To Helmet or Not to Helmet?

I ran across an interesting article today discussing the benefits of mandatory helmet usage while bike riding.  I'd love to know your opinion. 

When on a bike, scooter, dirt bike or their 4-wheeler, it is mandatory in my house for my children, my husband and myself to wear a helmet.  In college, before it was mandatory to wear motorcycle helmets in our state, I worked in the ER as a transporter.  I can't tell you how many young lives were lost because of head injuries.  My own Uncle's life was saved by his helmet usage.  I'm not saying he didn't mess his whole face up - broken cheek bones, etc but he lived and that's the important thing. 

As I grew and moved into my pharmaceutical position, one of the first people to have an impression on me was at one time considered one of the best Neurosurgeons in the Country at our top teaching institution.  When i had the honor of meeting him, he was a delivery person walking with a cart in the hospital every day because of the neurological damage done to his head following a bike accident.  He had hit a large rock in the street, went head over the handlebars and lost his functioning and livelihood. 

These things convinced me to use helmets before they were "popular".  Is it your choice to wear a helmet or not - well maybe but if you are disabled because of your lack of safety am I then responsible for paying for your medical care and life long support because of a disability or is that something you are willing to risk and pay for on your own? Just an argument and thought....

The one time I do not insist on helmet usage is during roller blading when the ER physicians say most accidents happen to the wrists so wrist guards are a must - helmets preferred.  Am I right here, most of the ER docs I worked with for years thought so but yes, it's a risk I take.  As for the bikes and cycles, I am not willing to take that one chance in whatever the statistics may be.  As I tell my daughter who's learning to drive, sometimes it's not you but the other idiots on the road who are dangerous so why not be as careful as you possibly can be? Why not lower the risk?

It is summer time and more bikes are out - please be safe as you drive those neighborhood streets and let me know your thoughts on this argument.

Helmet on Your Head or Egg on Your Face

by Matthew Roth on June 15, 2009

League of American Bicyclists refused to link to Matthew Modine's Bicycle for a Day site because he didn't don certain ritual headgear.

Matthew Modine has been getting a lot of negative attention recently for his stance on wearing a helmet while he cycles: i.e., he doesn't wear a helmet while he cycles (it would have to be a large helmet to fit that copious coif). A profile of his Bicycle for a Day in New York Mag spins off track into a diatribe about his perspective on gravity and head trauma, while closing with an objectification of his posterior that would never fly were he not a dude.  But hey, its New York Rag, what can you expect? Unfortunately TreehuggerEcorazzi get in on the game, making the argument that only reckless people don't use a helmet while riding a bike, which isn't far from the argument made by motorists that only reckless people ride bikes. Fortunately the cooler head (s?) at Copenhagenize dissects the arguments in the "Get Yer Pitchforks! It's a Bike Helmet Witchhunt!" article and exposes a very interesting angle of helmet-mania: American's are so helmet-conscious in part because the helmet manufacturers are American, they have lobbyists everywhere, and cycling was pitched in part by these same manufactures as a sport, not a transportation mode

and........

For Safety Tips check out:  Executive Defense Technology. Be SAFE!

Comments

[Ajlouny]

I would rather be on the safer side and would insist on wearing a helmet. You can trust yourself but, who around you can cut you off, or your road condition can change as your unaware. It's not until your falling that the thought of gosh I wish i had my helmet on occurs to you.