Hey Halifax Regional Police! Thanks for tackling the city’s crime problem by cracking down on skateboarders (some of which are grown men) who choose to not wear a helmet. You now are setting up stings to bust these criminals. What a great way to build a positive relationship with the city’s youth, and spend tax dollars. I suggest this winter you clamp down on figure skaters too, they’ve been helmetless for far too long!! This is madness. You think the police in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and every other forward thinking city in Canada even bothers with this? Hell No. Time to get off the power trips and go fight this gang problem and violent crime problem you’ve been telling everyone about. We are not going to start wearing helmets, no matter what you do, or say…better get used to dealing with us punks.
This article appears in Jun 19-25, 2008.
So what happens when you don’t wear a helmet, you try a trick going down a rail and crack your head open on stairs? Usually I would say that’s your own stupid fault BUT since it’s my tax dollars that will be paying to have your head stiched up, and any other medical attention you may need because of it, I say smarten the bleep up and put on a helmet. That way I’m not paying for the cops to do their “sting” operations and I’m not paying your medical bills.
At first I agreed with the OP, but then Nicole’s post changed my mind. Good argument.
Nicole, while I agree with your comment. I think you are missing the point. What would you rather your tax dollars be spent on? The police harassing bikers and skaters who for the most part are making a personal decision that 95% of the time affects no one but themselves.(I think the extra money on taxes you pay is minimal compared to that of smokers and drunk drivers). Or that money funding cops cracking down on dangerous offenders such as a group of kids that might mug you as you go to the store to pick up a loaf of bread?If we had a low violence rate admired by other cities of the world then yes your reply makes sense. However, this post is about priorities. Plus I feel if I want to ride a bike without a helmet that’s my choice. Not a cops. Think of the tourism dollars lost when people come to our city and think all the residents are lame for wearing those ugly helmets? And think “This town is lame. Next year I’m going to Disney World!”
if skateboarders and bikers want to be respected users of the road, they have to act like some. car drivers are required to wear seatbelts for the very same reason bikers and skaters are required to wear helmets. unless you are arguing that seat belts should not be worn, you can not argue against helmets. i applaud the cops issuing tickets for helmet violations, just i like i applaud them issuing tickets for seat belt infractions.and i seriously doubt that anyone would think that a town is lame because every skater/biker wears a helmet. i would much sooner think that a town is lame when minucipal workers dump garbage/recycling/compost into one truck.
There’s an argument out there, with some data to back it up, that helmets actually increase the risk of injury because people think they can try riskier things since they are wearing a helmet. So the skater Nicole was talking about, if wearing a helmet, might try a more incredible trick and end up with a broken back instead of scraped knees and a few stitches in his forehead. The former would cost the taxpayer much more money in the end. I don’t know if I buy it or not….just putting it out there. This bitch reminds me of that Jerry Seinfeld joke…something along the lines of “humans are the only species dumb enough to go through the trouble of inventing the helmet just so they can continue their skull-cracking activities.”
John Stosal (20/20) did a report a couple years ago about how we think we’re making our world safer but bike helmets and such, but the end result not really being productive or having the complete opposite effect. “House” recently had a great comment that if we really wanted to prevent accidents, everyone would have to drive really old awful cars with no seatbelts, so we’d drive to protect ourlives (not feeling safely cocooned in an airbag protected Prius).The point being, not that I watch too much tv, but we’ve got to stop passing these stupid “do-gooder” laws.