because i'm bored, curious, and we seem to have a lot of bikers here - are you using protection when you ride?

me = always. after my mom got hit by a car on her bike, got seriously fucked up and would have died without her helmet, i can't bring myself to not wear one.

yes

even before i got hit, i mean, c'mon.

And yet I see a ton of dumbasses out there with no helmets in the middle of traffic with ipods.

i rode without a helmet for ages. i dont anymore.

tell the class why

yes. and I bug others about wearing theirs too.

After that artist woman in Chicago (?) dying

...and then Mary Hansen...

...and then my friend's boyfriend/soulmate

...all from bike accidents

I don't take any chances.

I just last night made my little brother promise me he wears his.

I saw your brother without his helmet, Polly. He lied. Or am I lying?

I will start to wear one.

You're lying, buddy.

Bad. baaaad.

but of course

because cyclists in nyc basically have a bullseye painted on their backs. the cops here are assholes and dont enforce the law when dickheads park in the bike lane/swerve into the bike lane/use the bike lane as their own personal lane when there's too much traffic/use the bike lane as a turning lane, but they do manage to come out en masse when there are cyclists gathering to ride together once a month as a show of solidarity [manhattan only, in brooklyn the cops are waaaay better].
about 4 or 5 people have been killed here in the last 2 or so months, including a 10 yr old kid who was riding home from his little league game, a 23 yr old kid who had just got his bike and was riding down houston when he hit an illegally placed construction plate, and a bike messenger who literally had justed started his 1st day on the job.
then there was the bike messenger who died after spending about a week in a coma after a car slammed into him near the enatrance to the willy-b bridge. then there was the doctor who was riding with his wife on the BIKE PATH ALONG THE WEST SIDE HIGHWAY when a nyc sanitation truck pulled a wild turn, cutting through the lane and putting him in a coma for a week or so.
i guess i shouldnt go on, but i do.

my cycling adventures have been well documented here. i even wear a full face when mountain biking.

<--- former winner of the "door prize".

no shit? that's a bad one, for sure.
i almost got my eye taken out by a cement truck mixer door when the guy just flung it open one day. there was about a hair between sharp, jagged metal and my right eye. not good.

the cops are pretty good here in toronto but the justice system is kinda screwy. i got smoked in a bike lane last summer and the woman was charged with careless driving. it eventually went to court this april and she got off on a lesser charge of "safety on a right turn" and received a $90 fine. i was not impressed.

I thought this was about safe sex.

yeh, when people get run over here, usually nothing happens unless the person has some other citable offense like suspended license/registration problems/etc.

Yeah, I always wear one.

Why wouldn't you?

Because you care about how you look? When you're mostly passing by people you don't know and probably aren't ever going to talk to?

Ah. I should treat this as a segue to say that not only do I wear a (bike) helmet, but that the town where I went to college iss so small that even the hooker wears a helmet.

yes

For sure. I've been a victim of being hit by a car about five years ago and my helmet saved my ass. Funny about people not wearing helmets, but iPods. That shit bothers me.

yeah, but how's your head?

Purple, German, WWII-style. strapless.

In a car, seatbelt.

I have worn a helmet, and not, but mostly not when I am just riding through a state or county park. I figure I can swerve around most branches. If I cruised along on the surface streets, probably yes I would.

It would be interesting to know how many people die in Europe in the major bike cities like Amsterdam, versus in an American city. I never saw people wearing helmets in Europe. From kids to grannies.