On the note of wearing helmets, wearing a helmet while walking is plausibly as beneficial as wearing one while cycling[1]. So if you weren’t so concerned about not looking silly[2], you’d wear a helmet while walking.
[1] I’ve heard people claim that this is true. I haven’t looked into it myself but I find the claim plausible because there’s a clear mechanism—wearing a helmet should reduce head injuries if you get hit by a car, and deaths while walking are approximately as frequent as deaths while cycling.
[2] I’m using the proverbial “you” in the same way as Mark Xu.
It’s not just cars- helmets protect you if you tip over or crash into something. That happens at much higher speeds on bikes and scooters than while walking.
On the note of wearing helmets, wearing a helmet while walking is plausibly as beneficial as wearing one while cycling[1]. So if you weren’t so concerned about not looking silly[2], you’d wear a helmet while walking.
[1] I’ve heard people claim that this is true. I haven’t looked into it myself but I find the claim plausible because there’s a clear mechanism—wearing a helmet should reduce head injuries if you get hit by a car, and deaths while walking are approximately as frequent as deaths while cycling.
[2] I’m using the proverbial “you” in the same way as Mark Xu.
It’s not just cars- helmets protect you if you tip over or crash into something. That happens at much higher speeds on bikes and scooters than while walking.
Disregarding the looking silly, there are many other (small) downsides of wearing a helmet all the time:
the weight may have an adverse effect on your neck
you may get stuck on obstacles such as door frames
you may hit other people with it (who presumably don’t wear it and if they do see 2
it interferes with close personal interactions, such as hugging
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