Mtnjim
09-22-2006, 12:02 PM
From a security
newsletter I get.
We've had previous discussion in RISKS of the unexpected side-effects that can result
when human beings respond to safety measures by changing their behavior, taking on risks that previously were too
great to feel acceptable.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-09/uob-wah091106.php is a news
release about some research in this area. Dr. Ian Walker spend a great deal of time bicycling around the UK on a
bicycle with equipment that measured how close drivers of different kinds of vehicles came to him when
passing.
Half the time, he wore a helmet; half the time, he didn't. Result: Drivers
approached closer (and
average of 8.5 cm) when he was wearing a helmet.
Walker's hypothesis is that drivers see bicyclists wearing
helmets as more
experienced and competent, hence not in need of consideration.
In other interesting results,
when Walker wore a wig so that he looked like a woman, he was given significantly more room. He also confirmed a
feeling all bicyclist have: Yes, indeed, trucks and buses do approach bicycles more closely (average of 19 cm for
trucks and 23 cm for buses) than cars do.
As Walker points out, helmets definitely do protect a rider in
low-speed
falls. How much they help in collisions with vehicles is harder to say -
and if wearing a helmet makes
a collision more likely, the net effect is
difficult to predict. (Walker was hit twice, once by a bus and once by
a
truck, during his experiments. He was wearing a helmet both times.)
newsletter I get.
We've had previous discussion in RISKS of the unexpected side-effects that can result
when human beings respond to safety measures by changing their behavior, taking on risks that previously were too
great to feel acceptable.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-09/uob-wah091106.php is a news
release about some research in this area. Dr. Ian Walker spend a great deal of time bicycling around the UK on a
bicycle with equipment that measured how close drivers of different kinds of vehicles came to him when
passing.
Half the time, he wore a helmet; half the time, he didn't. Result: Drivers
approached closer (and
average of 8.5 cm) when he was wearing a helmet.
Walker's hypothesis is that drivers see bicyclists wearing
helmets as more
experienced and competent, hence not in need of consideration.
In other interesting results,
when Walker wore a wig so that he looked like a woman, he was given significantly more room. He also confirmed a
feeling all bicyclist have: Yes, indeed, trucks and buses do approach bicycles more closely (average of 19 cm for
trucks and 23 cm for buses) than cars do.
As Walker points out, helmets definitely do protect a rider in
low-speed
falls. How much they help in collisions with vehicles is harder to say -
and if wearing a helmet makes
a collision more likely, the net effect is
difficult to predict. (Walker was hit twice, once by a bus and once by
a
truck, during his experiments. He was wearing a helmet both times.)