Here is why you should wear a helmet:
There are 73 to 85 million bicycle riders in the US.
700 bicyclists died on US roads in 2007.
Over 90 percent died in crashes with motor vehicles.
The "typical" bicyclist killed on our roads is a sober male over 16 not wearing a helmet riding on a major road between intersections in an urban area on a summer evening when hit by a car.
About 540,000 bicyclists visit emergency rooms with injuries every year. Of those, about 67,000 have head injuries, and 27,000 have injuries serious enough to be hospitalized.
Bicycle crashes and injuries are under-reported, since the majority are not serious enough for emergency room visits. 43,000 cyclists were reported injured in traffic crashes in 2007.
1 in 8 of the cyclists with reported injuries had a brain injury.
Two-thirds of the deaths here are from traumatic brain injury.
A very high percentage of cyclists' brain injuries can be prevented by a helmet, estimated at anywhere from 45 to 88 per cent.
Direct costs of cyclists' injuries due to not using helmets are estimated at $81 million each year, rising with health care costs.
Indirect costs of cyclists' injuries due to not using helmets are estimated at $2.3 billion each year.
