Are You Wearing a Helmet?

With the warmer temperatures finally here, maybe you’ve unlocked your bicycle from sitting stiff in the garage all winter, and have been riding it, hopefully with a helmet, to work every day. Or maybe you ride for pleasure – to feel spring wash over your face while inhaling the lilac scented breeze.

It’s estimated that nearly 70 million Americans ride bicycles. It goes without saying that riding a bicycle is good for your health, but doing so does not come without risks, especially if you are not wearing a helmet. More than 600,000 people go to emergency rooms each year for bicycle-related injuries. Each year, head injures account for about seventy-five percent of bicyclists who die from crashes. Out of the estimated 33 million children who ride bicycles each year, nearly four hundred die from crashes and 153 million go to the ER for head trauma.

But there’s good news: wearing a helmet can prevent eighty-eighty percent of TBIs from bicycle accidents. This solution is a no-brainer (no pun intended). But how many adults, and children do you see riding a bicycle without a helmet? You may wonder why some people choose not to wear a helmet, why some parents do not insist that their children wear one too. Perhaps parents don’t think it will happen to them or their children – fall into the road and hit their head on the pavement, or get hit by a car in the process. Perhaps they forgot their helmets and didn’t feel like turning around to go home and get them. Or they think they’ll look silly wearing a helmet. Better to look silly than the alternative.

I’ll stop lecturing and offer you this video about how to properly fit a helmet. It will only take three minutes and forty-seven seconds of your time. And, if you’re concerned about appearances, check out this site here for some stylish helmets.

If you cannot afford the more costly helmets, click here or here for less expensive ones (disclaimer alert: some of the larger corporate stores I don’t necessarily endorse). You might contact your local bike shop, school, or fire department for places to purchase helmets. This past March, during Brain Injury Awareness Month, the Brain Injury Association of America partnered with Nutcase Helmets to raise awareness about TBIs. For every helmet purchased, two dollars went to the BIAA. Is there a similar fundraising effort happening in your area?

The government is working to prevent brain injures from bicycle accidents by enacting legislation that would require bicyclists to wear helmets. Twenty states have some form of a helmet law, but most only apply to riders under eighteen. To see which states currently have laws in place click here.

Happy, and safe riding!