Yes, really. I rolled over with an electric scooter and smeared on the road. It was 15:45 P.M., when I hurried to pick up the car from the garage and the child from kindergarten.
I reached a speed bump and braked hard, lost control of the scooter and was thrown forward, with my head being the first to meet the asphalt.
Five minutes back. Just before I left the house, I noticed the black lump dangling on the handle of the scooter. Helmet. A split second of hesitation: It's awkward, and the handkerchief, and it's a short ride, and who will hear. But thank God - common sense managed to take over, and I put the helmet on my head. She was too loose. I glanced at the watch nervously and quickly arranged the straps. Half a minute later I was smeared on the road, feeling the shockwaves of the blow to my head.
Four cracks cracked in the helmet. I, on the other hand, got up, checked that I saw and heard and remembered, and managed to get the child out in time. A few days of dull headache - that was the only price I paid for a stupid accident that could have changed the course of my life.
We all understand that a helmet is important, but we don't realize how much. A study conducted in 2006 at Assaf Harofeh Hospital showed that almost half of bicycle accidents cause head injuries.
A report produced for the Ministry of Transport in 2018 notes that 10 per cent of injuries caused by bicycle accidents are serious or fatal. That number rises to 13 per cent when it comes to e-bikes. The "lighter" injuries — fractures, limb and skin injuries — are increasing as e-scooters and e-bikes become more common. But here's the truly astonishing statistic: about 90% of riders of these vehicles don't wear a helmet. One in ten riders who have an accident will be fatally injured, but nine out of ten riders won't bother putting on a helmet.
I have a rule in life: I understand that disaster can happen to me or my loved ones at any moment, but I do everything I can so that it is not my fault. Forgive me for the practical approach, right? But there are so many things that are out of our control, so let's at least take care of what we can prevent. Far from leading a life of anxiety, my children are more independent than average, but when it comes to helmets, car seats, grape cutting, sunscreen and smoking, I say something like this: I'll have to deal with the eternal pain anyway – at least it won't be accompanied by guilt and regret.
True, a helmet is not comfortable or light, and certainly not cool. You have to carry it after tying your bike or scooter, and the average rider has all the logical excuses to give it up. The thought that an irreversible disaster would happen to me is probably less real than the hassle of wearing a helmet.
But research shows that wearing a helmet while riding a (regular!) bike reduces the risk of head injury by up to 85%, and the World Health Organization makes it clear that helmets not only reduce the number of head injuries, but also their severity. The law, by the way, requires the wearing of a helmet only when riding an electric bicycle, and the fine for not wearing a helmet increased about a year ago from NIS 250 to NIS 1,000. But let's just say there are rules that are enforced more rigorously.
Life is too fragile, and our bodies are too precious. There is no trip that justifies the risk. There was a joke among my childhood friends that "head is for life," and 20 seconds of head care saved me from sitting in pain in the emergency room, praying for a miracle.
There are too many people who would give anything to go back in time to those 20 seconds.
This is my little miracle - that I didn't need one. That common sense took over the "it's going to be fine," and that the helmet kept my head safe. May we prevent ourselves from the need for great miracles.
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