Thanks to everyone who entered our contest. It is now closed.
If you’ve ever visited this website, you’ll know that bike helmets are a recurring subject of discussion. One of my first blog entries was about who does and who doesn’t wear a brain bucket, and I’ve written more than a few since. Now that the days are getting warmer, more bicycles are flooding the roads and paths of BC, doing battle with vehicles, other cyclists, and pedestrians.
Spring being a time of renewal, many are pulling their bikes out of the garage, inflating tires, greasing chains, and maybe investing in some tête protection. Vancouver City Council is trying to spread the word about the importance of wearing bike helmets by plopping them on their noodles and braving traffic. But despite continued pro-bike-helmet campaigns, some of you reading this probably don’t always wear a helmet when you mount your mighty steel steed despite statistics like this from The Canadian Institute for Health Information.
“Helmet use reduces the risk of serious head injury by 60% to 88%.”
For those who’re sitting on the fence about bike helmets or those of you that wear them but need a new one, we’ve made a contest just for you. Here is your chance to enter to win a $100 gift certificate from Sport Mart to be redeemed at any of their stores for a brand new bike helmet. Nice huh?
All you have to do to win the gift certificate is to post your best “Why I needed a bike helmet” story, poem, rap, whatever, in the comments section of this blog post. Maybe you fell off your bike and a helmet saved your lid. Maybe you were looking at your bike that way making a strange noise and didn’t notice the oncoming parked car (a true story by the way) . It’s your story so you get to decide.
To earn an additional entry into the contest, you can do so by posting the following tweet (highlight the text of the tweet, use Ctrl+C to Copy and Ctrl+V to Paste) in your Twitter stream.
“I want to win a gift certificate for a bike helmet from @Preventable. Put your helmet on, learn more about The Community http://bit.ly/Ion2V“
Before you post your comment, make sure to read the contest guidelines, rules and regulations. The winner will be selected by our Preventable.ca selection team on May 31st , 2010, and the submission will be included in a future blog post.
We want to encourage discussion that addresses injuries. So if you don’t believe in bike helmets, you can also leave a comment. You won’t win a helmet, but you’ll hopefully add some good fodder for discussion.
So make your voice heard. Post your best comment, and join our “Put a Helmet on It” Contest. Who knows, you may ride away with a new helmet for doing so. Good luck!
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I would say generally people wear their helmets. To most us not wearing them would feel a bit like not wearing a seat belt. Maybe if I were riding for a couple of blocks I might not wear one. Of course that is most likely when I would have an accident.
I had headaches for five days.
In hindsight I should have let them call the ambulance instead of being too embarrassed or too proud or too stubborn (imagining an eight hour wait around germ-y people, even to be seen at a hospital’s ER). But that was before Natasha Richardson’s death was in the news and I learned about what can go on in the brain if you’ve hit your head and have headaches. I figured five days of headaches made sense. I figured of course my brain was bruised, I whacked it on the road.
What I thought of and still stays with me now is, five days of Tynelol-3 for headaches was what I had with the helmet. What would have happened to my brain, with that same impact, if I hadn’t> been wearing the helmet?
I figure, now: ‘Put it in the same category as how you think about seatbelts’. Less than a generation ago seatbelts were a choice, it wasn’t unusual to see people not wearing them, and a lot of people objected to the idea of this new law, and felt quite defiant about government invading in decisions about their bodies, where decisions should be personal choice. But I wear a seatbelt in a car automatically – I don’t even think about it.
Occasionally now I’m packed up to go on my bike, locked up, down on the main floor, about to head out of the building and realize I’ve forgotten my helmet. And it’s a hassle, not safe to leave my bike unwatched to go up and get it, a hassle to take my panniers and gear off again, and I just figure ‘I’m not going far’ or ‘I don’t want to take everything with me and go back for the helmet, it’s a hassle.’
But I always do, now. I go back, get my helmet, and when I get on the bike, I’m wearing my seatbelt.
I have to admit helmets don’t look good on everyone but it’s a safety percussion so have to suck it up;)
Occam’s razor son,
the simplest one
wear a helmt to save your head
the ladies don’t want
to make out with you
if your face is all, like, dead
Had mine showed up as the six-line poem I meant for it to be, I would be the winner.
I,ve crashed into a car before and my helmet saved me from serious injury.
Whatever u Ride, Helmets are part of the M.O. Helmets are good karma! Just like brushing up on ur skills before u head out for the biking season. It’s also showing others that ur taking a positive action to protect ur self. If ur not wearing a Helmet it looks like u don’t know what ur doing or worse, you don’t care about ur self or others. I heard a rider say a pretty funny thing…he said he wears his Helmet because he doesn’t want people to think he’s a Recycler riding through the alleys collecting bottles! Whatever his reason, I’m happy he wears it :D Wearing the gear, including ur Helmet also puts u in a position to help others if something goes terribly wrong. For example, if ur out riding with ur children and ur not wearing a helmet, and something happens to u, how are u going to be able to help if ur out of the action! Every moment in life is precious and wearing a Helmet is just one more way to be able to ride another day. After all, isn’t that’s what it is all about!
I live on a street in Lynn Valley near the Kirkstone skateboard park. Every single day I see them whip by on the way to the park. Maybe 1 in 10 has a helmet on. Being a Mom this scares the crap out of me. How do you get through to them? Too many concussions can lead to irreversable life long brain damage.
back in 1986 I had purchased a Honda NS400RG at that time I had also bought a freddie spencer addition helmnet red white and blue. which is a 1982 addition spencer. I had gotten into a accident and it saved my head from turning into mush… I had just recently found it at my best buddies house who had been moving around with it from house t9o hous over the years and when I saw it I wanted it back for old time sake.It has sure seen its years and I just last summer bought a FZR1000 1989 and the helmet is the same colors as my bike. but due to the age and degration of the inside linner and foam it can no longer be used. I am currently tring to piece it back together but with no luck it’s just an empty shell of what use to be. This helmet has a lot of sentimental value to me and it would be the wnd all to have another freddie spencer sitting on my head and protecting my melon once again. No buudy does it better than Aria and freddie spencer for me… If you like I can send a pick to you of my helmet as is. Having a new Arai would be like having a Ferarri on my head….
I just won a bike for my neice but she has outgrown her helmet. It would be really great if I could provide a helmet too. She is a great kid but her head grew. I totally support wearing helmets and this would help get one for her.
Why would you want to risk brain injury when all you have to do is make sure you put the helmet on? How easy is that?
As an adult i should be an example to children by wearing my helmet. Safety First
When my daughter was just getting used to riding her new bike she was a bit wobbly, she wasn’t used to the hand breaks and the higher wheels. She was doing well until she had to turn and fell on to the road, if she had not been wearing her helmet she would surely have had to go to the hospital, her helmet was split on the impact. She wasn’t going fast but when you fall your head is very vulnerable, protect yourself and wear your helmets!
I am tired of seeing children ride bikes, skateboard and roller blade without helmets on. It is the law and many parents do not take this responsibility seriously. A head injury can be life threatening and a helmet can help prevent serious injury.
I would assume everyone on this blog is on board with the fact that wearing helmets while cycling, skateboarding, roller blading, etc. is as much a necessity as wearing a jacket on a cold winters day.
I hope that this law is inforced more for the sake of everyone.
I was an intake social worker for an acquired brain injury association a few years ago. One of my clients fell off his bike in his back yard. He wasn’t wearing his helmet and just bumped his head. When he came to me, he couldn’t work anymore, cried without notice and i always had to call before his appointment because he would forget to check his schedule reminders.
This bump didn’t occur at work or while in a motor vehicle accident so he had NO financial support from WCB or ICBC.
Again, he BUMPED his head falling off his bike in his backyard – not in traffic, not racing down a mountain just toodling around!
WEAR YOUR FREAKING HELMETS!!! Good grief, it’s not that difficult!
Course, we are all preaching to the choir here….
I work in health care and have seen the devastating and life changing effects of brain injuries. It is not worth having a bit of wind in your hair by not wearing a helmet. Nowadays, it seems odd to see people riding their bikes without a helmet, it is cool to protect your noggin….your brain needs protection, you may be surprised how much it controls your life :)
I will not get on any bike or four wheeler etc without a helmet. Its an automatic reaction just like putting on my seatbelt
At first I was very self consious of the helmet…now it just goes on naturally. My kids see it and they have no issues with the helmuts anymore.
When I got my driver’s permit, I was riding my bike and decided to try to figure out the “hand over hand” maneuver on my bike instead of in the car. Needless to say the handlebar twisted and I went flying off my bike…Good thing I had on my helmet! Now I’d like to have proper fitting helmets for my kids.
Pick me, your next winner!. Starving artist here desperately needs $100 gift card to buy a helmet. Even at slow speed riding a bike, brain injury can cause death.
Now that we are a bit more educated and have seen how quickly a life can be ended or altered forever, let’s learn from it. We never wore helmets as children and are fortunate nothing happened, but many more were not so lucky.
A helmut has saved my life in the past.
As a nurse I am very aware of the importance of wearing a helmet. I also witness and tried to help a young man who was hit by a car while riding his bike without a helmet. Sadly, he did not survive.He was to graduate in 2 weeks and was heading off to university in September. Many lives were changed forever that day and I still think of this young man every time I put on my helmet to go for a bike ride. Please everyone….RIDE SAFE!
My uncle rides to work daily during the summer. The busy streets of Vancouver make riding your bike that much more dangerous, and luckily my uncle is living proof of this. On two separate occasions he has been hit once by a bus and once by a car, luckily he is adamant about wearing his helmet on every ride and was only left with a few bumps and bruises that would heal. No matter where you are riding or how far you are going, wearing a helmet is important!
I grew up before helmets were the norm and I was hit twice by a car. But times I was lucky were very minor and I rode away shaken but not injured. It is so easy to get hurt and I am thankful that I learned that I have to be car aware because you can’t trust the other gy-just yourself. I also now where a helmet-always(bad hair be damned!)
After seeing people get thrown from their bikes and others fall or trip on rollerblades I always wear mine!! Accidents can happen to anyone at anytime.
In 1988, I was hit while biking to work. My bike helmet saved me from painful head injuries
When I was 12 I was jumping my bike along with my friends. I was having a great time…. until I miss judged my jump and somersaulted bike and all and landed ON my head ON the jump. When I came to, the doctor was peering at me andthe first thing he said was “You are a SMART kid for wearing your helmet!” I had a concussion, had sprained my wrist and bruised my ribs but was otherwise OK.
I had remembered arguing earlier with my mother about wearing my bike helmut. I was glad she had made me wear it.
It may look dumb, but being able to walk is pretty cool.
The Coast Longboarding community has made a great effort to increase helmet wearing for all aspects of downhill skateboarding. On their website they include testimonials and pictures of injuries that could have been prevented by wearing a helmet. http://www.coastlongboarding.com
Although some streets have cyclist lanes, there are many places I ride that are very crowded when both vehicles and bikes are present. As a bike rider, you can’t always drive defensively when a vehicle has a texting or drunk driver.
And this weekend is the Coast Longboarding Danger Bay run and you will see LOTS of helmets. Good luck guys!
Ever since I was a child I can remember being told the importance on wearing your helmet when you ride your bike. As a nurse I often see effects of making a wrong decision and biking without a helmet. However, my husband and I moved here from Ontarion and bought a bike. Unfortunately we don’t have a helmet yet. Winning this contest would be perfect as it would provide us with a helmet for our bike and allow us an opportunity to gain wonderful exercise through bike riding. As my father always says, safety first!
I needed a bike helmut before the parked car had its door swing open and send me flying across the street! I had whiplash, headaches and a pretty banged up forehead.
Watched my traveling partner bite it badly going down a hill at 55km/hr… so glad that I had one on! She didn’t and cut the back of her head, had a whole bunch of scans done, gashed her leg (almost a ligament), lost a toe nail, limped for weeks, etc etc etc.
yes – I looked very out of place in rural South America, but my noggin was feeling good.
My Dad was a doctor and he used to go about Head injuries that were preventable. Enough said.
Why I needed a helmet – not just for biking. I can’t decide of needing/using helmets is an indication of lowering risk or heightening risk. I have 4 myself. My partner has 7. It is obvious that rocks are dangerous when kayaking, but why do we think otherwise when biking? The goal isn’t to hit the rocks in either sports, but it happens.
Never wore one as a kid, don’t know how I survived. I can’t imagine riding without one now.
I make my kids put them on every day – bike, scooter, roller blades – it doesn’t matter what they’re riding. Hopefully they’ll appreciate it one day.
I’ve been bicycle commuting for nearly 25 years now, faithfully donning my helmet every day (Man, were those old helmets ever ugly!). But one day several years ago I rushed out the door, forgetting to put my helmet on. There were wet, mushy leaves at the side of the road…you can guess the rest. Luckily, I landed more or less on my face, so my helmet wouldn’t have done a lot of good anyway…luckier still – x-rays showed nothing broken, and vitamin E prevented serious scarring. Anyway, I’ve had my current helmet for about 10 years, and even though I’ve never “danced” on it, I figure I should probably replace it. Thanks for promoting the use of helmets, and for the great contest!
Helmet definitely saves life and is necessary. I wore one when skiing. Someone behind me hit me in the back of my head and it was a crash. So helmet protects you in all angle.
I made a slow-motion-can’t-release-clips fall which left me lying sideways on a sidewalk – was really glad I had my helmet on to reduce the injury. I still had some scraped elbow.
I think helmet should be manitory on bike as life jacket on boats.
I was recently in Maui and surpised to see motorcyclists, bikers, and scooter riders without helmets! I would never consider this because of the risk!
When I was little I never wore a helmet while riding, but now I think it was foolish. I have seen accidents where a helmet would have prevented injury. It’s just common sense to protect your noggin!
I need a bike helmet because i am going to take up bike riding this summer and i don’t have one yet!
I plan on taking my little kids bike riding this summer and while i have all the gear for them, i don’t have a bike helmet for myself.
A helmet can really be important! I once hit a curb and went head-over-heels off my bike. The helmet saved my head!
Every rider should be wearing a helmet when cycling, roller skating, skiing, etc. If they don’t their heads may as well be watermelons being tossed out the window onto the pavement. In my own case, I can use a new helmet to protect my melon from unforeseen incidents.
Biking is popular where I live. A friend of mine thought someone was “wearing a motorcycle helmet” because he had a full face helmet on. I got to explain that jaws can be important, especially when you break them falling on a downhill bike path!
I need a bike helmet so I don’t hurt my head.
Riding a bike is one the greatest memories of being a kid! The memory sadly includes a massive scar on my leg from this same experience. Don’t take away from this fun-filled exercise.
Being safe is incredibly important! Use your head and cover up!
Downhill biking is an uphill learning curve – I can’t count how many times I’ve bit it falling off the bike! Full face protection is important, especially when there’s twigs and logs around to bounce off of. The pedals seem to be the most dangerous thing though.
My brother and I both used to love riding our bikes around our small town when we were kids, back then (and I’m not that old, I’m talking 25 yrs ago) a kid riding a bike wearing a helmet was a rare sight. We rode our bikes everywhere too. One day while riding our bikes to church, riding very slow my brother’s bike went over a small rock and sent the bike over knocking my brother to the ground. He was knocked unconcious and suffered a severe concussion, Iy was a worrying few days for my family but thankfully he was only in the hospital for a few days. I was the first kid in my small town to own my own bicycle helmet, my parents realised the stupidity of not waering one. As a parent myself now, I would never, ever let my child ride his , bike or scooter without a helmet, is crazy not to
I used think helmuts were too expensive… until my rear fender slid under the tire at around 50k. I was passing a car)I was lucky to get away with a few stitches and a headache.
protect the NOGGIN! It contains your eyeballs, nose & other important matter; including the grey stuff!
You’re only as safe as the drivers/riders around you. Wear a helmet!
I personally know a couple of people who have had head injuries, not dramatically severe, but bad nonetheless.Years later they are still suffering side effects that will probably never disappear completely. Wearing a helmet would surely have diminished , or saved them from any injury at all.
As a first aid instructor and medical first responder I urge people to use and wear appropriate safety equipment in all aspect of daily life. I often use stories of friends and family that have been saved extreme life changing consequences from doing this. Unfortunately I also have stories of some who have had to pay high proces for not making the right choices. I even include myself in the lessons. I practice what I teach and have been very lucky on more than one occasion. One night while riding home from the recreation center I worked at, my front tire got caught in the railroad track on a slick Esquimalt Road. I suddenly found myself flying over the handlebars. I hit the ground on my right shoulder and back of head, trying to roll out of it, my next thought was to get off the road. I scrambled of to the sidewalk just in time to watch three cars drive by. Can’t say I wasn’t visible that night in reflective pants & jacket and lit up like a christmas tree. But they chose not to stop, I did a quick assessment and found no major injuries. One seriously sore arm and shoulder and a hurt bike. Way better than what could have been had I choosen not to wear the right gear. Get Trained, Wear the Gear, Stay Aware, Have Fun. Cheers Robert
On the May long weekend, I happened to see a accident between a car and a cyclist…the impact was s great, that the cyclist was thrown into the windshield of the car, over the hood and roof, and propelled quite a distance, whilst the car careened forward and flew into a ditch about 200 feet away….the cyclist was injured, however the helmet saved his life….My children were in the car with us, and I told them that thank God the cyclist was wearing a helmet, and that that is why I always insist we wear helmets when we ride anything, a bike, scooter, skateboard, whatever….”use your head, wear your helmet” is my motto in the house.
I would love to win so I can buy MYSELF a new helmet…
I’ve been in an accident before- I can’t afford another concussion…
Way too many cars on the road in Victoria,especially during rush hours. Vehicle drivers getting frustrated and making silly mistakes that could be very dangerous for bike riders. Tempers are flaring. It is suicidal to head out there without ou a bike helmet on. i need this desperately.
I cannot believe the great lengths some people will go to in order to avoid wearing a helmet. Troll some cycle-touring forums for a bit and you will see that people try to fool police, take routes which minimize running into authorities etc. I am unable to wrap my head around this, it is one thing to be too lazy to protect yourself, but completely another to actively work to avoid wearing a helmet!
When i was 12, I was doing “stunts” with my bike around playgraound equipment. To make a long story short i fell back on my head, was off and on concious for a few hours. Ended up cracking my skull 4 inches in the back of my head. Cat scans and all that were needed. I ended up being ok out of all that, but would have never happened if I had a lid strapped to my dome.
Lisa “Helmets are dorky” from the “Guerrilla Helmets” blog post would like to enter the contest.
Always remember you’re not the only one on the road. Despite being a conscientious cyclist and following the rules of the road, there are other vehicles out there that may be the cause of a spill, whether by accident or from poor driving. A car once turned into a parking spot in front of me, cut me off and I couldn’t stop in time, ramming into the car. The driver told me she saw me but thought I was further away! Luckily my helmet saved me, as I hit the back of my head on the pavement.
I was riding my bike to school one day and thank god I kept my helmet on because I was hit by a car,in a cross walk, in a school zone, thrown 15 feet in the air out of my shoes it was a miracle I\’m able to walk again and if I hadn\’t been wearing my helmet I probably would have died… So never ride without a helmet it\’s not worth it!
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[...] month, another prize to be won. In May, we ran a contest to get discussions started on bike helmet use in BC. This month, The Community Against Preventable [...]
[...] contest comes to a close, I thought I’d reflect on this last prize giveaway contest called the Spill Your Guts Not Your Brains Contest. In order to get a chance win a $100 gift certificate that could be redeemed for a new bike helmet, [...]
I always wear an helmet when biking even if I am just going for a ride down the streets. It’s better to be safe than sorry…