Wednesday 15 August 2012

The Helmet Debate

I recently had a very healthy debate with a friend about crash helmets.

I must admit my personal experiences have swayed my opinion greatly, but I try to point out to others, learning from mistakes isn't always the best way. Maybe learn from others mistakes, surely thats a win win, you've learnt but not made a mistake.

Anyway I digress. 

Obviously everyone has heard about the terrible incident involving a cyclist near the Olympic Park during the 2012 Olympics, this was a tragic incident and as my friend quite rightly pointed out a helmet would unfortunately not have saved this poor mans life, but that doesn't make me feel any less strongly about the issue.

In the last 7 and a half years I have spent a total of 47 minutes on a bicycle without wearing a Helmet. For those 47 minutes I was filled with dread, not because I feared for my life, but because I feared for the lives of those that I love. I have therefore decided to share my very personal experience in the hope that it will make someone else think, and wear a helmet.

As a student I received a phone call from the police, my mother had been in an accident on her bike. As I raced the 350miles home to be with my mother and my family I travelled by train and by bike. The sheer stupidity that I wasn't wearing a helmet didn't even register. 

It wasn't until my sister would not let me leave the hospital until I had a helmet, ironically my mother's which had been left at home, that I recognised the importance of wearing a helmet, not for yourself but the ones you love. 

I am very grateful that my mother is now fine and apart from a few little character changes, she is herself and happy along with my father. But for a while there it was touch and go, and I cannot even begin to describe what it was to see her, looking very unlike her and for a long time acting very strangely. 

The head and the brain are fragile and until you have experienced a head injury first hand it is difficult to comprehend that a single blow can change someone's whole character, even their eyesight. For our family it was the lesser known injuries and changes that were more difficult to digest, the 2 broken arms would heal, the fractures to the skull would heal, but the changes to personality and the loss of my mother's sense of smell were hard to gauge. Nobody was able to tell us if these were permanent.

The greatest fear I had was that this new mother, the post injury mother was not the woman my father fell in love with, it would be neither's fault if they no longer loved each other or even liked each other. It would be the fault of a blow to the head. Luckily my mother is left with only small reminders, she has scars, yes. She cannot smell anything and her glasses have a different prescription, but she is still my mother, she is back to normal.

I wear a helmet everytime I get on a bike, because I do not want to cause pain to those around me, I know there are dangers out there that I cannot protect myself against, but for the dangers I can I will try my hardest.

For my partner, my family and my friends I get the impression they like me because of who I am, maybe I should protect that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu4QzAIayTU

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