Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Always wear a helmet

Around 70% of the cyclists killed on the road have major head injuries and over half of cyclists injured have head injuries. Source: ROSPA.

I always wear a helmet [see entry "And a trifle uncool"]. So does my mate Ian and it saved him from serious injury, possibly death. Just look what it did to the car:

car hit by cyclist

Don't argue: Just Do It! Wear a helmet!

More stats from ROSPA:

Cyclist Casualties (2003):
 • Killed: 114
 • Seriously Injured: 2,297
 • Slightly Injured: 14,622
 • Total: 17,033

Cycling Accidents:
 • 90% occur in urban areas
 • 75% happen at, or near, a road junction
 • 80% occur in daylight
 • 80% of cyclist casualties are male
 • About one third of the cyclists killed or injured are children
 • Around three quarters of cyclists killed have major head injuries.

Another source of info on cycling in the metropolis: London Cycling Campaign

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

quite a few happen on badly maintained cycle lane with no other vehicles present.
Not wearing one for a number of reasons though not the worry of being uncool :-)
Being nagged about it on regular basis may get persuaded as i have been promised a new lighter and better bike if i start wearing one.

Mark McLellan said...

Strops

What can I say. For me it is "clunk-click every trip". If your brain is mush you're fcuk'd!

I wear a helmet, I stop at red lights, I want to live a l-o-o-n-g time.

Mary says there is a bottle of '88 Yquem in the cellar as a reminder for me to live long enough to enjoy it a when it is superbly ready.

PS

Is there going to be another London Bloggers' meet?

Anonymous said...

Mark,
That was all my body parts and helmet badly dinting that car. My head and helmet where the parts that went through the back window. And then I fall back onto the bike, the left brake hood getting me in the kidneys. Yes the bike was fine after all the grief had calmed down, the only change was the loss of the manufacturer logo/label from the head tube.
Ian

Anonymous said...

Mark,
Sorry, oversight, the other change was three broken transverse processes in the spine, outch, it was painfull, but I was back on the back after eight days, us northern lads are made of stern stuff!
Ian