Advocacy & Safety - Wife took a fall today...

Probably going ~12mph. Tried to go up over the lip of a driveway at an angle which guided her tire in a direction she wasn't expecting. I saw her cheek slide across the pavement but when she got up her face was fine. I was trying to figure it out then I saw her helmet right above her cheek was scraped up pretty badly. So I guess the helmet held most of the weight of her head on the concrete from the impact and subsequent slide.

A little road rash on her shoulder and knee, but nothing too bad. I know helmets aren't designed to withstand a car running your head over, but we were pretty thankful that she didn't get road rash on her face.

Glad to here she avoided some road rash. That would just suck to have on ones face.

Glad her injuries were few and apparently minor. I bet she'll be a little sore in a day or so. Hope road rash clears up quickly, leaves no marks, and returns to getting on bike.

I guess time for a new helmet! How'd the bike fair?

Glad her injuries were few and apparently minor. I bet she'll be a little sore in a day or so. Hope road rash clears up quickly, leaves no marks, and returns to getting on bike.

I guess time for a new helmet! How'd the bike fair?

Awesome. The shifter got scraped and pushed in but I don't think the frame was scratched. I think the bike stopped moving and she kept going so she definitely got the worst of it.

Glad to here she avoided some road rash. That would just suck to have on ones face.

Take my word for it first hand. It really does suck to have road rash on ones face.

I found a great resource for treating road rash online. I've archived it at BikePortland.org (http://bikeportland.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1599).

Probably going ~12mph. Tried to go up over the lip of a driveway at an angle which guided her tire in a direction she wasn't expecting. I saw her cheek slide across the pavement but when she got up her face was fine. I was trying to figure it out then I saw her helmet right above her cheek was scraped up pretty badly. So I guess the helmet held most of the weight of her head on the concrete from the impact and subsequent slide.

A little road rash on her shoulder and knee, but nothing too bad. I know helmets aren't designed to withstand a car running your head over, but we were pretty thankful that she didn't get road rash on her face.

I am thankful she wasn't seriously injured on the outside.

But you should still take her to the doctor for the possibility of a 'closed head injury'. Because if she starts slurring her speech, forgetting things she normally remembers i.e. road directions or verbal directions; or she starts to become easily agitated, those are all signs of a closed head injury.

When I had my accident on Easter Sunday in Apr. 2010, I had an X-Ray and CT-Scan because of my prior medical history involving brain surgery. But even if I hadn't had the medical history I do have, I would still have insisted on it.

Sorry to hear about the minor (?) crash. I hope she heals up quickly, and doesn't let this bother her too much!

Take my word for it first hand. It really does suck to have road rash on ones face.

+1 I was about 12 when I took a slide off a BMX bike, about 17 when I started shaving and about 25 when I could finally grow facial hair in the places that had been rashed. Now it all grows at the same rate, but I'd hate to go through that again. If I didn't shave every other day between 17 and 25, it looked like I'd shaved stripes on the left side of my face and let the right side grow.

Theoretically, twobadfish's wife doesn't have quite the same potential problem, though.

Probably going ~12mph. Tried to go up over the lip of a driveway at an angle which guided her tire in a direction she wasn't expecting. I saw her cheek slide across the pavement but when she got up her face was fine. I was trying to figure it out then I saw her helmet right above her cheek was scraped up pretty badly. So I guess the helmet held most of the weight of her head on the concrete from the impact and subsequent slide.

A little road rash on her shoulder and knee, but nothing too bad. I know helmets aren't designed to withstand a car running your head over, but we were pretty thankful that she didn't get road rash on her face.

This is the most entirely sane and reasonable helmet story ever! It's an excellent example of what a helmet can do and of someone not having unrealistic expectations. It's also to your wife's credit that she was wearing her helmet correctly - if she hadn't been, it wouldn't have been of any use at all. And most riders probably wear them the wrong way.

I hope your wife isn't too sore or upset. Chocolate often helps with such upsets! And vitamin E skin cream is good on road rash

Take my word for it first hand. It really does suck to have road rash on ones face.

I found a great resource for treating road rash online. I've archived it at BikePortland.org (http://bikeportland.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1599).

This is excellent - maybe there should be a sticky somewhere for information like this? Ideally information this universal should appear in a thread that's a sticky for all forums...

Anyway - thank you!

But you should still take her to the doctor for the possibility of a 'closed head injury'. Because if she starts slurring her speech, forgetting things she normally remembers i.e. road directions or verbal directions; or she starts to become easily agitated, those are all signs of a closed head injury.


The "because" above doesn't make sense in conjunction with the preceding sentence.

The "because" above doesn't make sense in conjunction with the preceding sentence.
True, I should have done it like this '. Because', instead of like this '; Because'.

The "because" above doesn't make sense in conjunction with the preceding sentence.

Maybe we should have Chris checked for a head injury, then. :D

True, I should have done it like this '. Because', instead of like this '; Because'.

No, it's still nonsense. You describe what happened and then say "Have her scanned because here are a list of easily recognized symptoms... which she doesn't have."

Probably going ~12mph. Tried to go up over the lip of a driveway at an angle which guided her tire in a direction she wasn't expecting. I saw her cheek slide across the pavement but when she got up her face was fine. I was trying to figure it out then I saw her helmet right above her cheek was scraped up pretty badly. So I guess the helmet held most of the weight of her head on the concrete from the impact and subsequent slide.

A little road rash on her shoulder and knee, but nothing too bad. I know helmets aren't designed to withstand a car running your head over, but we were pretty thankful that she didn't get road rash on her face.

I'm really glad that your wife wasn't injured.

I, too, wear a helmet and have had a few similar accidents from which my helmets have saved me.

I've had many crashes where helmets did their job racing motorcycles, mountain biking, road biking, skydiving. The only helmet type I've worn that hasn't done anything for me yet is for rock climbing.