Ringing Big Ben's Bell

It sounds like the quarterback for the Super Bowl champion Steelers was very, very, very lucky with this mishap (take a look at the photo of the bike if you have any doubt about that).

Also, a man named Stewart Cohen wrote what I thought was a particularly good column to the Philadelphia Inquirer about this subject last year (a commenter basically thought I was some kind of a do-gooder type for opposing the repeal of the helmet law, but all I can say is that Roethlisberger’s accident should be a wake-up call to this person; the cyclist, by all appearances, did nothing wrong but almost got killed anyway, and I wonder if he would still echo the sentiments expressed in Cohen's column now?).

Update 6/16: For the record, the fine Philadelphia Daily News columnist Ronnie Polaneczky believes that Roethlisberger should be allowed to go without a helmet, assuming he ever rides a motorcycle again (and I have a feeling he will somehow). This is an excerpt from her column on this subject:

This viewpoint has gotten me into shouting matches this week with pro-helmet people, who argue that head injuries sustained by helmet-less motorcyclists can drain millions from Medicaid, which we all pay into.

Since when do we deny Medicaid to people who need treatment as a result of exercising bad choices?

We don't withhold chemo from smokers who get lung cancer, nor cardiac care from cheese-steak addicts whose diets have closed their arteries tighter than the Blue Route during Friday-night rush hour.

Nor, for that matter, do we refuse treatment to uninsured motorists who drive without medical protection to help them recover from a smash-up.

So if we're going to refuse care to people whose choices are ill-advised, why restrict our penny-pinching to the bare-headed?

I would argue that trying to overcome a cigarette addiction is a lot harder than changing some dietary habits (I hesitate to use the phrase "cheese steak addicts"). Overcoming smoking is partly a matter of a lifestyle choice, but I believe it is more of a medical circumstance than anything else, and I know of this from experience in my family.

This all started with the repeal of the helmet law three years ago (a monumentally stupid moment for all in state government as far as I'm concerned, though, according to this link, wearing a helmet is required in PA for the first two years of licensure only).