helmet laws

Boone has a helmet law. I was stopped again the other day by the man, while riding on a remarkably flat, boring swath of public park path, obviously naked from the eyebrows up. I had no ID available, which usually seems to result in me being released back into society with a mere verbal lashing. I am of course annoyed. Because I chose to ride my bike to the store rather than drive, I am effectively being penalized. Had I provided an ID, I'd be $55 down. If I had chosen to drive without a seatbelt and while talking on a cell, I would never fear any real legal apprehension even though such behavior is equally as illegal and an accident more probable.

Recently, I resurrected the studies from 1984 (Thompson et al) and 1988 (Forester et al) that were apparently used as references in enacting the local helmet compulsion ordinace. I read through them both, reflecting on the methods that I have assimilated into my own apprenticed research and writing, and finishing with mostly an example of what not to do.

Both publications have been widely critisized with respect to research and methods, one was funded by Bell (Forester) and the other (Thompson) used a cohort of less than 50 children and later revised their findings to a much less dramatic set of results. The reader should seek more discussion independently as it's widely documented and discussed. Personally, I found the research stunningly slighted and misguided. I am not surprised that once again policy makers seek what fits from research results, discard the rest and build legislative roads to acheive public behavioral objectives. This seems to be the role that research plays in society anymore.

Regardless, every time I get pulled over for not strapping on the magical force field of styrofoam, I walk away with a few questions that completely transcend the research inconsistencies and efficacy debates:

1. Is the purpose of a law to cause specific public behaviors? It is stated in the ordinance that the law was enacted to encourage helmet wearing. Why can't this apparent public need be met through educational initiatives, etc? The gun people are ruling the country with this argument. Why has this failed with plastic hats?


2. Is it possible to enforce someone's safety? If so, why are unsafe behaviors so inconsistently tolerated? Why are sorority sisters allowed to jaywalk a 4 lane hiway while talking on cell phones and drinking lattes at rush hour (I see it daily)? Why is the speed limit through campus 35 mph at all hours? Why are cell phone text messaging drivers not repremanded for doing so, even when they are pulled over for other violations? Why is it perfectly legal to drive a car in NC on state roads WITH NO DOORS? Yet I must wear a bicycle helmet and this is actively enforced.

Admittedly, there can be little harm done by wearing a helmet and arguably serious harm by not wearing one, albeit improbable. It is 95% a matter of convenience to choose not to wear a helmet. I have no real argument beyond this. Yet the helmet safety perceptions have developed into a social juggernaut. It is currently more socially acceptable to drive 85 mph on the interstate while talking on a cell, than it is to ride down to the store without a bike helmet. There's a public atonement regarding bicycle helmet wearing that belies the very deliberance of riding. I know it is this energy which the Boone helmet law was founded on: It was publicly acceptable, beyond reason, without purpose. Please repeal.

town bikes

Possibly a used fuji frame from Freeze Thaw in state college. $10. Lugged. Rear drop out recently shattered. Fixed gearing, 1st gen race face cranks, syncros TI post, soft cromed cruiser bars, oswaldcycleworks fork that recently bent in a fall...she rides a bit sideways now.

Boone gear = 24:15 - we live on a 32% grade, so feet up and gear down to get around this town

Those in cycling cliques understand how important town bikes can be for gettin 'round and keeping the days' ends tied together - not to mention a profound, if not subtly profane projection of one's cycling identity. Yet cyclists know that even beyond the daily crank to work or the store, what really brings a town bike to life is...a soulful expression of all that cycling is via simplicity, thrift and profound resourcefulness. Performace packaged into a rig that can be dissed at the grocery door without turning the head of even the most destitude clepto, componentry that mixes the best of campy and home depot and a ride quality that even in its most compromised states shares its rightful place with the rhythms of the carbon titanium scandium stallions patiently waiting on hooks back home. All for under $100. Hopefully.


Here's to you, town bikes. You are the true foot soldier that carries us on our daily crusade to avoid the car.

wifeOfJames townie: 13" 1990 hard rock. It was supposed to be VT maroon and orange, but the silver paint looked too interesting and looks even better now that it's dripping. 1990 XT BB gets repacked annually, 1995 campy chorus headset with a spoke for a locknut, detoothed chainring guard, LX front hub shell with campy internal races and cups. Titec crowbar. 38:24 gearing. 1980 schwinn bmx crank.

on procrastination

When implementing procrastination measures, there are several noteworthy benefits that may boost one's persistance to finish the job under the added pressures of last minute cramation:

Procrastination, if implmented correctly, ensures the same task or project will be completed in less time. Often, the quality of the completed task is of a comparable or higher quality than otherwise would have been acheived because of heightened levels of focus on the part of contributors and project boundries necessitated by K.I.S.S. methods.

Example:
I was asked by wifeOfJames to take out the trash this week. I naturally rebelled at such a request, but come the familiar squeak and grind of the trash truck one morning, it would have behooved me to ignore the mounting pile of refuse. In a mad burst of focus and athleticism, I gathered all household baskets, emptied and sorted the waste, and ran both recycling and refuse containers to the curb, all in about 90 seconds. This same task, if performed "responsibly" might have taken up to 10 minutes depending on the current coffee situation and time of day. Quod Erat Faciendum.