Tribuna de La Habana

Cuba

A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann. Original:
http://www.tribuna.islagrande.cu/etiquetas/noviembre/1/casco-deproteccion.html

Crash helmets: a safety element

By Irene Izquierdo

Photo: Aguilera

As repeatedly stated by our media in the last few weeks, legislation establishing the compulsory use of crash helmets not only by motorcycle and moped drivers but also those riding pillion will come into effect as from November the 1st.

In its continuing efforts to protect people’s health and quality of life, and particularly the safety of those who move around in the above-mentioned vehicles, the National Transit Authority has ruled the use of properly strapped helmets mandatory in line with Article 81, item 1, of our Law No. 60, which lays down the Road Safety Code of the Republic of Cuba.

Data supplied by the World Health Organization and its Pan American counterpart have it that traffic accidents account for 25% of deaths worldwide. Failure to fasten the seat belt and/or wear a helmet is one major reason for that figure.

Those who find this obligation hard to understand must know that wearing a helmet reduces by 30% the likelihood of fatal bodily harm in case of accident, as it’s the main passive safety element that both motorcycle and moped drivers and their passengers have at hand. Furthermore, its effectiveness in preventing the rider’s death stands at around 28%; it cuts in half the incidence of head injuries among its users, and it offers protection against neck, spinal and brain damage, fracture and dislocation.

True, it will never avoid the accident, but it tends to decrease the seriousness of any damage inflicted on the body part it protects. In this connection, the work to foster the use of helmets rubs shoulders with the most important road safety-related provisions. Various studies have proved that wearing a helmet significantly reduces the chance of suffering life-endangering injuries, the first cause of death among users of two-wheeled vehicles.

A crash helmet is a motorcyclist’s best friend in highways and freeways as much as in city streets. Research has confirmed the risk of head injuries to be considerably higher within the city boundaries, where there are many more curbs, parked vehicles, traffic signs, lampposts and other obstacles to bump into.

Some people hold it’s pointless to wear a helmet while riding at low speed or making frequent stops. Wrong, experts say. The helmet is even more effective when worn on a slow-moving vehicle, because its safety margin is greater at 50 km/h than at higher speeds. Again, if you wear a crash helmet, the risk of being fatally injured is 30% lower in case of a motorcycle accident, whereas not using makes it 40% more likely to be the victim of grave head injuries.

---ooOoo---