Comments on: Fear of Helmet Hair? Coaches Refuse To Wear Helmets http://madisonian.net/2008/03/01/fear-of-helmet-hair-coaches-refuse-to-wear-helmets/ a blog about law, tech, culture, and related things Thu, 10 May 2012 20:32:56 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Dave http://madisonian.net/2008/03/01/fear-of-helmet-hair-coaches-refuse-to-wear-helmets/comment-page-1/#comment-240716 Dave Tue, 04 Mar 2008 06:31:07 +0000 http://madisonian.net/archives/2008/03/01/fear-of-helmet-hair-coaches-refuse-to-wear-helmets/#comment-240716 What's always puzzled me in these situations is why there's resistance to wearing safety devices. Why does Larry Bowa find it so offensive to wear a helmet? Hockey players and motorcyclists have expressed similar resistance. In all of these places, it seems pretty strange. After all, you lose nothing by wearing a helmet, and you reduce your risk of injury. Three possible explanations: 1. The machismo theory. Not wearing safety devices expresses your mastery of your environment. "I don't need to wear a helmet because I'm indestructible!" Wearing one exposes your vulnerability--which real men, of course, do not have any of. 2. The antipaternalism theory. Law/rules should not tell us what risks not to take. If we want to risk our necks, then let us bear the costs. Hey, if anything this rule will weed out, Darwin-style, those who are bad at assessing their own exposure to danger. 3. The behavioralism explanation. People have optimistic bias, as many studies have shown, so they think the risk of injury, however present, simply cannot apply to them. They thus think nothing is gained by wearing a helmet since they aren't at any real risk. What’s always puzzled me in these situations is why there’s resistance to wearing safety devices. Why does Larry Bowa find it so offensive to wear a helmet? Hockey players and motorcyclists have expressed similar resistance. In all of these places, it seems pretty strange. After all, you lose nothing by wearing a helmet, and you reduce your risk of injury. Three possible explanations:

1. The machismo theory. Not wearing safety devices expresses your mastery of your environment. “I don’t need to wear a helmet because I’m indestructible!” Wearing one exposes your vulnerability–which real men, of course, do not have any of.

2. The antipaternalism theory. Law/rules should not tell us what risks not to take. If we want to risk our necks, then let us bear the costs. Hey, if anything this rule will weed out, Darwin-style, those who are bad at assessing their own exposure to danger.

3. The behavioralism explanation. People have optimistic bias, as many studies have shown, so they think the risk of injury, however present, simply cannot apply to them. They thus think nothing is gained by wearing a helmet since they aren’t at any real risk.

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