My earlier post discussed the Peltzman effect, where people react to increased safety by taking greater risks. The NY Times Freakonomics blog on 5 February 2010 had an interesting article about what happens to a head inside a gridiron helmet after a nasty hit.
Modern gridiron helmets have led to a significant decline in fatal head injuries in the actual sport. But helmets built to prevent death may actually be worse for concussion prevention. Modern helmets have allowed tacklers to use them as offensive weapons with little regard to safety. Concussion is now a major issue with both the NFL, college and high school games. The long term effects of concussion include dementia and mental disorders and NFL players are at higher risk than the general population to these diseases. Comparatively to rugby and Australian rules, dementia rates for gridiron players (and soccer players probably from headers) are much higher.
Here again is the precautionary principle skewing the precaution. Its also a case of the PP not being applied. Unfortunately for gridiron players, the NFL and NCAA have not reacted to a real risk (concussion) by implementing preventative measures (new rules, better helmets).
No comments:
Post a Comment