The dangers of cycling: Part 2

Some bicyclists always wear their helmets.

“I decided that I would not go out without it, and I won’t. I would never ride a bike without a helmet,” said Monterey resident, Carlos Pereyra.

Others don’t feel like they need one all the time.

“I don’t want to put the helmet on and feel all bound in,” said West Virgina resident, Cris Morgan.

If you’re over 18, no one can make you wear a helmet, but it’s something you might want to make *yourself* do.

“Helmets actually provide a lot of protection. We have seen over the years with the mandatory helmet laws the number of concussions and number of serious head injuries has gone significantly down. So it’s very important that everyone continues to wear their helmets,” said Natividad Medical Center Emergency Department Director, Dr. Christopher Burke.

“If you look at a lot of the studies in biking, unfortunately, greater than 50% of the injuries that are sustained, people weren’t wearing helmets. And there’s some studies that show us some of the traumatic brain injuries that happen from biking. Up to 90% of those people weren’t wearing helmets,” said Natividad Medical Center Sports Medicine Physician, Dr. Debi Siljander.

But you can’t just go out and buy any old helmet. You gotta make sure it fits perfectly. Here’s how to test that:

“Put your helmet on, put two fingers above your eyebrows to make sure that it’s not too low. You do the chinstraps and then tie them on the bottom. You put on finger under to make sure that it’s not too loose or too tight. You yawn to make sure it tucks under your helmet, to make sure that it fits perfectly,” said Alisal High Health Academy Students, Beverly Lemus and Pearl Barba.

Just how much of a difference does wearing a helmet make to bicyclists? Check out some of these stats:

A recent study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that 720 people were killed on bicycles nationwide in 2014. 118 of those killed were wearing helmets, while a whopping 429 fatalities were those were not.

“It’s so easy to do honestly. Just putting on a helmet before getting on your bicycle. It’s actually shown to reduce the number of head and brain injury by 90%. And not just your head and brain, also the top of your face and the middle of your face also,” said Natividad Medical Center Second-Year Resident, Bret Namihas.

With those kind of stats, why would anyone choose not wear a helmet?

“The disadvantage, if there is one with the helmet, is that, you know. you sweat more,” said Pereyra.

“It makes it easy for me to get on the bike and just go, you know? The bike’s there, just get on and go. Put your strap on your pants legs and you’re out,” said Morgan.

But is the risk worth it?

“You only get one brain. You get one chance so protect it,” said Dr. Siljander.

“Wear your helmets all the time,” said Lemus and Barba.