Ride bike? Wear a helmet

You don't always think you need to wear a helmet to ride a few blocks across a small town on (relatively) quiet streets. The threat is cars, right?

As a kid growing up between rural Rhode Island and suburban Boston, I only had to wear my helmet when in the city. Now, though, when I look at my daughter's precious head, I want a helmet on it. To set an example, my husband and I agreed to always wear helmets.

Thank goodness. A month ago, I set out across this small town of Whitefish riding a bicycle. Roughly 1,000 feet from our home, as I was slowing to a stop sign, the alert attitude of three dogs surprised me. They were all looking at a doe.

By the time I saw her, she was to my left, across the street. Our eyes met, and locked in contact. Suddenly, I was looking into her chest as it hit my face, hard, and I was flipping in the air. As I landed on the asphalt, it took a moment to realize that she had just bolted into me, full speed.

The pain in my arms was sharp, and I couldn't move them. Immediately, caring neighbors came to the rescue, calling an ambulance and addressing my immediate needs.

Now, a month later, as road rash fades, sprains recover and two broken bones heal (one screwed together with a fancy new steel plate), I think about getting back onto a bike. It won't be too long now. Fortunately, the bicycle is undamaged.

The helmet, however, is another story — it cracked in half, and I feel incredibly grateful. The helmet actually saved my head. It did what a helmet is supposed to do — made of slightly bouncy, somewhat soft material with a hard shell, a helmet slows the speed of impact.

If I remember physics accurately, force equals mass times a change in acceleration. That is to say, the helmet lengthens the time over which a force of impact acts on the wearer's skull. (The skull's natural design also protects the soft and tender brain from impact).

Even if it's milliseconds that a helmet slows the speed of impact, those milliseconds can make the difference between death or brain damage and complete recovery.

Among the many things I've learned from this experience (slow down, receive, be patient), perhaps the most important is this — wear a helmet.

Sara Bonds lives in Whitefish.