I say unusual in the sense of Japan seems to be the only one to have solved the issue of how do you transport 2 kids on a bike not with "big box" like the dutch and subsequently the entire western world but via 2 seats, they're apparently very popular over there as a means of transportation.
Yeah, I think this is a very carbrained argument. Cycle infrastructure is very well segregated from car infrastructure in the Netherlands and Dutch drivers aren't psychos trying to mow down cyclists at every opportunity. People in places with shitty cycle infrastructure have been heavily propagandized into thinking it's all "personal responsibility" and the default attitude of drivers (in America at least) is that cyclists have a death wish and they are more than happy to grant it.
This is the kind of trauma that living in an individualist society does to a person. People in the Netherlands and Japan actually look out for each other.
100%. Helmets are not useful for getting hit by a car. They're useful for when you inexplicably eat shit on a pebble or a single leaf somehow, both of which I've done.
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I mean, yeah. I agree with you. Everyone should wear a helmet. I've been clipped by car doors and dipshits plenty of times in Toronto and the place I live now, and I am absolutely an advocate for making slip plane helmets (like MIPS, WG11, or WaveCel) mandatory for everyone on a bike, everywhere.
I'm trying to explain to Americans why some different people who are not me twist themselves into weird arguments against helmets, so that it isn't just seen as a completely inexplicable mystery outlier crank thing, rather than an irritatingly common belief in some places. I've heard people say dumb shit here like "cars don't go fast enough in PEI to need helmets." And they are mandatory here. (Also highway speeds are like 80 kmh so no idea what these freaks are on about)
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Yeah, I guess it's an American thing but there's a million ways to hurt yourself and or crack your melon on a bicycle that do not involve collisions with a motor vehicle
Exactly. I think the argument that some people have against helmets comes from an argument against victim blaming cyclists murdered by drivers, but then ultimately gets twisted into wild shit where people just come to Bizarro conclusions.
Even in a world without cars I could still hurt my noggin if I fell off my bike, so I don't get this line of reasoning at all