This is why I always wear the best helmet I can afford

[blamebrampton]

See the cracks and missing chunk in this image:



That would be my head.

If you ride slowly on cycle paths or in Copenhagen, you can get by without one. Over 10kph/6mph and in mixed traffic, just cope with helmet hair. Brains belong on the inside!

Comments

[ciel-vert.livejournal.com]

My goodness! Very glad your head and your ipad are intact!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Cheers, dear! I am always telling my young friends that helmets are often the difference between a minor cycling accident and a serious one, and now I have yet another case in point … Still safer than me in a car, I swear!

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

This is why I don't ride my bike in traffic any more. D: Did this just happen? I have distinct memories of you telling me about several other times you'd been knocked off your bike.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Yesterday's attack of gravity. Yeah, you're right, I have a collection of helmets that have given their lives that I may think ;-)

Have to go into work now. ouchie ...

[bk7brokemybrain.livejournal.com]

0_o

Wow. Yes, please to keep your lovely brains on the inside.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I am scoping out my next helmet, based on the impact resistance reviews ;-)

[zeitgeistic.livejournal.com]

Oh my god! This is really scary. I am so glad you wear a helmet!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I always do: they make such an immediate difference in this sort of accident. The one time I left it off for a short sprint to an ATM, I was taken out by a red-light running taxi and lost most of 1994 from my brain. Since then, I've had three accidents where I landed on my head and the helmet took all of the impact: not even a bump on the actual head! And since I broke other bones in two of them, I hail the helmet!

[zeitgeistic.livejournal.com]

Wow! I didn't realize accidents were so common for bicyclers.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Most cities are a lot safer than Sydney. Motorists here are less aware of cyclists, and a few are flat out aggressive wankers determined to kill us all. Things are improving greatly, though, with cycle paths and education campaigns making a real difference.

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

Oh my God, Brammers, what happened?

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Went around a corner, hit a patch of oil on a wet road, gravity won! Damn you, gravity! Mostly fine, though stiff this morning!

[chamekke.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you had that helmet on!

One of my best friends died of a brain injury after he unexpectedly fell from his bicycle. He wasn't wearing his helmet that day :-( Ever since, I've been a bicycle-helmet evangelist. Helmets really do save lives ♥

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was once riding a few hundred metres to an ATM and did not take mine off the handlebars: was taken out by an illegally light-running taxi and lost nouns for 6 months and 1994 forever. Literally the only time I have ridden on the road in Aus without one. Since then, at least three life-saving helmet sacrifices. I love them.

[emmacmf.livejournal.com]

Last autumn, my friend was cut in front of by a car that just didn't see her. She braked, but had to do so suddenly that she went over the handlebars and into the car. She hit it so hard that she bent the central support bar of the car, completely writing it off. She tore her ear lobe, lost a tooth, a crown, and wrenched her shoulder, and is still recovering from her injuries, but the police said she would have died if she wasn't wearing a helmet. She's a civilian employee of the Met Police, so was able to get a copy of the CCTV footage of the accident, and it is one of the most upsetting things I've ever seen.

She is now a legend at her local police station, and is known as "the woman who took out a car with her head". I'm very grateful she wears a helmet, and I'm very grateful that you do too.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I can imagine! Poor love! I send her all the healing vibes I can spare! And yes: numpty hipsters who pretend helmets don't make a difference are talking bollocks!

She needs a bike sticker that says 'Two less cars!' (even though they are annoyingly ungrammatical ;-))

[catsintheattic.livejournal.com]

Goodness, that helmet looks scary! I'm so glad it's just the helmet and not your head.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Me too! Worth every penny I spent on it!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_inbetween_/]

Hello. I didn't see until I clicked a few times, did I see blood then? Is that an old photo then, coz it surely could not stay red ... and isn't that a not so good helmet then? I never considered helmet hair, just the discomfort and added luggage. Zombies would also agree with your last statement, though interpret it differently.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

From yesterday, er, day before now, damn it, how did it become 1am again? I think the bit of red is either a camera artefact or a reflection of my newly red hair. Which is oh-so red. Oops!

It was a great helmet! They are meant to crush and crack in an impact so your head doesn't, and I must say that this one took an admirable amount of force, bless it! I'm a big believer in them, even if it makes me sweaty, having had a number of offs, I think I might actually have died in the one that shattered my foot without my helmet.

Zombies might be able to catch me at the moment: I'm off wheels for at least a fortnight :-(

[hollyxu.livejournal.com]

!!! I hope you're okay?? I mean, you're posting, so obviously no severe harm. *crosses fingers*

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Broken left thumb, fab bruise on right arm and thigh (I came down on my right: I think I broke the thumb with my handlebars) and a lot of muscle soreness today. Hot bath will fix half of that! Helmets rule!

[mahaliem.livejournal.com]

That's a scary photo. I'm so glad you're doing okay.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

When the kids tell me helmets don't make a big difference, I have a collection of crushed ones that I like to wheel out. And photos of my head after the one time I didn't wear one in Sydney (literally one time; the unluckiest few hundred metres of my cycling career!) They come around to my way of thinking then if they are planning to do any road riding.

[vaysh]

Urgh. It did sound pretty awful from your last post but in your usual charming fashion you made it seem much less scary. THIS is scary!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

It was the classic with a helmet, this is a minor accident; without a helmet it would have been a serious accident situation. I genuinely love helmets!

[nevernot-broken.livejournal.com]

helmets are awesome. *shudder* thinking what would have happened to your head...

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I am concentrating instead on the awesomeness of MET ;-) I should probably send them a copy of this photo …

[dragonfly-lily.livejournal.com]

OUCH!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

So true today! All those little muscles that were cheerfully flooded with adrenalin yesterday are flooded with lactic acid and small tears today. Bath time!

[17catherines.livejournal.com]

Ouch!

I was hit by a truck when riding my bike as a 7 year old. The bike shop asked to have my (completely wrecked) bike back so that they could display it in the window as part of a 'this is why people should wear helmets' display.

(I wasn't, in fact, wearing a helmet, because I hadn't intended to end up on the road, but my steering and braking skills weren't as good as I had thought they were...)

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Ow ow ow! I am so glad you were all right! I've been clipped by a bus, but avoided trucks. Nearly been taken out by a few truck doors, but the advantage of being this short is that I can just fit under them if I use my ninja cycling skills ;-)

I think that mandatory helmets and compulsory voting are two of my favourite weird Australian things. Both improve the world!

[17catherines.livejournal.com]

I was very lucky to survive, in fact. Lungs don't really like trying to share the same location as all one's other internal organs.

Dad told me about the bicycle being at the shop, and I wanted to go see it, after I got out of hospital, but Mum wouldn't let me... The ironic thing about all of this is that while I still flinch a bit if a large truck turns around a corner a bit too close to me, I was pretty much un-traumatised by the accident. My family, who were there when it happened, were much more messed up by it - Dad still has nightmares, I think.

And I second your statement about mandatory helmets and compulsory voting. Just brilliant.

[ladyjaneva.livejournal.com]

"mandatory helmets"

that's been up to discussion in Germany too, but most people fall on the : let's not force it side.
I guess a lot of attitude towards helmets has to do with the biking environment. Are the cars used to it, do lots of people bike, etc. You never see a helmet in the Netherlands. I often wear one in Germany (not always though) but I've never felt the need to wear one in the Netherlands either. Their bikes are so comfortable... I used to horseride so I know what helmets can do (in the positive sense).

So so glad you wore yours and that you're ok.

[alethiaxx.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear about your accident, and relieved your helmet served faithfully! Hope the bruising and thumb heal quickly.

Also fun to peek at your bookshelf in the photo - I was sure you'd have an interesting collection. :)

[enchanted-jae.livejournal.com]

*pets your brain*

:D

[mabonwitch.livejournal.com]

Eep! Yes, thank goodness for helmets! I take wearing mine very seriously. It doesn't matter how short a distance you're going, you never know when a car might swerve unexpectedly! I've hit my head on the ground twice while wearing a helmet, and I hate to think of the amount of brain I might've left behind without one. So glad you're OK!

[takarai-karin.livejournal.com]

Owie...

Very glad you're okay!