Quote:
Originally Posted by Reaper
So, we only are to make attempts at being safer if it is with regards to the leader in head injuries? So, we should stop wearing helmets when playing hockey then? After all, it isn't the biggest bringer of brain injuries so unless we tackle that activity alone then we're being overly cautious. Stop being ridiculous.
|
We make trade-offs between safety, fun, and convenience every day. If all we cared about was maximising safety, we would walk and drive around in helmets all the time.
The thing is, people don't examine those trade-offs on any sort of statistical basis. They make them on the basis of social norms, and how common an activity is. Tobogganing isn't that common, so it's easy enough to say 'people should always wear helmets tobogganing.' Same with cycling. But walking? Driving a car? Most people do that all the time. They don't want to wear a helmet driving to work or walking across a mall parking lot. So they ignore any risk in those activities.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reaper
I'm not talking about wearing a bear suit when going down a 20 degree slope people. I'm talking about wearing helmets for the kind of stuff we did as kids like going down the hill skeleton style or piling onto a huge inner tube with 5 other kids and going for a slide.
|
So we're agreed that wearing helmets tobogganing should be discretionary and a matter of judgement.