Use your head: Wear a helmet
Spring has sprung, as they say. Last weekend, the warm weather motivated many to get out and do those various things people do after being cooped up in their homes for a long time. I saw people playing golf, tennis, basketball, soccer, and kids playing at the park while their parents looked on.
My son and I also saw a number of people riding their motorcycles (I have a motorcycle but didn’t have the time to take it for a spin). What concerns me about those we saw riding, was how few were wearing helmets.
Every time I saw someone on a motorbike - the rider or a passenger - I cringed when I noticed no helmet. If you want to try and make an argument against wearing a helmet - there is no good one to be made.
The only reasons one could come up with would have to be arrogance, defiance, stupidity and or ignorance. Maybe by writing this, I can motivate some to change their ways - those who aren’t educated in the facts.
I can’t however motivate those who would also claim that any type of safety gear is for those who are not cool or tough - the same people who think wearing a seat belt in car is just another way to for the government to limit our freedoms.
Helmets are without a doubt the best way for reducing crash-related head injuries, a leading cause of death among riders who don’t wear helmets. Helmets can’t prevent all head injuries or death, but study after study shows they do significantly reduce the incidence of both.
Studies have also stated that helmets save over 1,000 lives each year. Imagine football players tackling each other without helmets. Now imagine your head hitting the pavement at 30 mph without a helmet, about the average speed at which most accidents occur.
I was riding a bicycle one day and hit a car. The medical staff at the hospital told me the helmet not only prevented a concussion but that it may have saved my life as I my helmet took the brunt of my crash.
For those of you who don’t ride but know others that do, maybe you can knock some sense into their thick skulls and encourage them to wear a helmet. They may be hard headed but their heads are not hard enough to handle the impact of a crash.
Bruce Handler
Hawthorn Woods