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Bike-Safety Groups Take President Obama Head on After Ride Without Helmet
New York Daily News ^ | 8/28/09 | David Saltonstall, Michael Saul

Posted on 08/28/2009 4:36:17 AM PDT by nickcarraway

Perhaps President Obama didn't want to look uncool on his bike ride Thursday, but his decision to skip the helmet had safety experts banging their heads.

Obama, on vacation with his family in Martha's Vineyard, joined the First Lady and his daughters yesterday for a ride in Aquinnah, a town at the western, most rural end of the island.

The President appeared to be the only one with no helmet.

Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy group in New York, speculated the President might have been concerned about his image.

"Helmets look goofy - you look a little dorky," he said. "When you're the leader of the free world you have to look tough."

White agreed it would have been better if Obama had worn his helmet, but cut him a little slack.

There's a difference between riding on the congestion-clogged streets of Manhattan and a bucolic swath of Massachusetts, he said.

David Mozer, director of the International Bicycle Fund, a nonprofit advocacy group in Seattle, disagreed.

"Most bike accidents just happen. Bicycles up and turn over by themselves, and head injuries are a possible consequence of that," he said. "Head injures don't heal well, and they can be very expensive and life-long."

"It would be great if the President set an example," Mozer said.

Still, Mozer conceded, "It's really hard to get the girl when you're wearing a helmet - they're not real flattering."

But he pointed out bicycling superstar Lance Armstrong looks cool in his helmet.

Last year during the campaign, Obama became the target of ridicule on the Internet when he was photographed riding with a helmet in Chicago.

Perhaps that's why White House spokesman Bill Burton seemed mildly surprised to learn his boss was not wearing his safety gear.

"I know that he generally does wear a helmet when he rides a bicycle," Burton told reporters. "He supports the wearing of bicycle helmets."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Politics/Elections; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: bhovacation; dangerous; marthasvineyard; nannystate; obama; obamafamily; vacation
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To: LearsFool

Maybe Obama’s science “czar” has repealed the laws of physics.


21 posted on 08/28/2009 4:51:24 AM PDT by WayneS (Respect the 2nd Amendment; Repeal the 16th)
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To: nickcarraway

He wanted his tan to be more even.


22 posted on 08/28/2009 4:51:59 AM PDT by Right Wing Assault
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To: Right Wing Assault

In that part of the country, I heard it’s more dangerous to go for an evening drive across narrow bridges.


23 posted on 08/28/2009 4:53:25 AM PDT by maine yankee
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To: Uncle Ike

No dice.

Bicycle helmets are only required for people 16 years of age and under in that locality.

Darn!


24 posted on 08/28/2009 4:53:26 AM PDT by WayneS (Respect the 2nd Amendment; Repeal the 16th)
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To: maine yankee

I remember hearing something like that also...


25 posted on 08/28/2009 4:54:02 AM PDT by WayneS (Respect the 2nd Amendment; Repeal the 16th)
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To: WayneS

” Bicycle helmets are only required for people 16 years of age and under in that locality. “

Drat...

Too bad it refers to calendar age, and not mental/emotional development...

;)


26 posted on 08/28/2009 4:55:52 AM PDT by Uncle Ike (Rope is cheap, and there are lots of trees...)
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To: nickcarraway

No fan of bike helmets....and not because they look goofy.

The fetish of bike helmets will die once the deaths and crippling injuries from cervical (neck) injuries moves to the forefront.

If you land on your head, wearing a bike helmet, you are more likely to break and/or dislocate vertebrae in your neck...causing paralysis and/or death. Helmets put more stress on your neck in high-impact crashes and accidents.


27 posted on 08/28/2009 5:01:16 AM PDT by UCFRoadWarrior (Illegal alien amnesty is anti-American bigotry)
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To: nickcarraway
But he pointed out bicycling superstar Lance Armstrong looks cool in his helmet.

Uh, no he doesn't. He looks like a colossal dork, just like everyone else.

28 posted on 08/28/2009 5:06:21 AM PDT by Sloth (Ted Kennedy's brain tumor has killed more people than my gun.)
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To: UCFRoadWarrior

I will have to “dig” through my computer files at home, but I think I have a copy of a news story from a few years ago which announced the results of a “surprising” study which had found that bicycle accident fatality rates were INCREASING in areas/localities that adopted mandatory bicycle helmet laws.

And, if I am not mistaken, C1 vertebrae fractures / “hangmans” breaks and brain injury due to major concussions NOT accompanied by skull fractures, appeared to be the primary drivers behind the increase.


29 posted on 08/28/2009 5:10:59 AM PDT by WayneS (Respect the 2nd Amendment; Repeal the 16th)
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To: nickcarraway
"Most bike accidents just happen. Bicycles up and turn over by themselves, and head injuries are a possible consequence of that," he said.

Is it possible there are people this stupid? What is the possibility of a possible consequence of a bike turning up and over by itself?
30 posted on 08/28/2009 5:11:35 AM PDT by aruanan
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To: nickcarraway

Obama getting a head injury may actually knock some sense into him.


31 posted on 08/28/2009 5:13:21 AM PDT by maddog55 (Socialism is communism with fewer re-education camps.)
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To: nickcarraway
"Helmets look goofy - you look a little dorky," he said. "When you're the leader of the free world you have to look tough."

I guess Obama's predecessor didn't have to worry so much about "looking tough". I definitely remember a helmet in the bicycling pics of 43.

32 posted on 08/28/2009 5:13:54 AM PDT by Charles Martel (NRA Lifetime Member since 1984; TSRA rookie)
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To: nickcarraway

Don’t they know there is a Secret Serviceman that is supposed to throw himself between the Presidents head and the pavement at all times???


33 posted on 08/28/2009 5:14:18 AM PDT by stevie_d_64
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To: nickcarraway

I have ridden a bike for 60 some odd years without a helmet. I always wear one when I ride my motorcycle.


34 posted on 08/28/2009 5:15:16 AM PDT by Citizen Tom Paine
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To: UCFRoadWarrior

I remember a skiing instructor telling us that helmets really didn’t improve safety on the slopes for the reasons you cite. Apparently the safest thing to do is avoid trees. Who knew.


35 posted on 08/28/2009 5:19:10 AM PDT by Mr. Blonde (You ever thought about being weird for a living?)
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To: Salo
those helmets are dorky, and I’d rather die with some dignity than live wearing one of them

Be careful what you wish for. You might not die before spending months, possibly years, having your diapers changed several times a day. Head injuries offset a lot of dignity we take for granted.

I'd sooner wear the dorky helmet with red ear tufts and a fiberoptic mobile on top.

36 posted on 08/28/2009 5:19:12 AM PDT by 668 - Neighbor of the Beast (Rebellion is not brewing. Frog is brewing.)
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To: Uncle Ike

If guns can go off by themselves, why can’t bikes turn over by themselves?


37 posted on 08/28/2009 5:20:34 AM PDT by Roos_Girl ("Obama is Kenyan for idiot" - CC)
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To: stevie_d_64

” there is a Secret Serviceman that is supposed to throw himself between the Presidents head and the pavement “

That must be the fat white guy (wearing the red shirt) in the picture.... I wondered who he was....


38 posted on 08/28/2009 5:20:58 AM PDT by Uncle Ike (Rope is cheap, and there are lots of trees...)
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To: Salo

“Gotta side with Zero on this one”

NO....Zero wants to pass laws that the rest of us have to abide by. He can do the same...or be impeached. ;-)


39 posted on 08/28/2009 5:22:52 AM PDT by SumProVita (Cogito, ergo...Sum Pro Vita. (Modified DeCartes))
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To: nickcarraway
There's a difference between riding on the congestion-clogged streets of Manhattan and a bucolic swath of Massachusetts, he said.

Not much difference between how hard the pavement is, though.

40 posted on 08/28/2009 5:41:42 AM PDT by Tennessee_Bob (Save the Hispaniolan Solenodon!)
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