The hemet is made of foam and has a hard plastic shell on the outer layer. When someone crashes and their head hits a solid surface the foam part of the helmet gets crushed which slows down the head to a gentle stop.
The article “Why it makes sense to bike without a helmet” by Howie Chong is about his argument that if you are experienced then you shouldn’t have to wear a bike helmet and that there are benefits to not wearing one.
One of his arguments against wearing a helmet is that people don’t have to wear helmets when walking or driving. According to an epidemiological study in 1978 the main cause of head injury in the San Diego area was due to motor vehicle accidents. Also he uses an article from Forbes magazine that report the number one cause of fatal head injuries among teens is due to vehicle accidents. He says since we don’t have to wear helmets when driving even though more head trauma is cause by car accidents why have to wear them when biking.
Later in the article he refers to a study that was held at the University of Bath, that showed that drivers would give cyclists with helmets on less space than cyclists without helmets on when going around them.
Another theory he puts out there is that wearing a helmet would give people a false sense of security which would cause them to take riskier actions. He makes the point that wearing a helmet won’t prevent an accident.
One more reason is that the number of cyclists on the road decreased. This finding was based of a study, done in Australia, about mandatory helmet laws.
Credibility:
According to Tseng and Fogg surface credibility is how much someone will believe someone based on simple inspection.
I would say Howie Chong has great surface credibility. On his about me page it says he is a graduate from Yale and McGill University. He has a Master’s degree in Environmental Management from Yale and a Bachelor’s in Environmental Studies from McGill. He has supported non-profit organizations one of them being Sierra Club.
He seems like a good willed, intelligent person. He cares about the environment and has a Masters. I would believe him.
His website is also very easy to navigate and during the article he links to the studies where he gets the information.
I also don’t believe him because of experience credibility. Experience credibility, according to Tseng and Fogg, “refers to how much a person believes someone or something based on first hand experience.” I see his point in that if someone is experienced and bikes cautiously they won’t likely get into an accident that they shouldn’t have to wear a helmet. I don’t agree with it. Because he doesn’t talk about himself being in an accident I infer that he hasn’t been in one. This makes him less credible because he has never been in an accident. As someone who has been and who’s dad has been in one I would say that wearing a helmet should be mandatory even though there is a small chance of getting into accident.