit by a driver that sees you, its usually the guy who didnt even know you were there that spills your brain-matter on the street.
If you've been to Berlin, feel free to correct me. But in Hamburg, Germany the riding culture is very different than what we experience here. The whole time I was there I did not see a single bicycle on the roadway. That is because there is actually a designated side walk that is for bicycles only... meaning there is a sidewalk for walking and a completely separate side walk for bicycles running along side it.
It is very rare and very out of place to ride a "road bike". Most everyone who rides there does so on an "Oma" or "Opa" style bicycle or similar upright riding posture.
My guess, knowing the German character, is this is less to do with the concern for safety and more to do with getting rid of something that is so different and out of place... so NOT German.
my helmet may be sweat stinky but im wearing it all the time and i like having my brakes.
but no matter how safe u r there is alot of people on the road that should not be in a automobile at ALL cuz they never look. so just keep your eye pealed always looking 15 seconds into the future of what this dumb ass may do at the next driveway or intersection.