Labrat wrote:mjr wrote:After all, say it wasn't about cycling but some other activity where helmets are worn - does the availability of helmets really make you feel keener to try it? Or do you feel more like they're a last-ditch mitigation measure?
You mean like how the introduction of seat belts and air bags has put people off driving cars?
You can see how manufacturers cover up safety features like this, and totally avoid using them as sales features for fear their customers will be put off driving one of their cars by connecting it with these last-ditch reminders of how unsafe driving is?
So if I show up in a pristine Aston Martin DB1 (no air bags, no seat belts, not even head restraints) I'll get stern lectures from bystanders about what an unsafe vehicle I'm driving? I suspect not... The culture is entirely different.
There is a significant difference between seat belts and cycle helmets. One is a lightweight bit of engineering based on a bit of polystyrene padding designed to mitigate minor injuries in a low energy crash, and the other is a pretty serious bit of engineering anchored to a hefty steel box designed to save lives in high energy impacts. The two really shouldn't be thought of in the same way as road safety interventions (but even so, read John Adams' Risk for really serious problems with safety belts, even though we can be sure that if you're having a crash your odds are better with one).
Pete.