From: praetzel@marconi.uwaterloo.ca (Eric Praetzel)
Subject: Re: ADVISE sought: WIFE doesn't wear helmet, etc. - how to make her do
Organization: University of Waterloo
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 23:34:29 GMT

One last bash.
In article <BtwH86.8n3@cs.dal.ca> silvert@biome.bio.ns.ca (Bill Silvert) writes:
>In <BtwEJ6.GAC@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca> praetzel@marconi.uwaterloo.ca (Eric Praetzel) writes:
>
>>  Respect their right to make their own decisions.  I know people who smoke,
>>people who drink and people are dangerous drivers.  I do not hound them and
>>pester them because they would no longer be my friends.  I am not their
>>guardian angle and respect their right to harm themselves any way they want to.
>>Explain your position once and if you can't stand not controling their lives
>>then _get_lost_.
>
>We're talking about this guy's wife.  I would be upset if my wife took
>unnecessary risks, and I have a lot at stake here.  I've also had to
>look after riders who crashed without helmets, and my health insurance
>pays for their medical care.  I have no problem with the idea that
>people can do what they want with their lives, but cyclists who ride
>without helmets are not cut off from their families and society, and
>taking irresponsible risks is unfair to the rest of us.
  I have to disagree very strongly.  If cycling were such a risk I would not
do it.  There are risks with everything.  I have seen many car accidents and
been in a few.  I would not waste money on air bags.  If I thought that cars
were dangerous I would put a 5pt seatbelt in mine and wear a helmet.
  Do a simple cost benefit analysis.  The chance of a crash is low.  If a
crash happens the chance of a head injury is low.  The result is that the
chance of a head injury is very low.  The cost of that head injury can be
very high.  This is a standard delema that they push in engineering ethics
courses.  There is no easy solution.  Some people are quite narrow minded
and focuss on the cost.  Others look at the chances and conclude that its
not worth wearing a styrofoam insulator on your head.  Each should be free
(thats been taken from us in Ontario) to make their own chose and live with
their decision.  Actually the example from ethics is some of these nice
harbors with an airstrip that starts/ends near large tankers or a propane
storage site.  If they meet its history for the town but the odds are very
low.  Of course you can pick some useless stats from a bunch of 6 year olds
who have never ridden and "prove" that cycling is very dangerous but from
my experience crashes that cause head injuries are very very rare.
  Now if you want to persue your line of arguement I would suggest that
you go after the smokers and drinkers.  They represent a major problem in
our society in terms of manpower and cost for their habbits.  Of course
you could just keep on extrapolating and conclude that everyone should be
raised in sterile rooms and not be troubled by anything because their blood
presure might rise and then .....
  As for the person being a SO.  I have no friends that are that pushy and
I would not be caught dead near them because otherwise I would have high
blood pressure.  
  - Eric
//  Are you your brothers keeper? 
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles