Recently I happened to read the following articles in a weekly & daily. They are about the recent death of 3 young bike riders on the road, meeting with accidents without a helmet.
[Click on the pic for a larger image]
The crux of those news items is: If they had worn a helmet, they would have escaped with minor injuries. Since they didnt wear a helmet, they died. At this moment, I have to thank God and the helmet that I wearing, which prevented my name from appearing in such a news.
Some one year back I was returning from office around 8:30 PM. I was coming through my actual route and I knew every pit and bump on the road. But I observed right from the moment I started my bike, some thought was disturbing in my mind. After 2 kms, I thought that I should not think about anything else and should drive properly to home. I raised from 1st to 2nd gear and moved the bike, and took a right turn on the road. It was a narrow road about 10 foot wide, a bit dark. Suddenly I noticed that a couple of dogs were fighting on the other end of the road. As my bike speeded-up, suddenly 2 dogs started running across the road just in front of the bike.
I got confused and tried to speed up bike and tried to cross the place before the dogs reached my bike. But my calculations missed, as I forgot about a speed-braker in that place. The front-wheel hit the speed-breaker at a speed of about 40 kms, then hit one among the 2 dogs. Immediately I realised that I was not on my bike, but flying on the air. For about 4 seconds, I was on the air, about 10 foot high and then fell on the road, with my right side of the face facing the ground. I could hear a heavy sound that my helmet received from the road.
I was not able to get up. I laid there for about 2 minutes. A traffice on both sides of the road came to a grinding halt, a small crowd gathered around me. But no one came near me or tried to lift me up. I could not stop myself from remembering that had it been a girl, atleast some could have come for help. After 2 minutes, a guy(should be college going), came running from the other side of the road, and helped me to get up. He and a few from the crowd asked me to move my hand and leg. I was able to move. I turned and saw my Super Splendor on the floor, wheels still rolling, lying pathetically. I was sad to see the bike in such a condition, as I was used to seeing it stading majestically.
The dog was also equally hurt and found that it had come near me, probably for biting. The owners of the dog also came from a nearby hut, and seemed to be ready to fight with me. But upon seeing my condition, they moved away. The guy who helped me, also chased the dog away. He asked whether I can ride ride the bike, I said yes, and started the bike and tried to raid it. At that time, I noticed that I was not able to move the fingers on my left hand, when I tried to hold the clutch. Still I tried and rode for 2 kms, after which the pain increased and stopped the bike.
I called our uncle(who was staying nearby) and informed him that I fell from bike and unable to ride bike. He came in about 15 minutes and took me to a nearby Emergency care hospital. The first question the doctor asked was "How it happened?" and his remark after I told the story was "So, you were wearing helmet... good... otherwise you would not have been in a condition to talk to me..."
He was an ortho and checked me in so many places. Then after an x-ray he found that I had a minor chip-fracture in my left wrist. Aftet that I had to be in the arm sling for 3 weeks, and a red coloured bandage for about 3 months, and it took about 1 year for the pain to dis-appear completely.
When I analyzed, I found that the bag I was wearing on the back, prevented spine and rib-injuries. The bronze bracelet I was wearing on my right hand had prevented fracture or damage to the right hand. But since I was wearing a resin band digital-watch on my left hand, it passed on the impact to my wrist, which got fractured. Had I worn a watch with a metal bracelet, I would have escaped without any fracture. And the hero-the helmet-took the impact that my head and face would have received and thus saved me. Also since it was a helmet that covers the entire face, it also prevented collar bone injuries(A semi or half or stylish helmets will not prevent this).
I know of people who want a ladies type or a stylish helmet for them to wear during the drive and continue the fashion on to the road. My humble request to them is that they should wear a good quality helmet, to save themselves in case of bad times.
I will be happy if everyone who reads this takes an oath to wear helmet during bike drive and also ask their friends and knowns to wear helmet, even for very small trips, despite the un-comfortness of wearing one, since being alive is more important than looking stylish on the road.
Note: Just wearing helmet is not enough. It should be properly buckled, else it will fly-off during the impact, leave face and head to fate.
[Click on the pic for a larger image]
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| Courtesy: Junior Vikatan - 4th July, 12 issue |
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| Courtesy: Junior Vikatan - 4th July, 2012 issue |
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| Courtesy: The Hindu - 1st July, 2012 |
The crux of those news items is: If they had worn a helmet, they would have escaped with minor injuries. Since they didnt wear a helmet, they died. At this moment, I have to thank God and the helmet that I wearing, which prevented my name from appearing in such a news.
Some one year back I was returning from office around 8:30 PM. I was coming through my actual route and I knew every pit and bump on the road. But I observed right from the moment I started my bike, some thought was disturbing in my mind. After 2 kms, I thought that I should not think about anything else and should drive properly to home. I raised from 1st to 2nd gear and moved the bike, and took a right turn on the road. It was a narrow road about 10 foot wide, a bit dark. Suddenly I noticed that a couple of dogs were fighting on the other end of the road. As my bike speeded-up, suddenly 2 dogs started running across the road just in front of the bike.
I got confused and tried to speed up bike and tried to cross the place before the dogs reached my bike. But my calculations missed, as I forgot about a speed-braker in that place. The front-wheel hit the speed-breaker at a speed of about 40 kms, then hit one among the 2 dogs. Immediately I realised that I was not on my bike, but flying on the air. For about 4 seconds, I was on the air, about 10 foot high and then fell on the road, with my right side of the face facing the ground. I could hear a heavy sound that my helmet received from the road.
I was not able to get up. I laid there for about 2 minutes. A traffice on both sides of the road came to a grinding halt, a small crowd gathered around me. But no one came near me or tried to lift me up. I could not stop myself from remembering that had it been a girl, atleast some could have come for help. After 2 minutes, a guy(should be college going), came running from the other side of the road, and helped me to get up. He and a few from the crowd asked me to move my hand and leg. I was able to move. I turned and saw my Super Splendor on the floor, wheels still rolling, lying pathetically. I was sad to see the bike in such a condition, as I was used to seeing it stading majestically.
The dog was also equally hurt and found that it had come near me, probably for biting. The owners of the dog also came from a nearby hut, and seemed to be ready to fight with me. But upon seeing my condition, they moved away. The guy who helped me, also chased the dog away. He asked whether I can ride ride the bike, I said yes, and started the bike and tried to raid it. At that time, I noticed that I was not able to move the fingers on my left hand, when I tried to hold the clutch. Still I tried and rode for 2 kms, after which the pain increased and stopped the bike.
I called our uncle(who was staying nearby) and informed him that I fell from bike and unable to ride bike. He came in about 15 minutes and took me to a nearby Emergency care hospital. The first question the doctor asked was "How it happened?" and his remark after I told the story was "So, you were wearing helmet... good... otherwise you would not have been in a condition to talk to me..."
He was an ortho and checked me in so many places. Then after an x-ray he found that I had a minor chip-fracture in my left wrist. Aftet that I had to be in the arm sling for 3 weeks, and a red coloured bandage for about 3 months, and it took about 1 year for the pain to dis-appear completely.
When I analyzed, I found that the bag I was wearing on the back, prevented spine and rib-injuries. The bronze bracelet I was wearing on my right hand had prevented fracture or damage to the right hand. But since I was wearing a resin band digital-watch on my left hand, it passed on the impact to my wrist, which got fractured. Had I worn a watch with a metal bracelet, I would have escaped without any fracture. And the hero-the helmet-took the impact that my head and face would have received and thus saved me. Also since it was a helmet that covers the entire face, it also prevented collar bone injuries(A semi or half or stylish helmets will not prevent this).
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| Items I was wearing during the incident |
I will be happy if everyone who reads this takes an oath to wear helmet during bike drive and also ask their friends and knowns to wear helmet, even for very small trips, despite the un-comfortness of wearing one, since being alive is more important than looking stylish on the road.
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