• ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee
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    21 days ago

    One of the most absurd things I’ve gotten heavily downvoted for on reddit is for saying people should wear helmets no matter how good the cycling infrastructure is. Not that it should be mandated by law, but that it’s simply the wise thing to do. Then people are like ‘wELL I gUeSs YoU ShOUld THeN wEaR a HElmEt whiLE walKinG tOo’

    Fine, then don’t wear a helmet. It’s not my head.

    I didn’t use to wear one when I was a kid either but nowdays it feels like driving without a seatbelt. Hell, I might even just take my bike for a test drive around the block after having done some adjustments on it and I still go grab my helmet first.

    • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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      21 days ago

      Not that it should be mandated by law, but that it’s simply the wise thing to do. Then people are like 'wELL I gUeSs YoU ShOUld THeN wEaR a HElmEt whiLE walKinG tOo

      I don’t think people really understand just how devastating head injuries can be, and just how easy it is to get a tbi when on a surface as hard as concrete.

      Even when doing something as simple as walking/running on wet concrete is deceptively dangerous. Every summer the trauma ward I work in has to deal with dozens of kids acquiring life altering tbi for doing something as mundane as running near a pool.

      The ironic thing about bikers not wanting to wear helmets is that if you’re not lucky, you’ll end up being fit with a soft shell one at the hospital after you’ve bashed your head anyways. I’ve fit a bunch of people with orthopedic helmets for not wearing helmets over the years.

        • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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          20 days ago

          Yeah, pediatric care is both tremendously rewarding and horrendously soul crushing depending on what department you’re working in. You eventually build up some callouses over the years, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit summers haven’t lost some of its luster because of my job.

          Engaging with families who went from having some of the best time of their lives to the worst moments of their existence over the course of the evening is still tough.

      • clif@lemmy.world
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        20 days ago

        Yep. I was friends with someone both before and after they bashed their skull on concrete in a roller skating accident. They were never the same, and they weren’t different for the better.

    • pivot_root@lemmy.world
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      21 days ago

      At that point, just let them self-select out of the gene pool. In a few generations, maybe our descendants won’t be so adverse to basic self-preservation and common sense.

      • GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca
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        20 days ago

        There’s no genetic pressure not to take chances with incredibly unlikely events with a high chance of death. That’s why we are at this point in the first place. If we want these things to stop happening, it will take using our brains and not trusting on nature to enforce it on us.