Me: Kate [my roommate] and I are going to go on a bike ride as soon as she gets a helmet.
Landlord: You don't need a helmet.
Me: Well, I kind of want to make sure we don't die.
Landlord: But helmets don't work!
Me: [pause] ... um, of course they do.
Landlord: What do you mean?
Me: [in a slight stating-the-obvious tone of voice] Umm, well, if you get in an accident and you're wearing a helmet, you're a lot less likely to die.
Landlord: That's not true. Helmets are just to protect you if these little rocks hit you or something.
Me: umm....
So I told him of the people I know who would be dead if they hadn't been wearing helmets, blah blah blah, and he still didn't believe me, insisting that all helmets do is protect you from flying gravel. I'll keep wearing my helmet, he'll keep thinking I'm crazy.
Motorcycle drivers here always wear helmets, but their passengers (often small children...) never do, and I thought it seemed strange that they cared enough to protect their own heads but not their children's heads. The real answer is that they're not protecting anyone's heads. Apparently you can find real imported helmets that actually keep you safe if you look hard and pay a lot, but most people wear these $5 plastic shells that look just enough like helmets so they don't get stopped by the police, since it's illegal to drive without a helmet. As my landlord put it, all they do is catch everything if you get in a bad accident. And protect you from falling rocks I suppose.
Don't worry Mom and Dad, my helmet was not made in Nepal.
2 comments:
Hey Abbie, I've thought the same thing while here in Vietnam. The adults and older kids have helmets, but the babies and toddlers don't. It's more puzzling when I think they are more likely to fall off than adults and definitely have more sensitive skulls. I think the actual reason is there are no baby helmets!
I can't tell you how relieved I am to hear this.
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