Mr. Benn wrote (quoted by KeithT):
"Over 318,575 baby & toddler head injuries are recorded each
year!"(Department of Trade & Industry).
Again, common sense being ridiculed. What is wrong with people?

OK, let's try some common sense. Whichever way you cut this figure, it
means (if true) that 1 in 3 of us would have a recorded head injury in
infancy.

It turns out that about half a percent of us don't make it to 1 year old,
and another .1% (i.e. 1 in a thousand) don't make it to 5.

But of those who die under 1, about 2/3 die within 28 days of birth, long
before they can even turn over, let alone move around.

So. Deaths from all causes between 28 days and 5 years are around a
thousand times fewer than the number of these recorded injuries.

The only possible conclusion is that the infant skull is fully capable of
dealing with the knocks and bumps it's subjected to. Any attempt to
protect it is just likely to undermine the basic lesson all people learn
eventually - hitting your head hurts, so don't do it.

If you work it out, the human reaction time is shorter than the time taken
to move 6 feet at 12mph. So in any crash a cycle helmet might help with,
you have time to protect your head and hit some other part of yourself.


Colin McKenzie

--
No-one has ever proved that cycle helmets make cycling any safer at the
population level, and anyway cycling is about as safe per mile as walking.
Make an informed choice - visit www.cyclehelmets.org.