Norwegian Study on Ski Helmets

On 2006-02-28, Mary Malmros penned:

I know when running whitewater, there are things I won't do if I
don't have certain gear. It doesn't mean that I believe that gear
makes me bulletproof; it means that I judge that it will give me a
margin of error that makes what I'm planning to do safe enough.

I would never ride my motorcycle without my helmet. So I suppose it's
true that I am taking a risk that, without a helmet, I wouldn't take.
But I call that judicious risk assessment, not foolishness. I also
don't think that, because of a helmet, I am safe; I am just trying to
reduce the odds of catastrophe in the event of a crash.

I will let the statisticians worry about whether helmets make people
take more risks. I'm going to wear a helmet when I'm skiing. And
honestly, it has far more to do with fear of other people than of
inanimate objects I might hit. I always try to ski in control. I am
absolutely positive not everyone does.

--
monique
Longmont, CO

Mary Malmros wrote:
Monique Y. Mudama wrote:
Hrm. Interesting. I know people who will choose to wear protective
gear when in unusually risky situations (ie, a mountain biker might
not usually wear shin guards, but for certain maneuvers or terrain
they might put them on), but I'm not sure that this is the same
thing.

Yup. Chicken-and-egg problem, and as with all such, you can slant it
the way you want to see it. If you're a fan of risk homeostatis, why,
that mountain biker never would have done those maneuvers without
putting on those shin guards!

To be fair, that's not what the theory says. It's an effect that only
shows (or not, depending on who you believe) in the statistical analysis
of accident figures. It's all in the percentages. You can't use it to
directly attribute a particular incident or behaviour to the wearing of
a specific piece of safety gear!

I honest don't think that wearing a helmet has made me a more
aggressive skier. I am still the same wuss I always have been, just
with a helmet. Put me in the trees and watch me squirm.

I know when running whitewater, there are things I won't do if I don't
have certain gear. It doesn't mean that I believe that gear makes me
bulletproof; it means that I judge that it will give me a margin of
error that makes what I'm planning to do safe enough.

What sort of gear did you have in mind? Seems to me most of the
'additional' gear you might carry with you in a kayak has more to do
with increasing your ability to rescue others than to help yourself...

Pyriform wrote:
Mary Malmros wrote:

Monique Y. Mudama wrote:
I honest don't think that wearing a helmet has made me a more
aggressive skier. I am still the same wuss I always have been, just
with a helmet. Put me in the trees and watch me squirm.

I know when running whitewater, there are things I won't do if I don't
have certain gear. It doesn't mean that I believe that gear makes me
bulletproof; it means that I judge that it will give me a margin of
error that makes what I'm planning to do safe enough.


What sort of gear did you have in mind? Seems to me most of the
'additional' gear you might carry with you in a kayak has more to do
with increasing your ability to rescue others than to help yourself...

Or their ability to rescue me, or our ability to do an evac. Case in
point, when I'm doing a run where the access is good, I'll take along a
simple "ouch pouch" for a first aid kit. If I'm somewhere more remote,
I'll take something more comprehensive. I'll paddle in winter wearing a
drysuit but not while wearing anything less, even though I've never
taken a winter swim since my first time in a kayak, because if I _do_
screw up, the drysuit would help to make it a non-fatal screwup. That
sort of thing.