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> Risk compensation is fascinating; driving with a bike helmet causes the biker and drivers around the biker to behave more dangerously.

Do you have a truly reliable source for that? Because I hear this statement once in a while, and it feels flawed.

A helmet protects you from severe head injury if you are in an accident. There are more reasons for accidents than reckless car drivers. For example:

- Bad weather

- Driver not seeing the biker at all (no matter with or without helmet)

- Crash between 2 cyclists



Parent did not say that helmets make you less safe. They said that helmets make drivers around the biker behave more dangerously.

https://www.bicycling.com/news/a25358099/drivers-give-helmet...


3.5 inches on an average of ~1 meter was the measurement, in a study that a single researcher performed using himself as the rider.

This result is both weakly supported and small, and it shouldn't be considered actionable.




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