When it comes to bicycle safety at MSU, fashion beats function every time.
Bicycle helmets, the one proven method of escaping serious head injury during a bicycle accident, are virtually nonexistent on campus. Approximately 2,860 bicycles were registered on campus last year, a small fraction of the number that actually ride, according to MSU Police Capt. Mike Rice. Bike helmets are not a requirement on campus, and state law does not mandate their use, either.
'Hard-core bike riders don't seem to mind wearing helmets, it's the occasional rider that seems inconvenienced by them,' said Rice. 'Helmet use is a large safety problem on campus, which in the past, we've tried to address through wellness programs and community policing. But I don't think they've been successful,' he said.
So in this month of national brain injury awareness, many are left scratching their own heads as to why more people don't take proper precautions. Wearing a bicycle helmet could prevent one death every day and one brain injury every four minutes according to the Brain Injury Association. For those whom brain injuries are a reality, it can be frustrating watching others tempt fate.
'My head injury couldn't have been avoided, but so many can,' said Lisa Masters, director of the Cerebral Aneurysm Tumor Survivors support group (CATS). Masters, herself a head injury survivor, started a bicycle helmet campaign last year after watching a friend die of malignant brain tumor. That friend was Ed Carne, manager of an East Lansing bicycle shop.
'The week of Ed's funeral I was driving home and saw two guys riding down the street on their bikes without helmets. And that did it! I drove to Denny's Cycling and told them I had an idea for helmet safety, if they would provide the discount on helmets.'
Masters designed coupons with bike and brain injury statistics on one side, the discount offer on the other. Both Denny's Cycling and Central Park Bicycles joined in the effort, offering the discount on helmet purchases. But to drive the point home, Masters figured distributing the coupons would take a special effort. So she organized people with head injuries to hand out the coupons to cyclists.
'I figured we should take the solution to where the problem is,' said Masters. 'The problem isn't in the Legislature,' she said.
'I really believe that kids and young people are no different than anybody else, and if you educate them, something will happen to trigger the importance of this,' she said. 'If they don't use the coupons, at least they'll have the knowledge. Some head injuries can't be avoided. Alot of them can.'
One of Masters's allies in the program was the Brain Injury Association of Michigan.
'People don't want to be bothered by safety,' said Barbara Carlisle, president of the Capital Area Chapter of the BIAM. 'Students don't realize how dangerous it is (to ride without a helmet) until after they've been involved in an accident. They need to take the initiative to protect themselves,' she said.
'I'd say less than 2 percent of the cyclists wear helmets. The majority of bicyclists on campus I've noticed have bare heads, with the exception of maybe a hat.
'Once you hurt your head, those skills, especially cognitive skills, are gone. You don't learn as fast after a brain injury. You don't retain information. You have difficulty taking notes in class. Your whole self-image is in doubt.'
Carlisle's view of ridership habits matches up with what can easily be observed on campus. Every day, any number of cyclists can be seen riding to and from classes. In the choice between permanent brain injury and flyaway hair, many MSU students seem willing to take a bad hair day over the risk of a bad brain injury. So what's the problem?
'It's the cool factor,' said John Sibble, an employee of Puck and Pedal, an East Lansing bicycle store. 'The majority of students we sell bicycles to don't bother to purchase a helmet because it's not cool. Men and women alike ' they don't want to wear helmets because they don't want to mess up their hair ' it wouldn't look cool.'
What riders do once they leave the bike store is their own business, said Sibble. However, state law requires bike retailers to make customers don a helmet if they want to test-drive a bike. Although Puck and Pedal does not participate in the helmet coupon program, it does encourage helmet safety to its patrons.
'We have lost bike sales because the person did not want to wear a helmet for the test drive. People are so adamant about it,' he said. 'Not that we use scare tactics, but we do make people aware of helmet safety. We consider ourselves to be a helmet-friendly shop. The analogy we use is, put a $5 helmet on a $5 head.'
The use of bicycle helmets can decrease the incidence of injury by 85 percent, and brain injury by 88 percent, says the BIA. Ninety-six percent of bicyclists killed last year weren't wearing their helmets. And six times as many bicycle deaths are males compared to females, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Fatality Analysis Reporting System.
To combat statistics like these, and to increase rider awareness of safety issues, the bicycle helmet industry has designed a sleeker, lightweight product to entice cyclists into safety. The average bicycle helmet costs as little as $20 and can be as expensive as any TV or stereo, depending on the quality of the helmet itself. Most are made of a hard plastic shell with Styrofoam padding, and weigh as little as a Walkman. Color and style shouldn't be a deterrent to safety, either. Helmets now come to suit the tastes of the most discerning riders.
Bell Helmets, one of the leading makers of racing and leisure bike helmets, recommends replacing a helmet every three years, to take advantage of new safety designs and more stringent safety standards. In fact, Bell has a replacement policy for its helmets: If your helmet is involved in an accident, it will replace the helmet free of charge.
'I sit in my office and people watch, and it seems like every bike rider that goes by isn't wearing a helmet,' said Stoney Polman, a psychiatric and brain injury specialist with OPHS. 'After sustaining a serious brain injury, even remembering someone's name is a monumental task.
'Brain injuries shake you to the very core. You have to relearn the most basic of skills,' she said. 'Tying your shoes. Taking a bath. Everything seems like it's working, but you can't even remember your kid's name.'
There are two general categories of brain injuries, a traumatic brain injury (TBI) or a mild brain injury. A TBI can result in the loss of cognitive abilities, such as concentration, attention, short and long term memory loss, writing skills and judgement. It can also impact behavioral and emotional abilities, resulting in moods swings, depression, anxiety and low self-esteem. TBIs can be of a permanent nature; mild brain injuries, also known as concussion, may last only a few weeks or months. Also, the impact on cognitive, behavioral or emotional skills may not be as severe with mild injuries.
'The sense of loss is so profound with a brain injury,' Polman continued. 'At first, everything is so overwhelming. Your college dreams, family dreams, your independence is in doubt. After awhile, you realize there are parts of your life you're still able to accomplish,' she said.
'You hang on to things you're probably not ever going to do again. It's part of the loss and denial you go through. You don't want to admit failure.'
In conjunction with Brain Injury Awareness month, BIAM will host its annual conference Oct. 29-30 in Flint. This year's guest speaker is James Brady, former press secretary to President Ronald Reagan. Brady was seriously wounded in the assassination attempt on Reagan's life in 1981. He is, perhaps, the BIA's most visible and active spokesperson for brain injury awareness and causes. For more information on the conference, contact the BIA of Michigan at (800) 772-4323.
Important facts about brain injury
- Brain injury is the leading cause of death and disability of Americans under the age of 45.
- Eight million Americans today are living with brain injuries.
- Research, rehabilitation, public awareness and prevention can help lessen the occurrence of brain injuries in our society.
- In the 15 seconds it took you to read these statistics, one person in the U.S. sustained a traumatic brain injury.
Source: Brain Injury Association of Michigan