Wear your farookin’ helmet!

San Antonio artist Chuck Ramirez has died from from a head injury in a bicycle accident; he was not wearing a helmet.  Some folks don’t wear helmets because they think the helmet makes them look foolish.  Does this guy look foolish?

When I teach about odds ratios and contingency tables, I use the results of an observational study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (Thompson, Rivara, and Thompson, 1989) that suggests helmets account for an approximate 88% reduction in the risk of brain injury in an accident.  As I tell my students (from experience), better a ding on the helmet than  a ding on the head.

And if you really want high fashion and protection, check out the Hövding.