When I was in seventh grade, I slipped on some wet leaves while riding my bike around town, and my bike landed on top of me as I fell to the ground. Thanks to my helmet, I left the hospital with a broken elbow, but no concussion. As you can see in the photo, I was still able to participate in my synchronized skating competition despite my broken elbow; but a concussion would have been prohibitive.
Last year when I was a PNM going through recruitment, I was hit by a bike while walking between houses. This has turned into an entertaining piece of comic relief to talk about during rush, but at the time it was very scary. I had to shake it off and keep walking so that I would make it to the next house on time. Luckily, the person riding the bike did not hit his head when he fell, but I was more nervous about his safety than I was about the bruises on my legs because he was not wearing a helmet.
In the state of New York, it is the law to wear a helmet while riding a bike. When doing research for this article I was very surprised to find out that this is not the case in Michigan (Lmb.org). Because of my personal experience with bike accidents and the horror stories I have heard about from the media, I feel strongly that wearing a helmet is important.
Concussion prevention is more important than having a good hair day; your life is more important than looking “lame” for wearing a helmet. One of the main excuses my friends used for not wearing helmets when I was telling them I was writing this article was that helmets aren’t fashionable. News flash: hospital wristbands are also not fashionable!
According to one friend who wants to remain anonymous, “I ride my bike carefully and stay on the sidewalk, so it is not a necessity for my safety.” According to the League of Michigan Bicyclists, sidewalk riding is considered dangerous because you are invisible to motorists. Additionally, in 2014, at least 60% of bicycling related deaths occurred when bicyclists were not wearing helmets. If you could reduce your chances of a bike crash being fatal by 60%, is having a good hair day, looking cool, or having your hands free from carrying a helmet into class still most important?
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Image courtesy of Campus Information at the University of Michigan