I’m pregnant right now and unfortunately haven’t been able to keep biking despite my efforts. But I love your blog and others related to it and look forward to getting junior into some jerry-rigged car-seat-trailer-thing asap. (I know, that’s another post!) And eventually, into his own little helmet.

When I was in my early twenties, and a little bit stupider than I am now, I did indeed fall off my bike and break my helmet. Of course, I was trying to do a wheelie on a loaded touring bike, on a gravel path. Not smart.

A few years later — in my late twenties — I was going fast on a university campus path, in the dark, on an unfamiliar bike, hit a bump, fell and broke both bones of one lower leg. Nine years later, I still have a titanium rod inside the tibia, from my knee to my ankle. Didn’t hit my head, but invasive surgery, five days in the hospital, and four months on crutches weren’t so fantastic.

Then, I actually learned how to ride safely. I haven’t fallen since, in eight years of daily commuting and mostly-car-free existence. Most of the time, I don’t wear a helmet. I’m not too concerned about falling any more, because I don’t ride fast and I know what to look out for. In short, I grew up and stopped acting like an idiot.

The only times I do wear a helmet are 1) when I have to go out onto the fast-multilane-U.S.-suburban-sprawl arterials. I try to avoid riding there, but if I do, then I feel like i need to signal to the drivers around me that I’m a serious road user and I know what I’m doing. The helmet will do that. Or 2), when it’s cold. A helmet over a wool cap keeps me pretty warm. Otherwise, naah, no need for it, and I’d rather show people that you can ride normally and safely in the central parts of most American cities.

All people in the world will be required under penalty of death to wear full face helmets and body armor at all times except when they are in bed (at which time they will be required to wear full body condoms).

However, for 4 years from the age of 18 to 22, all humanoids can never wear any body protection, including clothing, and will be required to ingest a frothy hallucinogenic, alcoholic, ecstasy inducing drink at least 5 times a week. We are working on the recipe now. It will come in 4 flavors including lime.

I can still get home.

And I can use a share-bike on the spur of the moment.

And my neighbor, who isn’t quite sure about all this bike stuff can go around the block on mine without earning a visit from the local constabulary (I think they have better things to do with their time!).

We allow risks in society…you don’t need a car seat for your kids if you take a taxi. What Mikael (PBUH) has shown us all is that there is a way to encourage cycling through infrastructure and through culture.

The people who I am calling “jerks” are the anti-helmet trolls — the ones who chastise any helmet wearer as a victim of the “culture of fear;” an unknowing serf to global conspiracy to suppress cycling. I’ve read some crazy stuff by these folks. They are, in my opinion, jerks.

It gives me great satisfaction to read that this site helped motivate you to bike commute.

Cognitive dissonance is a discomfort caused by holding conflicting cognitions (e.g., ideas, beliefs, values, emotional reactions) simultaneously.

Yep. That’s what I thought it meant.

Wherever the tiresome helmet debate is ignited — and it’s so pitifully easy to ignite it — people like you and Paul arrive with personal stories of how helmets saved them from death or more serious injury. I can’t possibly discount your stories. How can you not be happy to have survived these accidents, and how can I not be happy for you? I am. And I would never discourage you or anyone from wearing a helmet. Neither would I ever criticize an adult for not wearing a helmet for everyday cycling.

Your experiences, however, are anecdotal, not statistical. And rational risk assessment ought to be based at least partially on statistics.

The cognitive dissonance that I see is when people understand the statistical safety of cycling and continue to wear a helmet, however they also continue to engage in much riskier activities without safety equipment.

Absolutely: It is inconsistent for me to wear a helmet for cycling (which I do) while I haven’t installed an elevator or stair-lift in my two-story home — or taken similar precautions against all other lifestyle risks which have a statistical occurrence equal to or greater than a head injury from cycling.

My message to the anti-helmet trolls is this: I understand your case. Shut up now and allow me this contradiction.