Wear a Helmet!

So I was reminded of the importance of wearing a helmet the other day…

I was biking to church sunday morning. Because of the state of the roads, I decided to ride on the sidewalk. The problem with the sidewalk though was that the plow had leveled the snow so that I couldn’t see the curb. As I was riding along, I accidently let my front tire drift over the curb. It instantly sunk into the snow, jammed up, and even though I was going slowly, I was thrown over my handlebars. Naturally, I put my hands out to catch myself, but I still ended up smashing my head into the sidewalk. Fortunately, I was wearing a helmet so I only suffered a bruised ego. I can’t imagine what the outcome would have been had I not been wearing my helmet though…

I often see people riding without a helmet, and every time it scares me. Particularly with all the snow and ice we have here. More than once, I’ve gotten my tires stuck in an ice rut and been thrown across the road (That’s why I stick to the sidewalk now. It’s safer).

However, biking isn’t the only place I see people who should be wearing a helmet, but aren’t. As I’ve said before, I’m an avid skater. I often go to the arena on free-skate nights to have a good time on the ice. Unfortunately, that good time is often ruined by children who are skating around, not looking where they’re going. Now I know, they’re kids, they do that kind of thing, and it’s not the fact that they aren’t looking, it’s the fact that their parents don’t think it’s necessary to put a helmet on their heads.

I find it silly that these parents think their kids are good enough skaters to not need a helmet: I’ve been a speed skater for almost my entire life, and I still try to wear my helmet whenever I’m on the ice.

If these kids were wearing helmets, I would still be looking out for them-even with a helmet they can still get badly hurt-but at least I wouldn’t be utterly terrified every time I saw a kid coming towards me without looking.

People, you need to remember that a helmet costs roughly 50$ and you may never need it, but if you need it and you don’t have it, it could cost you a lot more. And if you think that you’ll take the chance, you’re a fool.