Coming home today I’m walking through New York City’s West Village and at the corner of 6th and Prince there’s a fire truck and police car stopped in the intersection. There’s also a cab and on the ground in front it a bicycle and its rider. I didn’t see a helmet.

I thought back to a couple months ago when I took a nasty spill off my bike. Even with a helmet on I experienced a temporary memory loss which was scary. I’m sure I would have at least fractured my skull without the helmet.

A letter in my bike club newsletter tells of someone with the same exact fall and symptoms I had. He also had the same incredible gratefulness for his helmet. I remember writing to the helmet company (Giro) to thank them, and being oh-so-glad to lay out cash for a new one.

And this afternoon at lunch a friend at work told us his girlfiend fell off a moped on Day 2 of a vacation in Cancun. No helmets, luckily she only broke her leg and nothing more.