Thanks for that great link Andy (see comment on yesterday’s post) that prove to me with a wide range of statistics that there is every reason to wear a helmet. I think it is the statistics about who dies when riding that got me. Without a helmet the odds go way up so who cares about the other muddy stats. It is interesting that dotbike’s flickr site produced a statistically relevent base measuring helmet-wear. So that means efforts to get into the neighborhoods is even MORE important making it more tragic that we’re not out there as much as we should because we’re using our precious resources in other unproven areas. Next we’ll try to determine ethnicity to see how that reflects the surrounding neighborhood. Any guesses there? When dotrider first became involved we heard comments like, “Black women don’t ride because it messes their hair.” among other racist generalizations about our neighbors in Dorchester. The dotbike flickr site pretty much sinks most of those generalizations. Dotrider’s generalization is that bikers in general and working class bikers in particular aren’t going to speak out and react to attempts to organize them (hell most don’t even want their picture taken). The article in today’s Globe about a section of Dorchester that responded less to the Census than anywhere in the state might help shed some light on why dotrider’s generalization is the one to use and try to overcome. Why bother? We don’t get anything here anyway. Perfect illustration. Thank you Globe. I hope our bike leaders read that and connected it to their efforts… Do you think that is happening?
