Single purpose emergency equipment - help or hinderance?

Discussion in 'All Things Boats & Boating' started by Autodafe, May 7, 2009.

  1. ThomD
    Joined: Mar 2009
    Posts: 561
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    Location: TO

    ThomD Senior Member

    "Ad hoc, your bicycle argument would not hold up to scrutiny."

    Well actually it does, the same result comes up over and over again in many jurisdictions. And the safest bicycling jurisdiction is Holland where helmets are hardly worn. While there may be complex reasons why things happen that starts to sound a lot like nobody really knows the answer, there are just experts armed with more complex data as paladins for certain interest groups.

    One similarity I see between the helmet and lifejacket issues is the general uselessness of the devices. Bike helmets are the most optimistic design in a piece of safety gear I have ever seen. If one wants to see what a BH ought to look like, one should examine the original Bell, before they sold out. It had a hard shell for starters. I have owned a variety of helmets for various activities and none are as lame as a bicycle helmet, even though the likely injuries in, say, Hockey are not as extreme as running into a bus on your bike. Likewise I don't need a lifejacket to survive the inland lakes I boat on, unless I am unconscious, and no lifejacket I own would keep my face out of the water if I were. I do believe in life jackets for whitewater, and I like real bike helmets for various "extreme" applications, but for most stuff they are seriously underperforming.
     

  2. Ad Hoc
    Joined: Oct 2008
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    Location: Japan

    Ad Hoc Naval Architect

    For those that do not appreciate the simplistic beauty of the bicycle argument/analogy, here is another.

    In the UK, road traffic cameras are now everywhere. The purpose is to reduce speeding. Everyone says speed kills. So, reduce the speeds, reduce the deaths.

    Since the near carpet coverage of speed cameras in the UK, the actual percentage of deaths on the road caused by speeding has decreased by lets see..er...what....hmmm...bugger..nowt!

    Perceived " wow that is nice and obvious" i shall take appropriate action because..." that helmet looks strong and shall save my head" or "wow, camera slow down", does what?

    ...for the answer, I refer you to my original posting!
     
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