On Sun, 19 Jan 2020 11:45:42 -0800, Jeff Liebermann
wrote:

On Sun, 19 Jan 2020 11:38:34 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote:
There's plenty of data showing that the massive uptake in bike helmets
hasn't caused a detectable reduction in fatalities. That means that that
thousands of people who were promoting helmets as absolutely necessary
life savers were wrong.
(...)

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it is very unlikely that
bicycle helmets will disappear or be outlawed in the foreseeable
future. Even if some neutral organization could be found to sponsor a
long term study proving that bicycle helmets cause some accidents, are
unsafe, and generally fail to deliver on advertised promises, bicycle
helmets will not disappear from the market or from general use.

That's because the PERCEPTION of safety is what sells bicycle helmets.
To the GUM (great unwashed masses), one is simply not riding safely
without a bicycle helmet. Visions of someone's head hitting the
pavement is sufficient to inspire even the most scientifically and
statistically astute parent into buying helmets for everyone in the
family. Better safe than sorry, and such. As long as the PERCEPTION
of safety persists, helmets are here to stay.

So, what is an RBT reading geek to do? If helmets are not going to
disappear, and many people seem to want helmets, then at least make
them better, more functional, more usable, cheaper, and in this case,
less dangerous to small children. Minor tweaks to the design of a
chin strap are not going to affect global use and sales of helmets,
but it might save the lives of a few kids.


Drivel: Not one of the replies to my original topic on bicycle radar
signatures addressed the original topic. At a minimum, I expected
someone to ask about the visibility of a carbon fiber bicycle on 77GHz
radar. My comment about radar reflectors was not a joke. To me, it's
all very disappointing.

As I understand it radar "reflection" is largely a matter of area and
angles - see discussions of radar invisibility - thus the economical
response to not being seen by stop lights, etc. is a large area,
probably of some sort of metal.

If this metal reflector were to e painted with some bright, possibly
reflective, paint it would have a two way effect making the bicycle
both more visible to human and micro frequency frequencies AND in
addition it might be possible to use this reflector as a sail or even
as support for solar panels to aid in generating electrical power for
lights, communication devices and even (gulp) propulsion.
--
cheers,

John B.