Blink Helmet

Friday I was driving home across the Bay St bridge when I saw a cyclist on the sidewalk. She was on the wrong side of the bridge and looking for a sidewalk to ride on. I watched as she turned around, then lost her balance. She fell backwards off the sidewalk and hit the pavement. Her head then whiplashed down into the pavement and I saw her helmet hit the ground pretty hard.

I was surprised at how quickly it happened. I shouldn’t be that surprised though since I have crashed enough while mountain biking to know that it happens in the blink of an eye.

I pulled over to the side to see if she was alright. Another car stopped behind her so she was effectively blocked in. The other driver and I talked to her for a bit and she was definitely a little wobbly in the knees. I mentioned it would be better for her to sit down until she was feeling better.

A large double decker bus stopped and asked if we needed an ambulance which was turned down by the cyclist. I stayed with her for a few minutes, but she insisted she was fine. I also made sure she had a way to call someone and was glad to hear she had a cell phone in her pack.

As the other driver got up to leave he looked into the road where she landed and retrieved three pieces of foam from her helmet. She hit hard enough to not only crack the helmet, but to actually break parts of it off. Very goo thing she had that helmet on.