Catholic Dads

9 Responses to New research links cycle helmets with abortion

1. Owen says:

   August 29, 2008 at 2:26 am

   But wait, we already had one Catholic Joke post this week.
2. Anna says:

   August 30, 2008 at 5:04 pm

   Even if it is a joke, isn't there something of an irony posting this almost within a week of this post?
3. Owen says:

   August 31, 2008 at 1:25 am

   Hi Anna, we can blame me as needed for these words "To not wear a helmet as an adult with children is a deeply selfish action done for the most vain reasons." are mine and I stand by them for reasons already stated and I can stand today because that one certain fall when I was wearing a helmet was the difference between being able to stand at all.I'm not the establishment or a person who is trying to make anyone live in fear, just live. Theoretical discussion are tops when you have a melon in working order.
4. Anna says:

   August 31, 2008 at 5:48 am

   Owen,Out of curiousity, what makes you so certain that if you had not been wearing a helmet during that one fall, that you would not be able to stand today?Ben,I was surprised to discover that, at least according to Wikipedia, there is not really good scientific evidence that bike helmets make any difference. And I agree that our culture has an atmosphere of fear, although I don't believe anyone is deliberately promoting that atmosphere, except maybe those who commercially benefit.However, it does seem to me that, even if the chance of serious injury to the head is very low, the stakes are high. And the downside – the cost of helmet and inconvenience of wearing it each time – is also low. God bless,Anna
5. Ben Trovato says:

   August 31, 2008 at 9:08 am

   Anna,

   it was a line in the previous post that got me started on this: “To not wear a helmet as an adult with children is a deeply selfish action done for the most vain reasons.”

   I was trying to illustrate that it was not necessarily a deeply selfish and vain action.

   I do believe quite strongly that the establishment likes to keep us living in fear, and that that is not a healthy way to raise kids.

   I do not claim to be right about cycle helmets: where it is not a legal requirement I think it is a prudential decision for the parents, and different ones may legitimately make different judgements.

   However, given the massive one-sided propaganda on this and related issues, I did want to raise the possibility that there may be other ways of looking at this (eg mine…)

   I know I’m swimming against the stream – that’s why I call my blog counter-cultural father.

   It remains true, however, that some research done by an academic in the UK found that he had more accidents involving cars when wearing a cycle helmet than when not doing so. Clearly that is not anything like conclusive, but it does show how ‘obvious’ ideas such as ‘you are safer wearing a helmet’) may not necessarily be true… Causality is quite complex!
6. Owen says:

   August 31, 2008 at 2:07 pm

   Anna, a doctor told me, simply, the helmet spared me the kind of head injury that would have changed my life for good (or bad as it were).

   You might want to check sources beyond wikipedia as well Here’s a few interesting stats:

   “The “typical” bicyclist killed on our roads is a sober male over 16 not wearing a helmet riding on a major road between intersections in an urban area on a summer evening when hit by a car.”

   Bicycle Deaths by Helmet Use
   2006 No Helmet 730 (95%) Helmet 37 (5%) Total*Num 770

   A very high percentage of cyclists’ brain injuries can be prevented by a helmet, estimated at anywhere from 45 to 88 per cent.

   Each of the three above stats are USA.

   However the point that matters for me is what you yourself have said in your final paragraph Ann.
7. Ben Trovato says:

   September 4, 2008 at 6:00 am

   Bicycle helmets aren't really the issue for me – just a symptom.It seems increasingly that many of the freedoms we took for granted as kids are now being denied to our children in the name of 'health and safety' and that the risk is that we as parents collude with that – to our children's peril.
8. Anonymous says:

   September 4, 2008 at 7:21 am

   Does it bother anyone else that you have to go to the link to find out the headline is utterly BOGUS? Someone glancing over the page would just assume this was on the level as there is NOTHING in the post on Catholic Dads to indiate that it is "tongue in cheek."
9. Anna says:

   September 4, 2008 at 8:09 am

   Ben,I guess I think it depends on how far you take it. Some of that avoidance of risk is a good thing, and bike helmets may be in that category, like seat belts.God bless,Anna