[lbo-talk] is law enforcement a way to raise money for localeconomies?

[shag carpet bomb]

The study, which backs up what Michael is saying, is here 
<http://www.bhsi.org/walkerstudy.htm>http://www.bhsi.org/walkerstudy.htm 
There were a number of factors including riding as a man vs riding as a 
woman with a wig under the helmet; riding with panniers, lane position, etc.

The problem with the helmet = safety thing is that helmets aren't worn in 
bike heavy European countries. I don't have Traffic or Pedaling Revolution 
on me right now, but these riders aren't suffering more injuries without 
their helmets in these countries. So it again boils down to the safety in 
numbers theory: more bikes, safer roads.

I occasionally wear a lighted safety vest when riding at night or very 
early in the morning when I have 3 a.m. releases. I gave up wearing it 
during daylight hours, because I got a lot more hostile behavior. I 
reckoned this, based on comments I read about cyclists in local paper (and 
also in Vanderbilt):

1. this aggro subset of drivers never think they suck; they see the safety 
vest as remonstration directed at them. they get angry at the messenger for 
daring to suggest that drivers might be bad drivers. this is the subset of 
assholes that see vulnerability and keep on abusing

2. i suspect the aggro drivers believe you are to blame for daring to ride 
on the streets to begin with. there are a number of cyclists in the 
community who think the same of other cyclists. At any rate, for this 
subset of aggro drivers, my guess is that they think you deserve being 
scared or harmed because, by wearing safety gear, you're aware that it's 
dangerous and do it anyway. As such, you are the idiot and, therefore, 
deserve the abuse.

At 10:16 PM 5/10/2012, Jordan Hayes wrote:
>Michael Smith writes:
>
>>I noticed, when I stopped wearing a helmet, that drivers
>>treated me less aggressively. Panniers also help, for some
>>reason.
>
>I notice that people who don't wear helmets tend to treat cycling less 
>seriously -- they are the first to blow stop signs and weave through slow 
>traffic; maybe what you're seeing isn't that people are being less 
>aggressive, but that they have become afraid of you and what you might do.
>
>You don't wear a helment; what other dumb, unsafe things are you up to?
>
>/jordan
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