On Wed, 09 May 2007 07:34:08 -0400, "RWintski"
wrote:
I can't answer the poster's question as for most of my 30 year roller
skiing career I have been guilty of the no pads or helmet wearing
Now that I am older (and more likely that I am smarter) and with helmets
being so comfortable, it just doesn't make sense (just like when anyone
gets on a bike) to not wear a helmet.
If your car doesn't have side curtain airbags, you still can quite
easily have your skull broken while wearing seatbelts. Tens of
thousands of people die in auto accidents every year in the US, and we
know helmets could have saved some of those live.
Given how comfortable helmets are nowadays, it just doesn't make sense
to not wear a helmet when in a car.
I also am surprised at certain poster's responses- advocating giving up
roller skiing instead of investigating gear that in this day and age
surely should be available…
Are they available?
Since the mid 1970's when I picked up
nordic ski racing I have almost universally
found the participants to be a very friendly type!
Nutty rants about it being important to always wear a helmet in
relatively low-risk activities such as rollerskiing (in easy terrain)
or cycling in most road situations are very much anti-sport. They are
equating these simple activities to very dangerous stuff like American
football, or skydiving, or even war (!!!).
I don't care if it seems "unfriendly" to denounce that attitude,
because it's important to do so.
Wear a helmet if you want. It probably makes you a little safer.
Wear knee or elbow pads if you want.
But recognize that many, many things in life have low risks that could
be mitigated with extra safety equipment (driving, walking, going down
stairs, etc) and then, if you still think people should never, say,
rollerski w/o a helmet, ask yourself "Why do I want to single out one
particularly activity as so especially dangerous as to require special
rules and not others that are roughly equally risky?"
--
JT
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