Mandatory Bicycle Helmet Laws

[cliffordu]

27. I've had to replace three helmets:

Fell over at a stop sign once - didn't get my shoe unclipped and went over, split the helmet on the curb. Broke my foot in the same fall....

Severely dented a helmet and tore the visor off striking a low hanging branch while riding fast in the woods

Forced into a ditch by a driver and went over the bars into the concrete at the bottom of the ditch.

I would have been dead or gravely injured in each of these wrecks.

I will NEVER ride a bike without a helmet.

I believe it should be mandated, but not for my own poor riding.

I met a young woman who had been a bicycle messenger in 1984 or so who had a zipper from just behind her temple to above the ear and then towards the nape of her neck. She could walk again by the time I met her with the help of a cane. She couldn't use her left arm at all. She had a speech impediment.

She wrecked her bike at 5 mph. Hit a curb with the right side of her head.

The messenger service mandated helmets after that, and not ONE messenger complained.

It isn't a matter of IF you fall or get hit. It's a matter of WHEN.