IMPORTANCE OF HELMET

WHY YOU SHOULD WEAR HELMET BEFORE RIDING BIKE

Let me first say that I didn't start wearing a helmet regularly until AFTER I WOKE UP FROM THE COMA. Before I fractured my skull and bled an epidural hematoma the size of a navel orange, I used some of the inane arguments I have read above.

I used to joke that helmets messed up my hair. That was before the brain surgeons shaved my head and then closed up the suture with stainless steel staples.I used to say that I'd rather just die than end up a paraplegic or whatever scenario I concocted. The problem is that dying might be easier than what follows a head injury. Volunteer at a neurological rehab hospital some day.

 

Helmets can't save you from every accident. Nothing can. But they can save you from a lot of accidents, maybe even most of them. If I had been wearing one on Dec. 2, 1988, I might not be taking anti-seizure pills every day, twice a day, for the rest of my life. If I had been hit by a truck, I might be dead. But I wasn't hit by a truck. I fell off my bike. Many, many life-changing, even life-ending head injuries occur at low speed. At the top, I might have been riding 20 mph and I didn't run dead-on into an object so the speed doesn't even matter. I fell off my bike. That's all it takes.
To argue that because they won't prevent all conceivable injuries they are somehow useless makes no sense. It's tragic, really.

I got back on my bike four weeks after my accident, three and a half weeks after coming out of a coma, with my hair still growing back from emergency brain surgery. That was 23 years ago. I have hit the pavement since, hard, with a helmet on. I got up and I rode home.
Wear the helmet. It's all the inconvenience of an elaborate hat. It might save your life. It might not. But the chance that it will is all the reason you need to wear it.
By the way, your personal style sense is not worth the rest of us paying the $X million it costs to care for you for the rest of your life if you hit your head.

Credit:  http://www.treehugger.com/bikes/quote-of-the-day-on-not-wearing-a-bike-helmet.html

How to Wear a Helmet when Riding a Bike

edits by: Sondra C, Krystle, Maniac, Nadon (see all)

The most annoying thing in all the world is to have your mom barking at you when you head out the door to hop on your bike. Put a stop to that. Wear your helmet every time you embark on that bike, and soon she will find the topic so mundane that she won't even think twice about it any more. She will know you are being a good and responsible rider and will keep our of your business.

EditSteps

1. 
   1
   Wear your helmet when you're on a bicycle. Make sure it's covering your forehead, crown and the back of your head the way it should be, and make sure it is strapped on so it doesn't slide around or fall off. Ask for help at a sports store if you don't know how to fit a bicycle helmet properly.
2. 
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   Keep in mind the human skull is fairly tough, but it was definitely not designed for 20-mile-per-hour impacts with metal or concrete. The helmet is designed to break instead of your head breaking when you fall or crash into something. Would you rather risk a piece of foam and plastic, or your own irreplaceable brain?
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   Snazz it up! If you hate your helmet because it looks uncool, feel free to decorate it. Put on some stickers, paint it, add glitter, or whatever you like. The brighter the better, because you want to be visible when you're going riding in the street, particularly after dark.
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   If you suffer a crash with your helmet on, discard it and get a new one. Even if the helmet looks fine, it may have developed tiny inner cracks which will make it less useful as a protective device to that thick skull of yours. Don't be stubborn about this. Wear the helmet!

EditTips

• Everywhere there are bicycle riders, people have stories of accidents. A lot of them can tell you they'd be dead or severely brain-damaged if they hadn't worn their helmets, and some of them who didn't wear theirs are really regretting it now. Listen to them.
• In a car, you're riding in a cage of steel and fiberglass, but on a bike there is nothing between you and the road, or you and a car. You need all the protection you can get.

EditWarnings

• Don't ever take your helmet off while you're on wheels. In some places this is against the law, but it is always a bad idea even where it isn't illegal.
• Make sure that your helmet is securely attached to your head. If you put on your helmet without closing the straps, it will be totally useless.

 Credit: http://www.wikihow.com/Wear-a-Helmet-when-Riding-a-Bike