GENERAL AWARNEzz..Why you MUST wear a helmet

People will give you 100 reasons why you don’t have to wear a helmet. I am going to give you a couple of reasons why you MUST wear one if you are on a bike -whether as a driver or passenger.
Last year (2007),in Kerala, 1462 people died because they did not use a helmet while on a bike. Out of this,almost 350 were backseat passengers.
Let us consider this- you are walking inside your house and suddenly hit your head against a door or an open shelf. It will definitely hurt and there is a good chance that you may also crack your skull bone. This is at about 5 to 6 km per hour which is our normal walking speed.

Now imagine falling from a bike and hitting your head on the road at a much faster speed ,say 20 km ,30 km ,40 km per hour? Do you honestly believe that your skull can withstand that much force? What about still higher speeds which people seem to use while riding a bike when they are in a hurry ? Any damage to the brain is permanent and cannot be treated at the present time. The thermocol lining (see fig 1) protects the brain by acting as a shock absorber and not allowing the full force to reach the brain. So even in a fall at high speeds, brain damage can be minimised.The metal shell acts by spreading out the force of impact over the whole helmet rather than a single area of the skull. When you fall without a helmet, the force is concentrated at the point of impact of the skull with the ground thus greatly increasing the risk of a skull fracture and brain injury.

The report from St.James’s hospital, Chalakkudy, Kerala is still more enlightening. On average, the Neurosurgery dept sees about 200 head injuries every month. During June 2007 they had just 14 and in July 2007 they had 18 head injuries. The reason ? These were the two months during which the police tried to enforce helmet wearing. Due to public outcry about police harassment, they relaxed the enforcement after this and from then on it was back to the 200’s in terms of head injuries.Wearing a helmet will not give you headache, neck pain, visual defects or hearing problems. These are just myths propagated by people who refuse to understand the science behind this safety device. I used to wear a helmet from 1988 to 1992 with no ill effects whatsoever. Let us just suppose that you do develop any of these problems after wearing a helmet. These are all temporary and treatable. Head injury and brain damage are permanent and NOT treatable. So what will be your choice ? Helmet has to be worn on the head and it has to be properly strapped on. Otherwise , as soon as you fall , it will be thrown off. There are many people who hang it like a talisman on the handlebar or the mirror to ward off the evil eye. Unfortunately it is NOT going to save their life..

Be sensible. Wear it on your head.