Sexist bike helmet laws mean too many bad hair days, says cyclist Sue Abbott - Polidicks

[QUOTE=Regularjoe;44937383]Top 3 Countries with most bikes per capita: Netherlands, Denmark, Germany Helmet laws in aforementioned countries: None[/QUOTE] We have dedicated biking lanes everywhere. Traveling by bike is safer than traveling by car. Off road and speed cyclists still wear helmets, though.

[QUOTE=Chopstick;44938941]Helmets don't help that much, you're much more prone to injuring your legs or hands when cycling I'd say. Still doesn't mean helmets are completely useless though, protects twigs and bugs from getting stuck in your hair which is a bonus I guess.[/QUOTE] Helmets protect you. They protect your very concept of you. They protect the only you that matters. You can go on living with a broken arm or leg. You sustain a few good head injuries, though, and you start to lose who you are. And that's terrifying.

you people have to wear helmets when riding bikes? Over here if you do that you are either seen as a dork or a professional biker depending on your outfit

[QUOTE=3picFail;44938845]Wearing a helmet or not should be up to the individual. Claiming it is sexist is outright stupid, but the principal still stands.[/QUOTE] If you try to blame somebody else after you stave your head in on the concrete without wearing a helmet later, you're going to look like the biggest fool in the world as well, assuming you survive the crash at all. The medical system has enough problems to deal with without pinheads making more trouble for it by not adhering to safety norms. I should know, coming from a country where people largely don't give a fuck for sensible rules.

[QUOTE=Rangergxi;44937516]You're oblivious to the struggle because of your male privilege.[/QUOTE] I'm suing bicycle manufacturers because their seats make my dick feel uncomfortable, so it's obviously sexist

[QUOTE=LVL FACTORY;44939157]you people have to wear helmets when riding bikes? Over here if you do that you are either seen as a dork or a professional biker depending on your outfit[/QUOTE] Yeah, we actually care about rider safety over here.

[QUOTE=TheDecryptor;44939207]Yeah, we actually care about rider safety over here.[/QUOTE] How is the infrastructure, though? I once went on vacation in Italy, and they had no or very shitty biking lanes everywhere. People were riding bikes over parking space and would regularly swerve into car lanes to avoid parked cars. It was dangerous as fuck and I could understand why they'd make helmets mandatory.

[QUOTE=TheDecryptor;44939207]Yeah, we actually care about rider safety over here.[/QUOTE] Well fuck riders, I'm all for mandatory helmets for one simple reason: I do not want to inevitably kill or make them potatoes by accidentally touching them with my car. Because if the fucker spazzes out and falls while I'm unfortunate enough to drive close to them on the road, if he hits his head on my hood while wearing a helmet - that's one thing, I pay his medical expences. If his brains go all over my windsheld - I most likely go to jail regardless of the degree of fault. As long as people ride their bikes around other people and cars - they should wear helmets. If there're special roads dedicated for them - different story. You can't make them everywhere anyway. Same reason I think everyone should wear seatbelts despite dumb people going like "oh it's uncomfortable and why do you care anyway, it's my life". Because why should I go to jail for your stupidity in case I crash into you head on and you die or become a cabbage?

Here in the netherlands you can spot the tourist easily, and thats when someone wears a helmet :v: I have nearly never seen cyclists with helmets.

[QUOTE=3picFail;44938845]Wearing a helmet or not should be up to the individual. Claiming it is sexist is outright stupid, but the principal still stands.[/QUOTE] No it shouldn't be, it should be required. It saves lives, this is proven countless times. That's the same as saying "It should be up to the workmen if they wear hardhats on building sites". Nothing might happen, but it would be idiotic to allow people to choose when to use safety gear when something could go wrong at any time, and people on bikes are already not protected by the shell of a car or truck.

Probably been mentioned but I'm on the bus to work and don't feel like scanning the thread, but they make helmets for women that won't ruin your hair, I've seen women wearing them. They look no more ridiculous than any other bike helmet.

Odd, in england hardly anyone seems to give a fuck about not wearing a helmet when riding a bike

[QUOTE=Ogopogo;44937515]And what does this prove exactly? [url=http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD001855/abstract]A helmet reduces the chance of a head or brain injury by 63 to 88 percent.[/url] Cycling is so popular in those countries, and so much safer, because a variety of other reasons, none of which relate to helmet use.[/QUOTE] The reason is pretty much that everybody is always aware of bike's because around 90% of the people ride a bike at least once a year. And this: [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/46/Rotterdam_Fietspad_Westzeedijk.jpg/800px-Rotterdam_Fietspad_Westzeedijk.jpg[/img] Bicycle lanes! Nobody, and I mean nobody wears a helmet here.

She's sexist for believing that only women have big hair stylings.

[QUOTE=Cabbage;44937501]She could just get one of these... [IMG]http://salonmonster.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/hairmet-299x299.png[/IMG] The hairmet![/QUOTE] Obvious male agenda trying to make proud women look ridiculous while riding a bike.

You have to wear a helmet in France? How weird, I never wear a helmet on a bicycle because the helmets look stupid.

I don't know anyone who wears a helmet when riding their bike

There's one thing not adding up more than anything else. Who styles their hair and then rides a bike?

[QUOTE=Articsledder;44937243]I try to always wear a helmet while riding my bike, but it doesn't seem right to force people. It's a personal choice thing.[/QUOTE] Yeah, like seatbelts right? [QUOTE=darth-veger;44939337]Here in the netherlands you can spot the tourist easily, and thats when someone wears a helmet :v: I have nearly never seen cyclists with helmets.[/QUOTE] Tbh, that's because you guys have a huge biking culture with a massive infrastructure that supports them. The chance of a biker running into an accident is pretty small when there's bike lanes everywhere. In some places you can't really have the same kind of biker culture either. Just try routinely riding a bike in Prague, the amount of hills will kill you sooner or later.

Because you don't want to inconvenience yourself with your hair when giving a shit about your safety.

People like her are total idiots, helmets save lives. They're not some rip of get quick rich scheme, they actually work and prevent deaths. I've seen far to many motorcycle accidents that the rider didn't have a helmet and ate the road face first. Hell, I had a blood streak in front my house that was prolly 10-20 feet long because the guy didn't have a helmet and crashed. Poor guy died, worst part of it is, he had a helmet in his back-pack. Didn't do him much good in there. I want to get a motorcycle myself, but when I do i know I'm going to end up paying big bucks for nice riding gear. Seeing as it is a small cost compared to dying.

Well Ms. Abbott, getting in a bad bike accident means having your hair literally abraded off from the asphalt. So you can either have bad hair or no hair and severe brain trauma. Take your pick.

I bet the bicycle helmet was invented by oppressive, white men!

[QUOTE=gk99;44937246]Which is fine? If some dumbass wants to go and not wear the proper safety equipment, it's not my problem. TBH I believe the same thing about seatbelts, and I guarentee I'd wear them anyway.[/QUOTE] Laws exist to protect society. In general, it's not good for society to have dumb retards going around harming themselves, therefore we enact laws to protect them from their own stupidity.

Deal with it you fuckin' crybaby, jesus christ.

[QUOTE]And she will be riding without a helmet again on Thursday afternoon as part of a protest ride from the city to Henley Beach organised by Freedom Cyclists — [B]but this time police have promised no bareheaded riders will be fined during the event[/B].[/QUOTE] So that ride will suddenly be okay, and no riders will be able to get into an accident? Maaan, it sounds so good to have rules skipped just because you don't like them.

[QUOTE=Coment;44941849]So that ride will suddenly be okay, and no riders will be able to get into an accident? Maaan, it sounds so good to have rules skipped just because you don't like them.[/QUOTE] It's part of the protest. It's the core part of the statement. It's dumb to not wear a helmet, but it wouldn't really make sense to protest the helmet laws by abiding by them.

[QUOTE=Coment;44941849]So that ride will suddenly be okay, and no riders will be able to get into an accident? Maaan, it sounds so good to have rules skipped just because you don't like them.[/QUOTE] Yeah that's the worst. Call something a "protest" and yourself an "activist" and suddenly you can do everything scot-free.

What's with Abbots being fucking retards? There's Tony Abbot and now this dumb cunt. What next?

[QUOTE=Lijitsu;44942003]It's part of the protest. It's the core part of the statement. It's dumb to not wear a helmet, but it wouldn't really make sense to protest the helmet laws by abiding by them.[/QUOTE] That's not the point. Thing is, police promised not to fine them. Because fuck you, for no reason but because stupid people are "protesting". What kind of a protest is it if you're suddenly exempt from the very thing you're protesting against anyway?