đ To all my friends who ride a bike, any bike, anywhere, any timeâŚplease ALWAYS wear your helmet! It doesnât matter how long youâve ridden, how old you are, how skilled you are, how short of a ride it is or the speed of the ride. A split second can change your ride.
â Helmets save lives.
đ§ Helmets save brains.
â Helmets save quality of life.
This is a picture of my friendâs helmet after she crashed on some wet railroad tracks this weekend. Thanks to this helmet, she suffered a broken collarbone, but not a skull fracture, brain injury, or death. That dent in the picture, just to the right and above the yellow circle, is the indentation from the railroad track where her head hit it. â ď¸
Many bike âcrashesâ are falls at slow speeds, coming to a stop and losing your balance, forgetting to get unclipped in time, or something simple. It doesnât have to be a high-speed crash to bash your head against the concrete.
In concrete đ unprotected head, concrete will win.
Even if you suffer a concussion (bruised brain), youâll likely only be set back in activity for a few weeks to a few months at most. Thatâs far better than a permanent, disabling injury or death from a head injury.
Wear your helmet, please! Even if itâs âjust for a few minutes,â âjust down the road,â or âa route I always ride so I know itâs safe.â It just takes a second and you can be down. Also, wear your helmets all the time so kids will learn our behavior of seeing us wearing helmets and they will too when asked. Practice what you teach!
P.S. This also applies to scooters, rollerblades, hoverboards, or other higher-speed rolling devices that can cause significant injury with crashing!
Stay safe out there folks!
