Head injuries are the most common injuries from bicycles, skateboards, long boards and rollerblading according to the Division of Highway Safety.
Bicycling is a common outdoor sport that involves accidents. According to information from the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute, http://www.bhsi.org/stats.htm, on average, 90 bicyclists are killed in accidents with motor vehicles. Head injuries accounted for more than 60 percent of bicycle-related deaths.
Bicycling is not the only sport that can cause injury to the head. Snowboarding and skiing are two other sports that can be problematic without a helmet.
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, 14 percent of all skiing and snowboarding injuries from accidents are head injuries.
Another activity that leads to accidents is motorcycling.
According to the Utah Department of Health, helmet use among fatally injured motorcyclists is below 50 percent. Also, head injury is the leading cause of death in motorcycle crashes.
Helmets are the smart choice, yet head traumas are among the list of common accidents that are seen in the emergency room.
Brett Christiansen, doctor of intensive medicine at Dixie Regional Medical Center, 1380 E. Medical Center Drive, has seen a lot of accidents involving head trauma. While working in the emergency room, he sees victims coming in from bicycling, skateboarding, snowboarding and motorcycle accidents.
Christiansen said: "There is a significant difference between patients wearing helmets and patients without. Usually you don't see them coming in the emergency room if they were wearing helmets."
Christiansen has seen many lives saved by wearing helmets.
"Many times helmets have saved lives, while on the reverse patients with head trauma are usually life flighted for more intensive care," Christiansen said.
While head traumas are common, there are suprisingly few laws to help protect people's heads. In fact, there is only one. In the state of Utah there are currently no laws regarding wearing a helmet while bicycling, skateboarding, snowboarding or skiing. The only law that mandates helmet use in Utah is on motorcycles. That law only mandates individuals 18 years old or younger wear a helmet, according to the State of Utah Mandatory Helmet Law, found at http://www.usff.com/hldl/hlstatutes/utahhl.html/.
It seems that the general consensus is that most people choose not to wear helmets.
Mitch Payne, a freshman undecided major from St. George, said: "I don't wear a helmet for biking or long boarding or anything else except four wheeling because I was in a bad accident and a helmet saved my life. The reason I don't wear a helmet is mostly because I will look stupid."
Not looking cool seems to be the major contributor for not wearing a helmet.
Christiansen said: "[My son] was the only kid in the neighborhood that had to wear a helmet while riding a bike. It's a rule at our house. One day he asked me if I would let him go without one. I told him, 'Sure, but the bike stays in the garage.' So he parked it and there the bike stayed for five years because he didn't want to wear a helmet."
However, helmets can save lives. Ronnie Alarcon, a student at University of Pheonix, St. George, was in an accident last week while on his motorcycle. Luckily, he was wearing a helmet.
Alacron said: "I was wearing my helmet and my jacket so I didn't get hurt too bad. My friends said I hit my head first, but it doesn't hurt at all."
Without a helmet, he could be in a much more serious condition.
For those who do choose to wear a helmet there are some additional safety tips for the various activities available. For bicycling, some of the tips provided by the Utah Health Department are to obey road signs, go the same direction as traffic, always check for traffic before going out, use hand signals, and always wear a helmet.
For snowboarding and skiing, know the code provided by Terrain Parks Safety. Make sure to always stay in control, stop in safe places, observe signs and warnings, and wear a helmet, according to www.terrainparksafety.org/know_the_code.asp.
Motorcycle safety tips provided by the Utah Department of Public Safety include approaching intersections with caution, never assuming that people can see you, passing only when it is safe, communicating with lights and hand signals, and wearing a helmet.
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