Earlier we had one female eliciting campaign mileage from a hawker stall helper who was unfairly shamed about his tattered attire. Now we have another riding on the news of the sad demise of a young man who died from head injuries during the OCBC Cycle Singapore event.
As a cabinet minister of means, he could have demanded a proper accounting of the unnecessary death. Why was the steep slope of the Benjamin Sheares Bridge, designed for use as a high speed expressway, selected for a bicycle route? Initially reported as a crash, it is now attributed to a fall. Fall from a one meter height that resulted in a cracked skull, and blood clots that dealt the final blow.
Sid Tyler, a prominent member of the Pasadena City Council from 1997-2009, also fell on March 28, 2014, while riding his bicycle in Pasadena on Thursday. Neighbors said that Tyler was cycling on California Boulevard in Pasadena, signaled for a left turn and then lost his balance on his bike and crashed into the street. He was wearing a helmet. He sustained a severe neck injury in the accident, and was taken off life support on Friday at Huntington Hospital.
Someone should call for an audit of those bicycle helmets. One suspects those fancy headgear are more cosmetic than life saving. Earlier dominant "hairnet" style form of helmets offered acceptable protection from scrapes and cuts, but only minimal impact protection. Advances of the late 1990s and early 2000s in retention and fitting systems replaced the old system of varying thickness pads with cradles for more precise adjustment to the rider's head. It also resulted in the back of the head being less covered by the helmet.
Studies of helmet use by injured cyclists were published from the late 1980s, some in Australia, both before and after helmet legislation concluded both for and against the encouragement of bicycle helmet wearing and/or bicycle helmet legislation (McDermott et al, 1993, "The effectiveness of bicyclist helmets: a study of 1710 casualties", Journal of Trauma). This debate continues, apparently without consensus. At least this is healthier discourse than "remember to vote for me".
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| Former professional cyclist on descending Sheares Bridge |
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An uncharacteristic piece. I half expected a development of your opening statement that our PAP politicians are prone to exploit tragedies. Gone are the days of LKY sneering at politicians (particularly Americans) who kiss babies. He could afford to eschew these antics, confident of his abilities. Now, even his chosen one kiss babies. A sign of a lack of confidence in his abilities?
ReplyDeleteHe babysitted his son to the throne. What do you think?
DeleteWell....what do you think of a man who allows his father to select a wife for him and holds his hand too ? LOL
DeleteI admire LKY's eye and stomach for his choice of women.
DeleteDid Ho Ching exploit the tragedy of our goondu pm and proved herself a greater opportunist than the father in law ?
DeleteI am inclined to think she has both men eating from the palm of her hand. What do you think ? ($)-($)
The bike helmet is essentially to create less drag for racers. I personally feel a handle mirror, a bell, mandatory lightings for night riding and streetsmart riding habits are more crucial to a cyclist's survival. Having said, it should be pointed out that sitting higher on a bike gives better extension of the legs to maximise leverage BUT a lot harder to break a fall if one's toes can bearly touch the ground.
ReplyDeleteIt was anything but a fun filled mass cycling event. Mr Chia was in the 59km Super Challenge category, it was a race, participants were seriously going for the win, blame poor helmet design? Racing helmets for cyclists probably are designed for aerodynamics than protection. Who knows how heavily Mr Chia fell and at what speed.
ReplyDeleteA bigger threat than lousy helmet to all cyclists is the proliferation of high performance electrified and throttle controlled motorised bikes zooming around the neighbourhood pedestrian pavements and park connectors at the speed of motorbikes. These are silent killing machines because they make no noise (unlike motorbikes), fellow cyclists and joggers and especially children cannot hear them approaching from behind. The Nparks prohibit their use in parks. But no one enforces the ban. Its like the boys in blue, wait until the next riot, then ask for 1000 men. Meanwhile, twiddle thumb and collect fat bonuses.
What about the 15 year mentoring of a dud prime minister?
ReplyDeleteNo amount of helmet protection will be sufficient for the citizens of Singapore in the increasing likely event of a serious and forseeable crash.
That is why they build bomb shelters...
DeleteAn internal political party revolt within the PAP against the inept leedership would be better.
DeleteI thought govt didn't allow motorised bicycles. But why are there so many riding around hdb housing estates. On pavements and on the roads. Waiting for more accidents to happen before they act on it?
ReplyDeleteYou have to slow down before going down a slope and also not to hit the brake too hard. if not, you will be thrown out of the bicycle. Life is fragile. Be careful and alert in everything you do.
ReplyDeleteSounds like good advice for our PAP government.
DeletePM Lee what do you think?
That damned 6.9 million population white paper, the loose immigration policy and the yes man ministers and MP will be the doom of PAPee.
Delete