It’s cool to wear a bike helmet
Nothing is uglier than a bicycle helmet. It messes up what head hair I have left. It feels kind of clumsy. In the summer it gets sweaty. Actually, I started wearing a bike helmet to prevent my bald part from getting sunburned, to prevent cancer. Traffic safety is just as important.
Here in California, it is ![[WWW]](http://wikispot.org/wiki/eggheadbeta/img/sycamore-www.png){kind=small}
the law to wear a helmet if you are riding a bike and you are under 18. A lot of kids resent being required to wear one. But not all of them.
One evening, I was riding to a meeting at the Village Homes community center with an adult woman who did not have a helmet on. A ten-year old rode up on her bike, and said to my companion, “Hey lady, why are you so stupid to ride your bike without a helmet ?”
Too many adults don’t wear helmets. It is not only unsafe but sends a lousy message to kids that when you are old enough you won’t have to wear a helmet either.
Our state has some pretty unique laws. We are required to wear seat belts when riding in cars. Children under five are required to be secured in authorized car seats. Each time a car makes a sharp turn or stops, it is a potential injury for a little one, or even an adult.
Motorcyclists have done everything they could to prevent the legislature from mandating helmets. Even though the statistics prove that a helmet reduces the severity of injuries.
My scariest bike accident left a scar on my eyebrow, and one behind my ear. I tangled with a truck. I had a concussion, and was in a coma for twelve hours. I wasn’t wearing a bike helmet. Back then, nobody did.
In the seven years since I’ve started wearing a helmet, I’ve only had two minor bike accidents. I believe I am more safety conscious, but if you have ever seen me riding a bike, you know that I am usually peddling as fast as I can, with reckless abandon, trying to get to a meeting on time. My safety attitude is to expect someone just as wild as me to come racing around the next corner who is not expecting me. It is my definition of defensive driving.
Over the past few years, I have banged my helmet a bunch of times, on tree limbs, building overhangs, stuff like that. You would think I could remember to accommodate the part of my body above my eyes.
Both women and men don’t like the way it messes up their hair. It flattens the top, and puts a dent around the sides.
So what ! Would you rather have a kink in your hairstyle, or unexpected blood ?
Should helmets be mandatory for adults ? I believe they should be. Just think about how much not wearing one puts our brains at risk. Think about increased medical costs both for emergency and post trauma care. Think about how helmet-less accidents can negatively affect the quality of the rest of your life.
Some people think it is a freedom of choice issue, but it is bigger than that. Many are saddened by the tragic tales of injuries, brain damage, and worse. We all lose by their accidents.
Dave Duggan was a math teacher at Davis High. He lived in Winters and liked to ride his bike to work. One day on the way home, in a freak accident, his bike pump popped out of its holder, and fell between his bike frame and the spokes of his rear wheel. He never saw what happened. When his head smashed into the asphalt, it ended his life. He could well be alive today had he worn a helmet.
Even careful people have accidents. Too often an unanticipated accident happens. Doesn’t it make sense for adults to be required to wear a helmet when bicycling ?
If you think so, then write our Assembly representative, Helen Thomson: Room 4140, State Capitol, Sacramento, CA 95814, or helen.thomson@assembly.ca.gov.
I am to the point where my head feels funny if I start biking without a helmet. Maybe we can make bicycle helmets fashionable for adults as well as kids, and save on hospital bills.
Jon Li rides a bike more than he walks or rides in a car. Jon can be reached at jli@yolo.com.
