Wear Your Helmet!

1. SenorMysterioso
   July 5th, 2008 at 11:28 am

   Seems like a non story to me. Helmet does its job... ok, so what?

2. Thomas
   July 5th, 2008 at 11:42 am

   Yea... not that neat. I've got another story, kid would die if properly run over.

3. PR AD
   July 5th, 2008 at 12:52 pm

   This is so heartwarming.

   Nothing is more horrendous than suddenly losing a child or being told a child may be an invalid for the rest of her life.

   Just hope the driver of that car was not driving recklessly or that she was not riding recklessly.

   Imagine having to live with that on your conscious for the rest of your life

4. ted
   July 5th, 2008 at 1:36 pm

   Good for her, but it is sort of a non-story.

   Now if she were a Siamese twin or a transgendered boy, or she owned a really cute cat, or if she shot the driver because he was stealing her stereo at the time, maybe I could get into it.

5. Neatoramawontsendmeapassword
   July 5th, 2008 at 2:22 pm

   Some twits say that we shouldn't wear helmets because they make drivers complacent. Drivers are supposedly more careful if bikers aren't wearing helmets.

   Of course, if you're on the road with drivers who don't give a damn or who are distracted by cell phones or screaming kids in the backseat, I'd much rather be wearing a helmet. It's the law here, anyway.

6. anon
   July 5th, 2008 at 3:13 pm

   a couple years ago i fell over a large hill on a bike and crashed on the street. i broke every single bone in my face and damaged some organs. if i wasnt wearing a helmet...it would have been really bad. i know ya'll are dissing in this "bad" and boring story, but i think its a good reminder.

7. Peeves
   July 5th, 2008 at 4:00 pm

   It IS a good reminder because of all the riders who love to blame drivers for every single bike accident while maintaining the right to not wear a helmet..pulling out random, dubious and non-related statistics about the psychology of drivers and how helmets rarely save people. If feel like it's the equivalent to 'if he/she were only wearing a seatbelt'.

8. JC
   July 5th, 2008 at 4:43 pm

   She was lucky. What about her arm and shoulder?

9. Oliver
   July 5th, 2008 at 10:02 pm

   She was riding on the sidewalk (unsafe and illegal in her area) and then went into the road to avoid pedestrians, and clipped a wall with her handlebar.

   I'm glad the helmet protected her.

   But the accident was preventable.

   In fact, someone who rode more safely, but sans helmet, would have fared better than her.

   Helmets should be an add-on safety measure, not a replacement for safe practices.

10. heather
    July 5th, 2008 at 10:10 pm

    Wow, lucky girl. She should tour around cities giving lectures on helmet safety with physical proof that helmets do in fact prevent people from dying.

    I can imagine the opener
    'When i was 11. a car ran over me while i was wearing a helmet. This...*points to helmet remains* could have been my head. Any questions?'

11. Shelby
    July 5th, 2008 at 10:40 pm

    Lucky? I call her smart.

    We get lots of reminders about what happens when you don't wear a helmet but pointing out what happens when you DO wear one is a nice turnabout.

12. S-r-ex
    July 6th, 2008 at 7:51 am

    Got my bike tipped by some idiot trying to get his ball between my wheels when I was 7 or 8. Got a nasty concussion and a couple of extra weeks on my summer holiday, though those were spent in the couch, listening to "The Little Vampire" on cassette.

    I was wearing my helmet, but I can imagine the result if I hadn't. They do after all say that helmets can reduce the internal head damage by 90%...

13. Lola
    July 6th, 2008 at 12:31 pm

    The real story here is that a girl named Savannah survived. Just what the world needs, another kid named Savannah. Just when I thought "Kaitlin" was the most over used "unique" name ever.

    And to Anon.....getting ever bone in your face broken isn't really bad?

14. Thomas
    July 6th, 2008 at 1:05 pm

    EVERY bone? All 14 of them? That seems hard to believe... Do you still have a face?

15. K!P
    July 6th, 2008 at 2:49 pm

    @"Some twits say that we shouldn’t wear helmets because they make drivers complacent. Drivers are supposedly more careful if bikers aren’t wearing helmets."

    This is true in the Netherlands, a well regarded university study showed that cars pas an avarage of 15 cm closer if the cyclist is wearing a helmet. Of course Dutch trafic is very used to bikes.

16. Woogie
    July 6th, 2008 at 3:21 pm

    A helmet actually noted as SAVING A KID!!!! Seriously, this is great and all, but helmets being mandatory is idiotic. I went to a school with 1000 kids. About 250 of them biked to school. In five years not one was even HIT by a car. (This was the late 80's.) The one person hit and killed by a car was in my class, and was walking.

    Since I left that school, there has been one cycling related death. And a helmet wouldn't have helped there. She was riding on the sidewalk (illegal in England), and the load on the back of a lorry swung out and decapitated her.

    This story is honestly the first one I've EVER read that indicates the helmet actually saved someone. Now as I said, it's great that she's okay. But speaking as someone who used to ride motorbikes in a somewhat idiotic fashion, all I found was the helmet gave me a false sense of security. I wonder how many kids wearing helmets have been killed?

17. avraamov
    July 6th, 2008 at 4:10 pm

    since most serious or fatal head injuries are caused by car accidents (at least in the u.k anyway), i personally feel that everybody in cars should be made to wear helmets as well. what's that i hear you cry?...

18. bigbudgood
    July 6th, 2008 at 7:00 pm

    legalize marijuana

19. Lydia
    April 14th, 2009 at 9:54 am

    Savannah Haworth is my best friend at school, we've known each other from nursery. I nearly cried when our teacher told us the morning after the accident!

    I thought it was a miricle tha she lived! I went to see her after the accident at her house ( recovering) and she was very jolly - watching potter puppet pals on you tube!! She was very fragile of course with bruises on her head where her helmet was and her elbow bone was crushed slightly.

    Now you know why they say wear a helmet.....

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