By Timmy Trabon
After separating from my bike, rolling up the hood of the car, bashing the windshield in with my head and then rolling 15 feet on concrete like Gumby, I gained a very new opinion on bicycle safety.
Relying strictly on adrenaline, I walked off the road limping only to collapse on the sidewalk. My heart rate was beating like a strobe light.
I was hit hard and I felt pain over my entire body. The deep wound in my foot was more like a hole that led to a shiny white substance that appeared to be bone. Feeling a sharp pain on the top of my head, I realized I was bleeding badly.
As I was lying on my side while two paramedics checked over my body for spinal injuries and brain trauma, the overwhelming thought cycling through my head was, "I might not walk again because I'm too cool for a $15 helmet."
If I learned anything from the accident, it's that most elements of a car consist of materials considerably harder and more durable than my bare head.
Brains are important, and nothing makes you love your bike helmet like a 5,000 lb. SUV slamming into you at 35 mph. To add to that, nothing makes you feel more idiotic than when that helmet is strewn with cobwebs in the back of your closet.
Unfortunately, I fell into the category of cyclists who are more concerned about the shape of their hair than the well-being of their cranium.
No mother wants to answer a call from her son only to hear the voice of a paramedic on the other line. My paramedic was kind enough to be strictly frank with her saying, "Your son was just hit by an SUV that was traveling at a high speed. We're not sure if he's ok. I have to go. CLICK."
The fact that I am alive today, let alone physically and mentally able is an anomaly.
I was extremely lucky. Most people aren't. I can't walk down Willamette Boulevard without counting the naked heads of Portland cyclists riding within feet of fast traveling vehicles.
Roughly $4500 later in auto repairs and more than $1000 in physical therapy sessions, the repercussions of my accident are running amok. Even though I survived the accident relatively unscathed, my former hobby of running has a questionable future. Due to the harsh beating my body took from the collision, it will be the better part of a year before I can even consider jogging. Plus, the scar on my foot will completely ruin trips to the beach. More than anything, the light scars on my head will always remind me of life's fragility.
Speaking from experience, helmets are lifesavers. When you're lying on the side of the road with blood coming down the side of you face, you don't care whether it was your fault or the driver's. You just hope that you will be alright.
I realize that many cyclists in Portland hold a very antagonistic attitude on the road. Just because a cyclist is extremely cautious does not exempt him or her from wearing a helmet. You may be right, but you'll be dead right.
