Wellfie Wednesday Blog Post: Bike Sharing & Helmet Safety
Happy Wellfie Wednesday! Welcome back! This week is brought to you by Diana (@DianaKlatt).
” Bicycle sharing has taken the world by storm. They’re everywhere, quite literally every major city across the US and even abroad. Though if you look at the news of how people dock the bicycles in Australia…you may reconsider pushing for one in your hometown (from a population stand-point). Make sure to watch the satirical Facebook video within that link. But are they really increasing health? Well, yes and no.
Bike Sharing
Yes, the implementation of bicycle sharing has made it so more people are using this method of transportation and is making a positive impact on their physical fitness as well as environmental health. The benefits have improved public health immensely. However, there is something that is missing in most rental/sharing systems – H E L M E T S. Very few in fact provide helmets during a rental.
Studies indicate that the prevalence of use of helmets in bike sharing users is low, which isn’t surprising when you look around and see that none of these bike share systems offer helmets. But why? Well first of all it would be quite gross to share helmets with so many people… but that shouldn’t stop YOU, as a consumer, to bring your own helmet! The cost of sustaining a head injury (ie TBI) costs twice as much amongst those that do not wear a helmet versus those that do wear helmets.
It’s completely up to you as to whether or not you wear a helmet (or your local law), but think about how easy it is to fall or collide with another person when you’re zig-zagging around a city. A helmet could be the difference between some minor scratches and a major injury.”
ONE THING I LEARNED TODAY:
WEAR YOUR BIKE HELMET! As a PT, I have seen some seriously bad spinal cord injuries that may or may not have been prevented, but could have easily been less intense with the use of a helmet!
