Why you always wear your bike helmet

I followed the 10-year-old across town on bike over the weekend. As he coasted down a hill, he took his feet off the pedals to greater enhance the sensation of flying.
I thought to myself, "I hope he doesn't need to slam on his brakes suddenly..." say, for instance, if a car backed out of a driveway, or a smaller kid zoomed out on a trike.
But as soon as he put his feet back where they belonged, I didn't give it another thought.

Not much later, he was far ahead of me, and clamboring off his bike.
How odd.
As I approached, he said, "Mother! I think I need a new bike! Look at this!"
I watched as he gripped the handlebars and gave them a tug.
They wobbled.
"Oh," I said. "That's not good." And visions of our downhill decent morphed into images of a little boy speeding out of control with his feet out and flailing arms waving broken handlebars over his head.

I shuddered.

"And you know what else, Mother?"
"What?" What other horror could there be, son?
He pointed to his head. "I forgot to wear my helmet today!"

Holy crap!
I hadn't even noticed! He had a hood, but no helmet.

"I think we should walk the rest of the way. What do you think?"
And at that very moment, his bike fell over.
Bike on the ground.
Handlebars still in his hands.

***

::Roses climbs on her soap box::

That's why you always wear your bike helmet.
Because the safest, most skilled, most courteous, and cautious bike rider can't save squat with a broken bike.
We were just lucky he wasn't on it at the time.

And if you don't like to wear a helmet because it messes up your hair, you should see how awful blood and gravel embedded in your scalp will make your hair look.

::Roses climbs back down::