Re: 1972 Legnano in the news

On 11/10/2024 10:23 PM, John B. wrote:

On Sun, 10 Nov 2024 10:05:15 -0600, AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:
 

What proportion of your own lifetime bicycle riding was
under a brain bucket?

 I honestly don't know as I spent much of my military career "overseas"
where we were somewhat protected from local laws, if for no other
reason then that few of the local police spoke English :-) Then when I
retired I went back overseas to work and riding a bicycle on your
break was sort of "blah" and money was plentiful so take a taxi :-)

I don't think that was honest at all. What were the years you did your bicycle riding? I'd assume most were before 1980. Bike helmets (other than the rare racer's leather strap kind) were almost nonexistent until 1980.

Perhaps that is a solution. A state law that for anyone killed or
injured while riding a bicycle without a helmet any insurance policy
for medical care and/or death shall be deemed to be null and void.

Would that apply to _all_ victims of brain injury? Let's recall that in the U.S., bicyclists comprise less than one percent of fatal brain injuries. For serious but not fatal brain injuries, the percentages probably aren't much different.
Falls when walking around the home are one of the top causes of serious brain injuries. Riding in automobiles is also a big cause, as are assaults. Bicycling is rarely mentioned as a source in articles listing causes. See https://www.myshepherdconnection.org/abi/Introduction-to-Brain-Injury/Statistics-and-Causes as an example.
And don't think that bicyclists are a significant portion of the "falls" or "motor vehicle" categories. Here's a more detailed table that deals with total (not just TBI) fatalities. Note what a tiny portion bicyclists make up. https://probablyhelpful.com/injury_death.htm
It's a propaganda generated myth that riding a bike is likely to cause serious brain injury.
--
- Frank Krygowski