re: #49 steve_davis

i was a little self conscious about the helmet when I bought a bike years ago. after all, i never wore a helmet as a kid or a college student when biking around. then while taking a short cut up a hill, the front wheel reared up and I went heels over head down the hill, striking my head several times. because I was wearing the helmet, I got up after a moment and laughed about it. The thing that most impressed itself on me was I could hear the ground scraping by through the helmet as I was somersaulting down the hill. I don’t know that I would have fractured my skull without it, but I did get up feeling like that was a good decision for the day.

I want to point out that even something that seems unlikely to cause an accident, such as cruising on a flat paved bike path with no traffic, you need a helmet. A 70-ish relative was riding with grandkids, had some sort of episode where he passed out while riding, hit his head on the ground and died a couple of days later in hospital.