Importance of Bicycle Safty Helmets

As a mode of transportation, the bicycle is a remarkably simple and satisfying machine. In fact, bicycling is so addictively pleasant that it is synonymous with fun, exercise, and good times. However, head injuries on a bicycle are not fun. It is very serious, and the challenge to an individual to find his way again is enormous. There was a man who was thirty-eight years old when his bicycle was hit by a pickup truck on the outskirts of Boulder, Colorado. He landed directly on his head, fractured his skull, survived two emergency brain surgeries, spent nineteen anxious days in intensive care, six weeks in a coma, and four long months in Boulder Memorial Hospital's rehabilitative unit. Almost two years post-injury, this man lives at home and continues treatment as an outpatient. He goes to "work" three days a week. He is unable to drive a car and he struggles to read and to write. His speech, his gait, his memory, his judgment, his confidence, his competence have all been affected. Jim was not wearing a bicycle helmet. In all studies reviewed, there are consistent data indicating that wearing an industry-approved bicycle helmet significantly reduces the risk of head injury during a crash or collision. The reduction in risk is some

Overall, helmets decrease the risk of head and brain injury by 70 to 88 percent and facial injury to the upper and mid face by 65 percent. what dependent on whether the controls originate from the emergency department or the population at large. Injuries are especially common in children and in males. "One of the major problems is that most people don"tmt know how a helmet works. The rounder and smoother ones helmet is, the better it will slide. Bicycle crashes occur mainly during times of heavy traffic, and during daylight. While it remains to be seen whether this trend will be come more prevalent as younger birth cohorts have children of their own. This is 36 per cent of all cyclists recorded as killed or seriously injured. Nationwide, official figures show that deaths among pedal bicyclists have fallen from around 100 each year some 10 years ago to about half that number currently. Without a helmet it all goes to ones brain in less than one millisecond. The body of the cyclist is then thrown up over the front of the car. compared to other road users, after vehicle drivers (3,954) and passengers (2,972) and Recent mass data indicates that 25 percent of bicyclists admitted to hospitals, and 44 per cent of those killed, had a head injury as their single most important injury. Just BAM! The asphalt one hits is incredibly hard. The body of the cyclist is further injured by contact with roof structures, and at impact speeds of 55 kmh and over the cyclist is likely to be thrown completely over the car.