Author | Lightnews

David Veloz @3daydog.bsky.social · 26d

If you have a problem with this, fine. I'll just block you and we'll be done.

David Veloz @3daydog.bsky.social · 26d

I don't presume to question the veracity of that claim. But I am angry at how often a discussion about bicycles online turns into a scolding session about helmets rather than a demand for safer roads, better infrastructure, reduced speeds, and harsher penalties for drivers. Cars kill people.

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David Veloz @3daydog.bsky.social · 26d

Your helmet won't matter. We know this because so many cyclists wearing helmets have died this way. I was hit and my helmet shattered into pieces. Because I lived doesn't mean my helmet saved me. You say you have family members whose lives were saved by helmets. I'm glad for you and for them.

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David Veloz @3daydog.bsky.social · 26d

I don't know why you have a hard on for "errors". I did not equate my statement that helmets do nothing to protect cyclists with the industry quote saying helmets aren't designed to protect you in a car crash. But I did say helmets do nothing to protect if you're hit by a car going highway speeds.

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David Veloz @3daydog.bsky.social · 26d

Helmets then become the issue, rather than drivers and infrastructure and a car-centric legal system that absolves drivers of responsibility whenever there's a scapegoat they can point to (ie, a dead, helmetless cyclist).

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David Veloz @3daydog.bsky.social · 26d

I'll give you a scintilla of the benefit of the doubt in case you're not paying attention. In this country, cyclists are blamed, in the press, for their own deaths when they're not wearing helmets. This, despite the fact that many cyclists who were wearing helmets are also killed in traffic.

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David Veloz @3daydog.bsky.social · 26d

Good lord. I didn't say they were. I AM saying if you're hit by a car going more than 30 mph while on your bike, your helmet isn't going to helmet you. I'm not playing word games. But when a cyclist is killed while not wearing a helmet, they're blamed for their own death.

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David Veloz @3daydog.bsky.social · 26d

I don't argue with people online. I stand by what I said.

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David Veloz @3daydog.bsky.social · 26d

Enjoy.

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David Veloz @3daydog.bsky.social · 26d

A quote from the head of Giro in 2020:

There are many misconceptions about helmets, unfortunately,” says Giro’s Richter. “We do not design helmets specifically to reduce chances or severity of injury when impacts involve a car. As mentioned earlier, the number of variables is too great to calculate – the speed of the car, the mass, the angle of impact, the rider, the surface, the speed of the rider, did the driver or rider swerve a little or hit the brakes before impact. All of these variables and more are unique in every instance, and there is no way to accurately predict what is going to happen or the forces involved.

“What we do is work to make riders more visible, create helmets that provide relevant coverage so that riders wear them whenever they ride, and advocate for better infrastructure to help reduce the chances that you’d encounter an impact with a car.

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David Veloz @3daydog.bsky.social · 26d

100%

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David Veloz @3daydog.bsky.social · 26d

Right. I don't want anybody blaming my death on my not wearing a helmet. I want all the hate aimed at the driver.

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David Veloz @3daydog.bsky.social · 26d

Awful.

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David Veloz @3daydog.bsky.social · 26d

What!? That would be so cool.

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David Veloz @3daydog.bsky.social · 26d

I've done it before. Takes years to get good again!

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David Veloz @3daydog.bsky.social · 26d

That was hilarious.

David Veloz @3daydog.bsky.social · 26d

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David Veloz @3daydog.bsky.social · 26d

Dude, that sounds so fun! I still have this Telecaster I bought when I was 20.

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David Veloz @3daydog.bsky.social · 26d

Lol. Let's go with that.

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David Veloz @3daydog.bsky.social · 26d

I'm a guitarist squarely in the school of "I don't want to get too good, then I'll sound like I work at Guitar Center." So 50 years after learning how to play I still sound like I did at 18.

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David Veloz @3daydog.bsky.social · 26d

I think so!

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David Veloz @3daydog.bsky.social · 26d

That's too bad! As a film guy, if I'm noticing things in a movie like lighting or editing or a performance, then the movie isn't working! I want to be able to enjoy it. If I were him, I'd want to be able to let it go and just get into it, but I'm sure his ears are so well trained...

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David Veloz @3daydog.bsky.social · 26d

Better fueled, but I'd actually been sick all week and wasn't feeling great when I started. But yeah, I do feel better.

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David Veloz @3daydog.bsky.social · 26d

It's so strange. We'll be talking in the kitchen and the boy will be playing some chords in the other room and she'll wince and yell out "It's an F#!! It's a diminished chord, not a minor!"

I thought I was musical until I met her.

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David Veloz @3daydog.bsky.social · 26d

I mean it's purely anecdotal, but I felt far better after a 50 mile gravel ride two days ago than I did after a 45 mile one in June.

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