Should I Wear a Helmet?”
AKA: “Do I want to die a slow, painful death?”
By Scott O’Sullivan,
O’Sullivan Law Firm
helmet was the single most critical factor in preventing or
reducing head and neck injuries among motorcycle drivers
and passengers.
O
K, so that headline is a bit
shocking. But this article is
going to be very honest, direct
and a bit aggressive because I feel
very passionate about this topic.
Wear a helmet when you ride a
bicycle or motorcycle. Period.
So many people think that they’re
being purists or fatalistic when they don’t wear helmets. They say,
“When my time is up, my time is up. I’m ready.”
You know why that sentiment is so crazy? Because people who
don’t wear helmets don’t die instantly when they are in accidents!
In fact, a lot of them spend the rest of their lives as vegetables,
or in chronic pain, or in wheelchairs, or as giant burdens on their
families… or all of the above.
When you choose not to wear a helmet, you are making one of
the most selfish decisions imaginable. It’s like saying, “Dear family,
prepare to feed me through a tube and change my diapers for the
next 40 years.”
Read the following information about Traumatic Brain Injury
published by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and
Stroke. As you read it, imagine that your spouse or your parents
or your children are taking care of you as you experience these
symptoms or surgeries:
“Approximately half of severely head-injured patients will
need surgery to remove or repair hematomas (ruptured blood
vessels) or contusions (bruised brain tissue). Disabilities
resulting from a TBI depend upon the severity of the injury,
the location of the injury, and the age and general health of
the individual. Some common disabilities include problems
with cognition (thinking, memory, and reasoning), sensory
processing (sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell),
communication (expression and understanding), and behavior
or mental health (depression, anxiety, personality changes,
aggression, acting out, and social inappropriateness). More
serious head injuries may result in stupor, an unresponsive
state, but one in which an individual can be aroused briefly by
a strong stimulus, such as sharp pain; coma, a state in which
an individual is totally unconscious, unresponsive, unaware,
and unarousable; vegetative state, in which an individual
is unconscious and unaware of his or her surroundings, but
continues to have a sleep-wake cycle and periods of alertness;
and a persistent vegetative state (PVS), in which an individual
stays in a vegetative state for more than a month.”
Now, I’d like you to list the reasons that you don’t wear a helmet.
Let me guess:
•
“It’s not cool.”
•
“I look awful in it.”
•
“It interferes with my enjoyment of riding.”
•
“It blocks my hearing and vision.” (Hint: try a different
helmet.)
•
“I don’t like having helmet hair when I arrive at my
destination.”
And now, the final step: imagine your spouse or parents or
children have completely changed their lives to accommodate you
after an accident. Their once-cozy homes look like hospital wards
filled with your pills and equipment. While feeding you one day, they
ask you, “Why didn’t you wear a helmet?” and you respond with
one of the reasons above, such as: “I looked awful in it.” Seems like
a pretty selfish decision to me.
And here’s a quick tangent on all the gear you should be wearing!
When you purchase your motorcycle, roll a few items into
the cost, just as if they came with the bike. You wouldn’t buy a
motorcycle without a clutch. Don’t buy one without the proper riding
gear, such as:
•
Full-face helmet, including face and jaw protection
•
Motorcycle boots
•
Riding jacket and pants
You might even consider the newest technologies out there, such
as a riding jacket that comes equipped with an airbag. These stateof-the-art jackets look no different than professional racing jackets
and come in different seasonal variations.
If you have any questions about this article, don’t hesitate to call
me: 303-388-5304 or https://osullivan-law-firm.com/
Yet, traumatic brain injuries caused by motorcycle accidents
are largely preventable! The National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration posts the following on their website:
•
A study of 900 motorcycle crashes (conducted by the
University of Southern California) showed that wearing a
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October 2015
Thunder Roads Magazine® Colorado 7