Have we become a nation of kittys

[kozmic]

I started wearing a bike helmet before I had kids and well before it was fashionable. My kids learned through my example and my insistence to always wear a bike helmet. It is second nature to them now.

My oldest was out trail riding a few years ago with a handful of his friends. One of his buddies (a gifted athlete and very out going and popular kid) tried to do some stump jumping and buried his front tire into a root. His head went into the base of a tree. Of course he was too cool to wear a helmet and his parents were too stupid to insist. It took 3 hours to get him to the ER. He had several surgeries and was in the hospital for almost 3 months.

One poor decision at 16 years old changed his life forever. He has since graduated from hs (1-1/2 years late) but will never go to college. He volunteers (spends his days) at a local day treatment center. He is able to communicate but with some difficulty. His motor skills are improving but are still very slow and labored. His mother reduced her work hours at her job to help in his rehab and ongoing care and therapy.

The consensus of his doctors, surgeons and those working with him is that a helmet would have most certainly helped prevent or at least limit the damage done that day.

There are a ton of things that contribute to the wussification of our kids and I agree that most kids wusses. Wearing a bike helmet ain't one of them. Both of my kids are well grounded and 100% teenage male. They don't give a rat's butt what people think when they ride up sporting a bike helmet. In fact, they are now somewhat insistent that those who chose to ride with them also wear a helmet.

 

[COL Jagdog]

I just bought my first mountain bike this past weekend and bought a helmet -- I will ride both on-road and off-road and really don't need the headache (literally and figuratively) that will come if some idiot driver negligently or intentionally sideswipes me or I skitter on some gravel or debris offroad and take a spill -- I am in good shape and everything works well -- why take a chance with getting a head-ding.
I've done all the hooah stuff (parachuting, fast-roping, scuba diving, I grew up surfing, and so on) -- let alone the unexpected and expected
perils while deployed -- so, I could give a kitty's kitty about what the world thinks about me wearing a bike helmet.
And I did grow up the old way, riding a rusty old Schwinn with my dual paper bags on my paper route -- did have one bad spill where my right foot got lodged under the rear edge of the front bumper and it left a nasty crescent-shaped scar across the top of the foot where it half-scalped a chunk of flesh (which my dad stitched up -- he was a surgeon) - still have the scar -- looks kinda like a shark bite.
the years of living dangerously -- but hey , we were kids in the mid-60's growing up in a beach town -- living "The Endless Summer" in real life.

 

[rwsmith]

I'm disappointed for my boy

Kids can't have fun any more or at least in very limited doses. Too much liability and zero tolerance. There are predators out to get our children. They had a neat thing at the fair when I was a kid that you went through and had all kinds of tricks and pitfalls. I took my son through it and they had everything turned off so it wouldn't 'hurt' anybody. We could shoot our BB guns and nobody would complain. We took a .22 back in the woods to plink. Now there aren't any woods. I could go on about this but you right. The nation has gone 'kitty'.

 

[Bell Charter Oak Holsters]

A 78 year old pal of mine rode his Harley to pick up a prescription at the local hospital pharmacy. His wife didn't like him still riding at his age, she felt it was dangerous and protested whenever he took the bike out. He alway's wore a helmet. Unfortunately for him, the heel of his riding boot caught on a steel edge of a concrete stairwell in the hospital, he fell, fractured his skull and was dead within a few days. If he had been wearing his helmet, it probably would have saved his life. But afterall, who wears a helmet to walk down a couple of flights of stairs?

Yes sir, we all need to dress defensively at all times. I wear a football helmet complete with goggles, gas mask, flashing strobe light, whistle, shoulder, elbow and knee pads when ever I venture out onto the mean streets of America. Of course, with all that **** on, the tin foil beanie I wear to protect me from alien abductors may not be as effective. There are always some tradeoffs I suppose.

Think I over do it? Well that helmet saved me just yesterday morning, when I stuck my head out the front door and that damn bicycle peddlin' paper boy hurled that newsprint missile striking me in the head. Thank goodness the local rag is only 4 pages long. If it had been the Sunday NY Times, it probably would have killed me.

Edited to add;
Some bicyclists are just as careless as distracted drivers. They often injur pedestrians, especially the elderly who don't react as quickly to avoid them, as younger folks can. Accidents will happen, but that fact doesn't make it hurt any less. Reasonable judgement, taking precautions and respecting others are just as important.

Cheers;
Lefty

WUSS ON Dudes!

 

[LennyLames]

Most of us grew up riding bikes, and learning to balance was a rite of passage for most kids. We therefore tend to consider biking as being as benign as bowling or a game of horseshoes. In reality, cycling is one of the most dangerous (if not the most dangerous) recreational sports.

I used to ride on the road a lot, even rode my bike across the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan, then all the way down to the Wall Street area. I learned to dodge NY City buses and taxicabs, and the other aggressive drivers in the city (pretty much everyone). That was when I was younger and invincible.

Nowadays, I seldom go road biking, the kind where I have to share a lane with other vehicles. It is, after all, their lane. I know, it's my lane too, but they're bigger, heavier, and more durable. My road bike has been sitting unused in my garage for years, tires flat. Mountain biking is marginally safer, depending on the level of aggressiveness, and I ride my mountain bike mostly on trails where I do not have to deal with large, heavy, fast moving vehicles that could squish me in an instant. I do travel along roads if they have a dedicated bike lane for most of the route.

I hate the idea of an incompetent or inattentive driver causing injury or death to me. I try to maximize my visibility by wearing bright colored clothing. I do wear a helmet, a bright colored one.

 

[johngalt]

I disagree that cycling is inherently dangerous.

Like many, I rode a bike growing up. Back then, no one wore a helmet and it never occurred to anyone that they should. I don't personally know anyone that has suffered a head injury, from cycling or otherwise.

Back in 2000 I started cycling again, after getting tired of the running injuries. I got a helmet at the insistence of everyone. I caved, figuring "oh well, I guess it can't hurt".

A few years ago we had a really hot humid summer. It was really intolerable. I started doing some research on helmet effectiveness. I read a lot on the old usenet rec.bicycling forums and Cycle helmets: an international resource.

I became much less convinced that a foam hat provides any significant protection. So I started riding without it, and the experience is FAR more enjoyable.

The testing protocol is especially enlightening. A 'head form' is strapped into the helmet and it is dropped from approx 6 feet (14 mph terminal velocity) onto anvils of various shape to simulate road and curb contact.

* The helmet is only certified to protect a decapitated head in a 14 mph collision
* It is NOT designed to provide ANY protection automobile collisions.
* A broken helmet is not evidence of an averted injury. A broken helmet means it failed. This is according to the experts who test them.
* Doctors always say 'it saved your life'. They are not experts on helmet design.
* Statistically, you are equally likely suffer a head injury driving your car, and more likely at home. How many of you wear a helmet in your car?

There is also the 'risk compensation' factor. People think the helmet protects them and engage in riskier behavior, sometimes resulting in injury.

I've had a few minor crashes, both with and without the foam hat. My noggin has never touched the ground. But then I don't take unnecessary risks, run stop signs, and ride like an idiot either.

If cyclists had more of a presence on the road, we would all be safer. Fear-mongering discourages this.

 

[glasseye 44]

I fully agree Cajun....

We are being 'protected' by others that know what is best for us. I fight back! To heck with your plastic helmet! Let the air blow through your kid's hair and give them some grand memories like you had!

We had Jarts! Remember those lawn darts we'd throw way up in the sky and try to dodge as they came down? Fun right?

That protection has morphed from bike helmets to regulating super-size sodas, to 7 round magazines, and now I heard on the news that some law maker is pushing a bill requiring a set percentage of groceries bought with food stamps be officially deemed 'healthy food'.

No Nacho cheese for you lady, you've exceeded your lawful quota of snacks for the month. Please pick an item from the fresh fruit isle, but no kiwi or pineapple because the government just changed the nutrition ratings on those two fruits.

Over regulation..... What happened to the idea of freedom and live and let live?

If a person is paying with food stamps they should only be able to buy ground meat, flour, rice and beans.
If they want something else they should get a job and pay for it out of their own pocket.

 

[brucev]

Saw this Saturday but got wrapped up in tree cutting so didn't post.
I grew up riding a bike. Rode one to and from shcool all the way through law school. Rode them to and from summer jobs. Rode them to friends houses. Never wore a helmet. Never got killed-not even once.
Saturday I see someone riding a bike wearing a helmet. On the helmet is a strobe light. He is wearing one of those highway worker lime green vests with the reflecting tape. This is in broad daylight.
I see little kids riding their bikes under the supervision of momma wearing their little helmets. What happened to the days when you and your friends rode in packs? When you had your little brother sitting on the handle bars with his feet on the axle screws (you learned real quick to keep your heels out of the spokes). They have taken the fun out of riding a bike for cryin' out loud!
We have become a nation of kittys.

To some degree I affirm your thoughts. There are of course always those parents who hover over their children. And there are those parents who should have been neutered at birth because of their total failure to exercise even a modicum of care in the lives of their children.

As to helmets, etc., there are those who lament not being able to ride a motorcycle unless they are properly helmeted. It's about the same with bicycles. I once used to routinely ride w/o a helmet. One Sunday afternoon I was going down a long hill. When my speedometer hit 37 MPH, I decided to slow down. Later I decided a helmet was not so sissy after all. At a later date a truck tapped me on St. Simon's Island. My head didn't get hurt. But I had a "bruise" the side of a grapefruit on the inside of my right leg. It was about a mile walk to the bicycle shop for repairs. That night I iced my leg down. Since then I've moderated my bicycle riding. And I don't consider the use of a helmet... or other safety gear to be anything except good sense. Sincerely. brucev.

 

[yaktamer]

When I was 6 years old my mom would send me off on my Schwinn stingray with banana seat, slick rear tire and 5 speed gear shift... to the West End super market (5 miles away)....

to get her a pack of Winstons.... what is a helmet?

yep times have changed....

When my Mom was a kid (in the 30's), her old man used to send her down to the local bar with an empty bucket and some cash for beer from the tap.

 

[rburg]

I grew up planted on my bicycle. I never owned a helmet. Or even saw one. But one of the defining moments of my young life was when the clumsy next door neighbor kid came hauling down the sidewalk, kind of lost control (he'd have lost control at 2 mph) But he hit a nice big tree a few houses down. He slid forward on the top bar and the post the handlebars were attached to stopped him. Lets just say a painful injury to the little head. He was on the ground in tears, curled in the fetal position. Another kid ran to his house to get his mother. Another mother called the ambulance/life squad when she saw the crash. They shoveled him up and away he went to the hospital.

I'm guessing the objective answer was everyone would recommend a helmet and a cup. I never saw him ride again after that, and his main head wasn't injured. But he sure was scared after that.

The adults I see riding these days probably use helmets because their riding style requires a helmet. I'm just amazed they don't kill a few each week.

 

[ordy]

In Pa., it's the law that kids must wear a helmet when riding their bike but an adult can go without a helmet when riding their motorcycle...does that make sense to you? When I was a kid, I rode everywhere with no fear. It just wasn't an issue. Then one day, while riding to church, I got sideswiped by an older woman who wasn't willing to share the road. She pushed me up someones lawn where I suffered acute deceleration trauma when I ran head on into a tree. I was knocked unconcious and was told later that I was bleeding from the ears. I often wonder how I would have turned out if I hadn't hit my head!!!

 

[bushmaster1313]

We played street hockey
In the street -- of course
Lived on a hill, so the only place flat enough was at the very top, where you could not see the cars coming up and around the bend.

When we heard an engine coming up that hill someone would yell: "CAR!" and we would scatter to the curb.

We had real good ears back then

 

[Road Rat]

Kittys get eaten by coyotes.

Yep. And, the day is coming for America...............

Wussies and lawyers have totally ruined the country!!

 

[Old 44 Guy]

I remember an article in "True" magazine back in '50's by Erle Stanley Gardener. the writer of Ellery Queen novels. The title was " Some rights should be Left". It was about everything going nut cakes in USA. He sure hit the nail on the head.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

The OPs question didn't mean just bikes. It's every
single activity. If it can be CONTROLLED, somebody will
come up with a new rule. Brainwash the kids into accepting
controls over their lives.
I'd guess that Jarts, shooting arrows straight up, BB-gun
and stone fights, and playing with firecrackers/rockets,
and all of it unsupervised, is out of bounds nowadays.
I was quite proud when I learned how to ride a bike while
sitting backward on it. Let's face it, you have to fail, sooner
or later, to learn how to LIVE.
JMHO, TACC1.

Well, it only took 55 posts for someone to get my point. And it WOULD be a jarhead from Wisconsin

 

[M29since14]

We got it and your theme is a good one overall, but some of us just disagree with the bike helmet illustration. That's OK! We've got the experience to know. It's a free country. Those who don't have the experience can just do as they please.

 

[looseman]

The wussification of our youth is why I send my kids to Cathiolic school. My kid came home with a drawing he made in school.

2 indians, one with a flame thrower, are burning a field to farm it.

I would have been put in jail for that pic in public school.

 

[A10]

I like kitties. I've been known to snuggle up real close to them. Kitties are some of my favorite things.....

 

[Lost Lake]

Okay, we can agree there are steps we can take to make our daily lives safer.

Earplugs when running a chainsaw, helmets while mountain biking, seat belts in cars.

But do we really need the government creating regulations and laws forcing us to do these things?

 

[mg357]

I think its a good idea to wear protective gear when riding a bicycle or motorcycle. I personally have almost been ran over several time by people when i was outside in my wheelchair and i have considered wearing protective gear.