I was running at the beach today when right in front of me two bikes go down. The girl, as a guess in her mid 20’s, head bounced off the service road. She was not wearing a helmet! I was right on it, people were calling 911 immediately. I stabilized her head, tried to access LOC . She was oriented x 0 but at least she was conscious. I also had calm her husband down(the other rider). I had to stop people from trying to give her something to drink and move her. The left side of her head was bleeding, then she said my “head hurts bad”. Good! she talking, then a lifeguard shows up. Now she was oriented x 3 so I think she will be ok. Meds come and do their thing as I gave them my account of the accident.
As I continued my run, I could not help but think if she was wearing a helmet things would have been much better. When I saw her head bounce I thought it was going to be really bad. In MHO she was very lucky.
I hope you’re right and that she’s ok. Definitely a concussion at the least. Subdural hematomas can take up to 2 weeks to bleed out and are very deadly. Riding without a helmet is so dangerous. I guarantee I would be dead if I didn’t wear mine. Makes me shudder just thinking about it!
Riding without a helmet is so dangerous. I guarantee I would be dead if I didn’t wear mine. Makes me shudder just thinking about it!
She’s lucky to have you there to help!
Jodi
When I think about my wife’s accident last summer if she did not have a helmet…brain damage or worse.
Now that I think about it, when I left the husband and by-standers were thanking me…kinda of nice. I hope she’s ok.
I rode my cruiser w/out a helmet a few weeks ago and was completely freaked out. The wind through the hair was nice, but I was such a nervous Nellie. Never again.
Any time there is a chance of head injury you ask the person, name, location, time, what happened. For each correct answer they get oriented times 1,2,3,4. You sometimes you get people say “they asked me a bunch of dumb questions” but thats ok they mean something to medical personal.
In her case, she at first could not answer any questions.
A friend who is a Trauma Room nurse told me once that 70% of critical head injuries involving the bike rides she saw come from when someone is either getting on or off the bike, without a helmet. They lose their balance, fall backwards, and whack!, their head bounces off the pavement with a snap. Often time there is a curb or other sharp angle lurking nearby involved.
I never leave home without my lid STRAPPED on. I still have my broken helment to remind me why.
what a bizarre coincidence, my best friend is an RN in Hawaii and saw a bike accident today ----girl was oriented x1 (to her name)…took the ambulance a while to find them
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I bounced my head on a curb today during our annual circle island cycling race and cracked my helmet into pieces. Rode another 5 mi before the pukies hit - and my rear derailleur fell off onto the ground. Add me to the list of those that would likely be dead without a helmet! The concussion is no fun… though you slowtwitch people are even funnier than usual.
Glad you were able to help. Bad day for girl heads and roads.
Add me to the list of lucky people…lucky I am ok after two crashes this summer while training where I landed on my head. The first time my helmet was smashed to pieces. Last week I had a glancing blow as I fell off the bike, but I was seeing stars for a long time.
I rode my cruiser w/out a helmet a few weeks ago and was completely freaked out. The wind through the hair was nice, but I was such a nervous Nellie. Never again.
She didn’t know who she was, where she was, the day, etc.
Add me to the list of those that would likely be dead without a helmet!
And one more here! Slowman, we need a ST poll for how many people reckon helmet saved their life or at least prevented severe physical consequences (I’m not talking about mental integrity, sanity was often lost *before *the crash ;).
I never used to wear a helmet until 4 years ago I had 2 accidents in a fortnight. First off I crashed my bike into the side of a car at 30mph, wasn’t wearing a helmet and to this day I don’t know how I walked away from it. I think I just went clear over the top of the car and managed to land on something soft (my backside).
2 weeks later, an almost identical crash happened (car turned across me without looking or indicating and I hit the side) except this time I was riding my motorbike with a helmet. I walked away again but there was no doubt that without the helmet that time I’d have been in trouble.
Made me change both my view of helmet-wearing and my riding style. I was in the right both times (and have the insurance cheques to prove it…) but it wouldn’t have made any difference if I’d been dead. I used to ride pretty aggressively and figured it was the responsibility of drivers not to hit me, provided I was riding legally (i.e. not jumping lights, undertaking, changing lanes without indicating my intention, etc). I now ride on the assumption that any driver can do something dumb at any time and the onus is on me to give myself enough space and time to react.
In my younger years I did a lot of bike racing, road and track. I was in around 15 accidents during those years and never once had a head injury. The worst was a gash above my eye. We used to wear head nets or just a cycling cap. Since those days, I’ve been wearing a helmet. What I have noticed is that since I started wearing a helmet, just about all my crashes have involved some damage to the helmet. What I think is happening is, the body knows where the head is and instantaneously takes action to protect it. When you put a helmet on, it exceeds the dimensions of the head enough that the action taken by your body is not enough to protect the helmet, thus the helmet gets involved in the crash. Now I’m not saying you’re better off not wearing a helmet, because it has been proven it is an essential safety device. What I am saying is that the number of incidents with helmet damage does not necessarily indicate the actual number of head injuries you would have had if you did not wear a helmet. Also, you may now be observing some impact type injuries to the head because you’re wearing a helmet.
Jay
Just a husband and wife out for a ride at the beach. They were riding mtn bikes. I think he drifted into her. He must have clipped her bars or a put a pedal in her wheel. Anyway, she went down quickly. Her shoulder hit first and her head bounced on the service road. One good thing, she was on the black top and not cement section of the road. It was between Newland and Magnolia.
Since I run on the beach three days a week, I see several accidents a year. Seeing a kid get hit was the worst. I’ve been hit by a bike myself and I run defensively. During the summer weekends, it gets crazy. I don’t even surf on weekends. The line up is out of control. In a couple of weeks things will mellow out.