ACCIDENT ON THE TRAIL

HELMET SAVES WOMAN’S LIFE

by Darryl Lang

Around 10am on Monday, February 20, I went for a walk on the Legacy Trail. As I walked just north of Laurel Road, I noticed two women and a man sitting on the Trail with their bikes off to the side. I walked up to them and asked what was wrong and if I could help. One woman was sitting there with a bloody knee and looking dazed. They told me that the two women (sisters) had collided into each other while riding. Both women fell, but one hit her head on the pavement. She was disoriented and nauseous — the signs of a head injury.

We called 911 and waited for the EMTs to show up. The sister who wasn’t hurt, except for a sore arm, showed me the helmet her sister was wearing (see below). She hit the pavement so hard, the impact cracked her helmet!  What if she had not been wearing a helmet?  What if it was her skull that cracked?

The woman was diagnosed with a concussion, but is going to be okay.

They were casual riders, not going fast, just out for a short ride on the Trail, enjoying their vacation and never thinking one of them would end up going to the hospital in an ambulance.

People think they don’t need helmets on the Trail. They are just out for a slow, casual ride on a safe Trail and nothing will happen. You just never know.

This woman may not have survived her fall or may have been very seriously injured if she hadn’t been wearing a helmet.

So……PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE:  WEAR A HELMET ON THE TRAIL.