Accident story to convince my nephew to wear helmet
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Shelley Scott on
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I've had two crashes in which my helmet hit the ground first, both at slow speeds, and I'm a vigilently safe and defensive cyclist. I try to anticipate all car doors opening, but succumbed to a dooring that sent me head first into the pavement. A cracked helmet can be replaced. A cracked skull cannot. (Cracked helmets can also be re-purposed as hanging pots.) No matter how safe we think we are in how we ride, the unexpected happens.
(I'll attach a photo of my my hanging flower helmets--wonderful conversation starter to let me encourage others to wear helmets too.....)
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Permalink Reply by Simon Phearson on
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I sustained my only serious injury as a cyclist one day going to lunch, helmetless.
At the time, I was a daily bike-commuter and normally wore my helmet for commuting. But that day - just because I didn't want to bother for the short bike-trip to where I was going to pick up lunch - I left my helmet behind, at my desk, and proceeded along the route to the lunch-spot, which I'd taken hundreds of times and knew well.
The road wasn't bike-friendly, and sidewalk riding was permitted, so I was taking the sidewalk when I came up on a cyclist coming the other way on the sidewalk. As a courtesy, I left the narrow sidewalk and rode in the grass, to let him pass, and then I proceeded to get back on the sidewalk. Or tried to, anyway. It turns out that the overgrown grass caused me to misjudge the distance between the sidewalk surface and the surrounding ground. So, my front wheel went over the sidewalk's ledge; my back wheel did not; and then I found myself falling over, to my right, at some speed.
The next thing I know, I'm sitting on the ground, looking for the cyclist I'd just passed, thinking that the least he could have done was render aid. I realize suddenly that I'm bleeding profusely from my head - my shirt quickly becoming soaked with blood. I get up and start walking toward a nearby auto repair place, thinking I'd have them call an ambulance. Turns out they already had, and the ambulance was pretty much right behind me. I'd been unconscious for longer than I'd realized.
What followed was a trip to an emergency room; staples to the gash in my head and dressings for some serious road burn on my right shoulder and elbow; an uncomfortable call to a co-worker to drive me from the hospital to home, my bloody and ruined shirt in a bag and my bike in the back of her pick-up. I recovered fine, though it was an unpleasant couple of weeks - my apartment at the time lacked air conditioning, in the middle of summer, and it's not exactly easy to sleep comfortably when you're constrained to sleeping in a single position (not wanting to lie on my head, arm, or shoulder wounds).
I was uninsured, so the medical costs were significant, on my pay. The bills kept coming, and no one could tell me when they would stop. The hospital reduced the fees, given my uninsured status, but ultimately it came out to several thousands of dollars I couldn't exactly spare.
So now, I ride with a helmet on, every single time. Is that statistically necessary? I don't know. But I know I don't want to go through that hell again.
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Permalink Reply by Michael A on
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just smack him in the head with a U lock if you catch him riding without a helmet
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Permalink Reply by David Altenburg on
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Do you mean a helmet while cycling, or just in general life (while walking, playing video games, etc)?
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Permalink Reply by mike w. on
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This is a repost of one i put up in 2009:
i had to wait at the roadside for an ambulance for the better part of an hour with a clubmate who took a header. He was unconscious and convulsing, bleeding heavily, and breathing like a locomotive. We were out on the frontage road along I-55 in the soybean fields of Bolingbrook. Nearest 'phone about 2 miles away (NO cells back then) and NO ONE on the interstate would stop to help despite our desperate waving.
Fractured skull, blood in the spinal tap, broken jaw and nose. Comatose for ten days. Had his 50th birthday while out. 18 year-old kid next to him in the ICU with almost identical injuries (motorcycle) didn't make it.
Just out on a club ride, none of the four of us had helmets along (left 'em in the car, we weren't racing, eh?)
He came up and never knew what had happened... we were going about 25mph at the time. Accident left him with a speech impediment and the inability to do his job as an engineer... "semi disabled" i think they called it.
One week later, i got tossed ass-over-teacups and smacked my bean during another non-competitive ride. My old Kunoh hockey helmet (best we had at the time- pretty useless otherwise,) saved me a concussion or worse.
NO CARS were involved. Just bad roads and bad bike handling. It can happen in a flash and there's not a damned thing you can do about your landing, no matter how young, lithe, limber, and agile you may be.
i don't put leg over bike any more but i wear my brainbucket.
Unfortunately, over the years i have lost a few friends and acquaintences who didn't wear theirs.
Instant death doesn't scare me quite so much as persistent vegetative state does. i don't ever want to be a years-long burden to any caretakers, and maybe you wouldn't either.HTH. Peace. Out.
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Permalink Reply by Matt M. 18.5KM on
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http://www.thechainlink.org/forum/topics/helmet-or-no-helmet
mike w. said:
This is a repost of one i put up in 2009:
i had to wait at the roadside for an ambulance for the better part of an hour with a clubmate who took a header. He was unconscious and convulsing, bleeding heavily, and breathing like a locomotive. We were out on the frontage road along I-55 in the soybean fields of Bolingbrook. Nearest 'phone about 2 miles away (NO cells back then) and NO ONE on the interstate would stop to help despite our desperate waving.
Fractured skull, blood in the spinal tap, broken jaw and nose. Comatose for ten days. Had his 50th birthday while out. 18 year-old kid next to him in the ICU with almost identical injuries (motorcycle) didn't make it.
Just out on a club ride, none of the four of us had helmets along (left 'em in the car, we weren't racing, eh?)
He came up and never knew what had happened... we were going about 25mph at the time. Accident left him with a speech impediment and the inability to do his job as an engineer... "semi disabled" i think they called it.
One week later, i got tossed ass-over-teacups and smacked my bean during another non-competitive ride. My old Kunoh hockey helmet (best we had at the time- pretty useless otherwise,) saved me a concussion or worse.
NO CARS were involved. Just bad roads and bad bike handling. It can happen in a flash and there's not a damned thing you can do about your landing, no matter how young, lithe, limber, and agile you may be.
i don't put leg over bike any more but i wear my brainbucket.
Unfortunately, over the years i have lost a few friends and acquaintences who didn't wear theirs.
Instant death doesn't scare me quite so much as persistent vegetative state does. i don't ever want to be a years-long burden to any caretakers, and maybe you wouldn't either.HTH. Peace. Out.
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My story seems barely worth mentioning compared to the others posted here. I'll keep it short:
My only cycling accident, I was completely alone. No cars or other cyclists. Wiped out crossing over some railroad tracks. Head smacked the pavement. Fortunately, I was wearing my helmet.
No idea whether I would've been injured without the helmet, but it was scary as hell and I'm so glad I had it on.
I had always thought, "Oh, come on, if you start falling off your bike, you can just put out your arms to brace your fall." This taught me otherwise. It happens in an instant.
Good luck. :)
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Not mine, but here's the story of a close friend.
She jumped on her bike for a quick trip to Jewel to grab an appetizer for an afternoon party and didn't think about wearing her helmet, as it was only a 3-4 block ride. On the way back, she almost got right-hooked and was forced to the curb. As tires don't ride up a vertical surface very easily, she slid down the curb with her tire making contact with a seam. Over she went and her head broke the fall on the corner of the curb. The result? A fractured skull and a case of vertigo that lasted for about 6 months.
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Permalink Reply by John Wilson 6.0 on
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I never wore a helmet until I was doored. Now I never get on the bike without it.
Tell your nephew that, sure, wearing a helmet looks kinda dorky. But his brains leaking out of his skull looks even dorkier.
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Thread derailment to helmet debate imminent...drum roll...suspenseful music....scary sound effects....chicken anyone?
Juan 2-8 mi. said:Encourage him also to not smoke cigarettes. It's silly to hear rants from cyclists who are helmet fascists, only to see them pound away those nails in their coffins.
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We're fascists?
Well, as long as you're NOT overreacting...
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Permalink Reply by Chitown_Mike on
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I was on a group ride when the guy in front of me, way more kitted out than myself with his matching bike and gear, didn't understand the dynamic of NO TIRE OVERLAP and overlapped the tire of the guy in front of him. Well that guy moved slightly, his front tire got knocked silly, he went head first into the pavement and split his helmet. Outside of some road rash, a headache, and a hurt ego he was back the week later. He saw a doc and they said he had no issues with his noggin.
I have a pretty head and after seeing that I ALWAYS cover the dome, even when I am cruising around on the sidewalks of my neighborhood with my 2 year old in the trailer behind me. And he also wears a helmet too.
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