Look at the stats on brain injuries for bicycle accidents on campus. [1] has anecdotes, but no stats, unfortunately.
You have other bikes to collide with, you have people crossing the path, and yes, there are cars on campus. I've driven there.
[1] https://transportation.stanford.edu/bicycle/learn-about-bike...
Still, it was an odd finding. Presumably, people with helmets drove faster or more carelessly but she did not have any evidence for that at the time.
Edit (just in case): 1. I'm not an expert on any of this and it's just an anecdote. 2. I recommend wearing a good, certified helmet.
There's also some data to suggest that drivers are less careful around cyclists with helmets, e.g. passing them with less distance.
Somewhat related, specifically in the context of requiring helmets there's also arguments that people dislike them enough that the reduction in cycling happening would have worse overall effects than the injury reduction.
However, we're talking about on campus here, not riding down Mission in the City.
> Look at the stats on brain injuries for bicycle accidents on campus.
That's not science, that's looking. What you have to do is compare stats of the results and frequency of accidents with helmets and accidents without. There have been very good statistical cases made that the accidents that helmets protect against aren't the accidents that bicyclists get in (unlike the situation with motorcyclists, for example.)
1) I don't know what you consider "looking" as opposed to "science" so maybe you can help us out?
2) No, you're wrong that "What you have to do is compare stats of the results and frequency of accidents with helmets and accidents without." That takes as a prior that the bicyclist is going to have an accident.
The actual test is "head injuries from a bike accident while not wearing a helmet per units of helmet-less distance ridden." (I said "units of distance" because "miles" might be too big a unit here.)
3) who cares about motorcycles? We're talking bicycles here.
Yes that first story is unfortunate but I'd bet she just wasn't that great on a bike
Whenever I talk to private pilots and mention people I know who've gotten killed flying a plane, they invariably say "I've looked at all those accidents and I'm confident I wouldn't have made that mistake."
Right. It's other people who have those accidents.
On the way, two girls on a motorcycle passed me the other direction going way too fast (and they were positively beaming - I was thinking "they are having a little too much fun")
A few minutes later we turned back and happened across them shortly after they fell off their bike going around a turn with nobody else around.
There is a reason they had an accident that day and not me. Yes of course things happen all the time that are out of our control but... Not always, especially when it comes to falling off your bike when nobody else is around.
Another story... I know somebody who got in a bike accident near a college campus somewhat recently. They never maintained their bike and their front tire had basically come apart while they were riding it. That was also their fault.
I know these are anecdotes but so is that story that prompted this discussion. In life it's important to focus on what you can control because those are the things most likely to impact you on any given day.
Flying a small plane is a totally different topic... There are several orders of magnitude more factors outside your control than riding a bike through a college campus
Literally blaming the victim. Not a good look.
It's not like somebody attacked her and I'm blaming her. She fell off her bike without a helmet on. It's a different situation
Actions within a system in which better choices were not available. There's no reason to lay the blame at the feet of the victim in that system.