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Weekly portion of Simon and Caitlin
1. Valentine caused a massive chocolate fall out over our house
Святой Валентин завалил нас шоколадом.
2. Katie came home wearing something completely weird.
Катя пришла домой непойми в чем.
3. Running to Simon's class
Бежим в Сенькин класс
4. Daycare buddies.
Соратники
5. Dropping off Katie
Отвожу Катю.
6. I tripped and fell, should I cry now?
Я тут споткнулась и упала. Плакать, или никто не заметил?
7. Ballerina in training
Балеринка
8. I have breakfast now, you may go
Завтрак дали, можешь идти.
9. Fit for Woodstock
Хиппушка
10. Watching Monsters Inc.
Смотрим Монстров.
11. Learning process
Осваиваем самокат
12. Let me show you how it's done
Смотри как надо!
13 Stomping rocket
Не знаю как эта игрушка по русски называется.
14 It fliiiies
Но она летает
15. Little biker
Маленький велосипедист
16. Biking with mommy
Ездим с мамой
17. Good bye
До свидания
Святой Валентин завалил нас шоколадом.
2. Katie came home wearing something completely weird.
Катя пришла домой непойми в чем.
3. Running to Simon's class
Бежим в Сенькин класс
4. Daycare buddies.
Соратники
5. Dropping off Katie
Отвожу Катю.
6. I tripped and fell, should I cry now?
Я тут споткнулась и упала. Плакать, или никто не заметил?
7. Ballerina in training
Балеринка
8. I have breakfast now, you may go
Завтрак дали, можешь идти.
9. Fit for Woodstock
Хиппушка
10. Watching Monsters Inc.
Смотрим Монстров.
11. Learning process
Осваиваем самокат
12. Let me show you how it's done
Смотри как надо!
13 Stomping rocket
Не знаю как эта игрушка по русски называется.
14 It fliiiies
Но она летает
15. Little biker
Маленький велосипедист
16. Biking with mommy
Ездим с мамой
17. Good bye
До свидания
no subject
> better, then it's 10 bucks well spent, even if I am delusional.
That's exactly what I said at the end of my last post. :-) By the way, I am more inclined to agree with you that helmets may be more beneficial for children. In fact, they are designed to prevent injuries at relatively low speeds and falls from low heights, which is exactly what children are exposed to. Plus, there is no arguing that helmets do protect from superficial injuries (scratches, lacerations), and if that's enough of a reason to wear one, well, sure, go ahead. My main beef is with helmet zealots who claim that "HELMETS SAVE LIVES!!!"
> 1) There is no risk compensation in a three year old. That's just not
> how kids think. In adults, yes, I'll take that point.
I thought our discussion was primarily focussed on adults (following the "mommy needs a helmet" comment). As for risk compensation, it may be more pronounced in adults, but the effect has been noted in kids as well, though whether that extends to three-year-olds I am not sure -- I haven't seen any kind of data of that sort.
> 2) That's a contrived argument if I ever heard one. It might be true
> with an average adult, but certainly not with my child. He actually
> likes his helmet, and sometimes goes riding just so he can wear it :)
Well, great, then. Obviously, there will be a subset of kids like that, even if they are in the minority. This might change in the future, though, when peer pressure sets in. Of course, this is merely a speculation, but one that is supported by anecdotal evidence as well as the statistics documenting the sharp drop in teenage cycling following helmet laws introduction (especially if the law is actually enforced).
> There are plenty of people that think that seat belts aren't worth it,
> after such analysis, does it mean that's a rational decision?
Probably no decision is fully rational, because in the end everyone is trying to maximize one's pleasure from life (I use "pleasure" here in an extremely broad sense) -- and that's an emotional category in itself.
Speaking of seatbelts, by the way, there is some interesting evidence that due to -- again! -- risk compensation, the drivers take more risks and, as a result, there end up being more crashes and more fatalities, especially pedestrian and cyclist fatalities, since they too were exposed to the careless drivers but, unlike the belted car occupants, received no additional protection. I recently played in a fairly informal hockey tournament (we had referees, rules, etc, but the rules were greatly simplified and overall everything was very relaxed and community-oriented), and not only was full hockey equipment not mandatory -- it was *prohibited*, to ensure that fully equipped players do not play too roughly and end up injuring those who are not similarly equipped.
On a road safety board I read once someone's jocular suggestion that instead of an airbag, what should pop out in a crash is a bag with long sharp metal spikes. While obviously a joke, if it were implemented, I bet the number of driving incidents would decline dramatically, following such a measure. :-)
no subject
As for "cool" factor, it cuts both ways. As soon as the majority thinks that seat belt/helmets are necessary, both risk compensation, and the coolness factor reduction in behavior become a nonissue. Noone now thinks about whether or not there is a seat belt on, it's simply on, as it has been for the entire life of the individual.
no subject
> his.
I thought you just told me he loved it so much that he wants to go cycling just as an excuse to wear it? Of course, putting it on your own head doesn't hurt.
> As for "cool" factor, it cuts both ways. As soon as the majority thinks
> that seat belt/helmets are necessary, both risk compensation, and the
> coolness factor reduction in behavior become a nonissue. Noone now
> thinks about whether or not there is a seat belt on, it's simply on, as
> it has been for the entire life of the individual.
It's true that one does have to distinguish between long-term and short-term effect of such policies, however, unfortunately, it does not quite work as simply as you describe. Yes, seatbelts become the norm, but faster and riskier driving becomes the norm as well, since the perception of driving as safe and cars as equipped of great features to keep you alive and well gets rooted in. The seatbelt is on by default, the speed limit is broken by default too.
As for the 'coolness' factor, I am afraid that something like cycling is more likely to just die out before all teenagers accept that helmets are "the default" and drop it entirely. They'll just ask mom to chauffer them everywhere and jump behind the wheel of a car as early as they are legally able.
no subject
Oh cmon, you aren't arguing that it's HELMETS that's killing off bicycling? It's the lack of available roads/parking/showers. Helmet laws are on 100th place in that scale.
no subject
However, helmet laws doubtlessly work agains cycling popularity. In several places there've been sharp declines in cycling following helmet law introductions. Some places recovered better, some not at all (there may be a correlation between recovery rates and strictness of enforcement).
However, it's not just the laws themselves. The whole fear-mongering helmet propaganda that paints cycling as this dangerous activity requiring specialized equipment is _part_ of why it is not more popular than it is. The only piece of advice the fear-mongerers give you is preaching the "Always wear a helmet mantra" over and over and over. Of course, when people look at cars on the road and then at a fragile piece of styrofoam, they kind of realize that the protection offered by the helmet is really really limited. Yet, they are convinced that helmets are an absolute necessary (clearly that must be because cycling is very dangerous), so they decide they'd just rather not do it altogether.
Of course, proper education, roads, parking, showers etc. would do a lot more to both promote cycling and increase its safety. And that's another reason the helmet thing makes me so sad -- because instead of focussing on all those other things, the powers that be decide that they want to "do something" about "cycling safety", so they're just going to... introduce a helmet law, or talk to kids in school about helmets, or give out free helmets and so on and so forth ad naseum. It's just so easy, so non-controversial (no parking or road space taken away from the allmighty car!), and so in-line with the "safety"-obsessed (note the "") North American culture, that you can get away with doing this useless bit and pretending you "did something for cycling safety in your community". *groan*