The local police have to go by the new skatepark and enforce the helmet law. I’m sure the police aren’t thrilled about having to listen to a bunch of teens and twentysomethings swear and moan and wheedle. And I’m sure the teens and twentysomethings would rather not have to moan and wheedle. They seem to like the swearing, though there’s less of that than most people figure there is at a skatepark.
Bottom line? You can’t make someone whose biology is dumping hormones into his bloodstream stand still and do something that’s going to endanger his place in the sociological pecking order. Wearing a helmet is not cool. In other words. Rebelliousness, recklessness and Cool are far more important than whether your Mom is going to sue the city if you crack your skull. Seriously, 99% of skaters aren’t going to crack their skulls, but there will be that one kid who does. And we’re going to have to watch his mom- with tears and dollar signs in her eyes- explain how the city was remiss and now little (20 year old) Darnault (his friends called him ‘Hump’) can’t feed himself and she ain’t gonna do it and who gon’ pay for the nursing home?
On the upside, the last time we were at the skatepark and the cops announced that you couldn’t skate without a helmet, my son got to skate the big bowl for nearly ten minutes solid- him being one of the, I guess, five people who had a helmet on to start with. It took ten whole minutes for the older kids to quit complaining at the cops, go get their helmets, swallow their pride (the hardest part of the ordeal), and put on their helmets to resume skating. Couple of guys had that Laaaaast little bit of rebelliousness they had to fly, so they wore their helmets…gasp… without strapping them on. Means they had to skate with one hand absurdly holding the tops of their heads. Looked dumber than dirt, but at least they didn’t have to strap up the helmets. That would have been… I dunno, something harsh on them.
How much more quickly would they have put on headgear if the headgear itself proclaimed how much they disdained it?
I should have custom helmets made to sell out there. Really.
It’s only the litigiously driven element which has brought all this nonsensical health and safety to have such power. Get rid of the lawyers and maybe we can all accept responsibility for our own actions again. Boys will always do stupid things – it’s what they do.
I like it when people say things like “Why do boys do such silly things to impress girls?” Because the answer is “They don’t. They’re doing silly things to drive off the other males, so they can rise in the pecking order and have options for the better females.” but there’s a lot of people uncomfortable with that answer.
eh.. teenaged boys don’t, as a rule, accept responsibility for their actions. I’m pretty pro letting kids be kids, but when an activity has a very distinct risk of TBI…
Being honest don’t really have a problem with helmets per se as it makes sense to wear one. (says he who never did when climbing)
But I’m trying to get a colleague to wear one when cycling to work, he’s 40 and has 4 kids and cycles through Liverpool traffic. Le Mans it ain’t, but its damn scary for drivers, let alone cyclists.
We have a local indoor park and Joey, the owner, doesn’t enforce the helmet rule. I saw a kid get carted out with a concussion. It really sucks that helmets have become so uncool. Their shoes are falling off, their pants are so low they hinder movement, and their hair is obstructing their vision… maybe the helmets should be made to cause discomfort and limit motion; then they might become popular.
“And we’re going to have to watch his mom- with tears and dollar signs in her eyes- explain how the city was remiss and now little (20 year old) Darnault (his friends called him ‘Hump’) can’t feed himself and she ain’t gonna do it and who gon’ pay for the nursing home?”
Just by your comment I can tell you live in the same city I do…