injury

If you're a CBC Radio nerd like me you might have heard a renewed mandatory helmet debate this morning with the news that a cyclist died from "life-threatening head injuries" in a crash a month ago at Caledonia and Davenport. The media and police have jumped on the fact that the cyclist was not wearing a helmet.

Police claim they discovered that "the severity of the head injury indicates that he was not wearing a helmet". (I wonder why they couldn't discover he wasn't wearing a helmet by just looking for an absence of a helmet in the area. I also wonder why the media is taking the police's take on the cause of head injuries when this is normally the role of health professionals.)

The man was riding southbound at Caledonia Park Road "at high speed" as he approached a green light on Davenport, according to police.

When the light changed, the man made a sharp left turn eastward onto Davenport's westbound lane, and then lost control and fell onto the roadway.

Police also issued an advisory in the Monday release that said: "While helmets are not mandatory for those over [18], Traffic Services would remind everyone that helmets are your best defence against brain injuries that result from falls. Parents need to be vigilant in ensuring children wear their helmets at all times when riding their bicycles."

This news follows a study at the University of Manitoba that helmet legislation works to get more people to wear helmets (while also reducing the number of people willing to bike).

While it is often a good idea (in my opinion) for an individual to wear a helmet to reduce the chance of a head injury, the broad statistics are not clear if helmets help all that much. We should not arrive at a conclusion and decide policy based on these individual cases where people have head injuries. It is known that helmets are of very limited value in the event of a collision with a car; and many cyclists negate the protective effect of helmets by taking more risks. The promotion of helmets implicitly shifts responsibility of care to the cyclist and away from drivers, and away from the provision of safer streets by means of street calming or bicycle facilities.

The truth is, strong calls for mandatory helmet legislations happen mostly in countries - such as United States, Canada, Australia - where the cycling modal share is very low and where injuries and deaths per kilometre travelled are much higher. It's not hard to argue that a big reason for this is that it's easier to shift the blame onto cyclists rather than taking effective steps in configuring our urban spaces to accommodate cyclists and pedestrians.

Source: www.cyclehelmets.org/

What we can take away from this is that helmet wearing is only a tiny part of the overall picture. We must look to other elements of cycling policy in countries where injury/death rates are low; elements such as bike lanes/paths and early cycling education.

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The Toronto Police are reporting (PDF) that a cyclist was hit and injured last night while riding on Coxwell Ave., north of Gerrard St.

On Thursday, May 7, 2009, at 11:07 p.m., police responded to a call for a personal injury collision on Coxwell Avenue, north of Casci Avenue.
It is reported that:

• a 19−year−old man was riding his bicycle north on Coxwell Avenue, in the right lane,
• a Safari van was travelling north on Coxwell Avenue, in the left lane,
• the cyclist turned left into the path of the van and was hit.

The cyclist was taken to hospital with life−threatening injuries.

The cyclist was not wearing a helmet but was wearing headphones, which may have limited
his ability to sense his surroundings.

Although the cyclist is at the age where helmets are not mandatory for cycling, the use of one
has been shown to reduce head injuries when worn properly.

The story has been picked up by a few media outlets today too:

• Toronto Star - Cyclist in east-end crash was listening to iPod
• National Post - East-end cyclist hit by van was wearing headphones, police say
• CTV - Van strikes cyclist on Coxwell Avenue
• 680 News - City cyclist hit by moving van
• CP24 - Cyclist in serious condition after being struck by van
• Toronto Sun - Injured cyclist not wearing helmet: Cops
• Metro - Headphones may have had role in bike crash: police

The Toronto Star reports that, "His chest was crushed and he suffered a closed-head injury to his brain. He was taken to St. Michael's Hospital in life-threatening condition, but he is now expected to survive."

The Toronto Star is reporting that a cyclist was hit by a car and severely injured near Lake Shore and Parliament this morning.

The impact of the collision sent the man flying into the windshield of the car, which was cracked but did not shatter.

The man was taken to St. Michael's Hospital with serious head injuries, but he is expected to live, according to police.

There was a considerable amount of blood at the scene.

The woman driving the car was shaken, but not hurt.

Let's hope the cyclist comes out of this OK. If anyone witnessed this, or has any other details, please contact the police.

More details and a video on the Toronto Star website.

So my new job has me riding back into the financial district on a daily basis and I find myself once again duly impressed with the ironic stupidity of some of the well-dressed and gainfully-employed folks around here. Just prior to the 9:00AM whistle yesterday, I watched a couple of lovely young ladies hesitate for a second, while misjudging the flow of traffic, and then step out into King Street right in front of a guy cruising through on a single-speed.

The first gal dashed out of the way, narrowly missing oncoming cars, but the second gal panicked like a deer in headlights and stopped the cyclist with an unintentional oversized Versace knock-off, clothesline maneuver. Thankfully there was a break in traffic and the fallen cyclist, though obviously in major pain, had a moment to recover and clear out of the street.