Dr. Allan Horowitz, published newspaper article, The Liberal, Copyright June 5, 1991

Readers: The next few columns will be dedicated to convincing anyone who rides a bicycle that a helmet should become part of their standard protective gear.

While on my bike, I have been run off the road by cars enough times that I started to wonder if someone had pasted a sign on my back that read ‘Hit me.”

While in my car I have almost hit several cyclists who may or may not have been riding according to the rules of the road.

As a chiropractor I will see many patients this summer who have hurt their back, neck, arm, hip, knee and ego as the result of being involved in a bicycle accident. It is not these patients I want to talk about at this time.

Sometimes it is a bike-car accident. Sometimes, bike-bike, bike-pop can or maybe just an “I wasn’t watching where I was going accident.” There is one common theme in all of these accidents. When the person falls, or is thrown from the bike, they have absolutely no control over where they will end up. It all happens so quickly that the rider cannot protect himself by falling ‘properly.’

Some people are killed in bicycle accidents, while the lucky ones end up with injuries which will mend. The ones who are killed usually have received head injuries which may have been prevented if they had been wearing a proper helmet.

No one gets on a bike thinking that they will soon be tumbling head over heels along the pavement, however, it sometimes does happen and it would be much nicer to tumble in a helmet.

I just did some research into the benefits of wearing a helmet while bicycling. I reviewed reports from the New England Journal of Medicine, Accident Analysis and Prevention, American Journal of Public Health and other publications. The verdict is in and clear. Wearing a helmet does significantly reduce the risk of death or severe head injury if you are in a bike accident. Here are some of the more interesting things I came across.

– Australian researchers for the road traffic authority say the rate of head injuries among cyclists killed or admitted to hospitals in Victoria decreased by 20 per cent after a program was instituted to educate the public, children included, regarding bike safety and proper helmet use.

– What type of people wear helmets? Older boys usually don’t wear helmets, presumably because they feel more influenced by their peers and it is still not considered ‘cool’ to wear a helmet (just as it wasn’t cool to wear a hockey helmet while playing hockey 10 years ago. Now you are looked at as though you have a screw loose if you don’t wear a hockey helmet.) Younger children who are still under the influence of their parents use them more often. More educated riders use helmets while those with less of an education don’t as often. Those who say that they wear seat belts in their car are more apt to report that they also wear a bike helmet.

– 56 per cent of those who do wear helmets believe that a head injury can be dangerous. (I have a bit of trouble with this statistic, like I do with the Trident commercial that states that four out of five dentists recommend sugarless gum for their patients who chew gum. Either that fifth dentist is looking for extra business by suggesting his patients chew gum with sugar or he was absent the day his class was told that sugar causes cavities. What do the other 44 per cent of riders think a head injury is? Do they really think that head injuries are fun? If it isn’t dangerous, what are they wearing the helmet for? Maybe these 44 per cent of cyclists are dentists who recommend sugar-filled gum!)

Next week I will give you more delightful and sometimes scary information, statistics and suggestions on bicycle helmet usage.

If you ride a bicycle and don’t wear a helmet, I suggest you read the next couple of columns.

If you already wear a helmet while riding, you are excused form reading my column for the next few weeks.