From cyclingfans.com, concerning a crash on Monday in the Giro d’Italia (Tour of Italy) bike race (my emphasis):
Euskaltel-Euskadi rider Alberto Lopez de Munain of Spain had a very bad crash [Monday] that had television viewers the world over thinking the worst as he lay motionless on the road after hitting his head on a barrier. Alberto did suffer serious injuries but thankfully his life is not in danger, according to reports.
Alberto’s helmet very likely saved his life. Crashes are part of the sport but scares like Alberto’s crash yesterday certainly make you pause. His team manager has left the Giro to stay with his rider.
Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery, Alberto.
So wear your helmet, damn it!
Given how many people I know who’ve had helmets really save their bacon (including our Chancellor, Sam Schuman), it really amazes me to see all these people zooming around without them.
One that really took the cake was several weeks ago when I saw a father/daughter pair in town. She was riding on the correct side of the road (the right here in the U.S.) and did have a helmet on. Unfortunately the straps were so loose that she might as well have been wearing a baseball cap for the good it would have done her. And Dad? No helmet, and on the sidewalk! Aaarrrggghhhh! Why do parents do this crap?
Where’s Captain Hook and his gang of evil pirates when you need them?!?
It isnt something most people give much thought. I reflexivly wear helmets, partially ingrained from years of riding motorcycles. In fact I actually cracked one helmet open ,with my head in it, during a motcross race. Couldnt see straight for a couple of hours. (This incident may explain future events, many have implied). Of course as a callow youth we didnt even consider bicycle helmets, since none were available.
My, then 18 year old, stepdaughter had a low speed crash while weaving around someone on a sidewalk a couple of years ago. She then hit a signpost ….. and woke up in the hospital hours later where she stayed for most of a week while the swelling went down from the concussion.
Helmets Good.
I should fess up to not having ever worn a bicycle helmet as a kid. At that time (late 60′s and early 70′s) people were still figuring out that seat belts were a good idea, though, so this is not entirely surprising.
My sister’s a super-strong advocate of helmets and ensured that Sub-Evil Boy had a helmet when he learned to ride a bike, and that WeatherGirl and I had helmets when we got back into biking. One important advantage of this is that Sub-Evil will have no memory/experience of not wearing a helmet, and has always seen his parents wear them. The bummer is that he’s very aware of the fact that most other people don’t wear them, but in an excellent righteously indignant sort of way. (Check out this great pro-helmet message he wrote last year.)
I like to remind students that their head is worth more than the $50 that a good helmet costs. Around here they zoom around on scooter/mopeds without a care in the world, cause ya know theyre ‘just going a little ways’. This even after 3 were killed the first month of school last fall.
Immortality is a major problem for teenagers.
My kids have never seen me ride without a helmet either,but I grew up during the same dark ages you did. We even rode around in the back of pickups, although there was lots of warnings to stay sitting down.
My parents had a VW when I was an infant, and apparently built a cheapo “crib” for me in the back seat with some jury-rigged plywood. The stories are that I just rolled around back there unprotected and unrestrained. This may explain quite a bit, but I’m not going there.
The “just going a little ways” (or the related “not going very fast”) is seriously dangerous stuff. There was a case here several years ago where a grandmother was driving a young child a few blocks to the grocery store. The kid was standing in the passenger seat and grandmother breaked gently for an animal, sending the kid into the windshield leading to fatal head injuries. Very sad.