When motor vehicles collide with bicyclists, the results often are deadly. Given that automobiles are much larger and heavier than bicycles, a traffic crash can result in the total devastation of a bicycle, and cyclists can sustain life-threatening and fatal injuries. As residents of Lombard may know, there is no federal bicycle helmet law, and there is no helmet law in Illinois or in DuPage County more specifically. Only bike messengers in Chicago are required to wear helmets, and then only a handful of counties across the state require children to wear helmets. This means that adults throughout DuPage County and Cook County can ride a bicycle legally without a helmet.

Even though bicycle helmets are not required by law, they can save lives in the event of a collision with an automobile. According to a recent article in Science Nordic, a new study suggests that bicyclists decrease their risk of head injuries by 60 percent when they use helmets, but experts wrangle on the question of making them mandatory by law.

Bicycle Helmets Greatly Reduce the Risk of Brain Injuries in Traffic Collisions

When we hear about concussions and other traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) connected to automobile accidents in DuPage County, we often learn that the traffic collision caused the brain injury. Indeed, as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlights, motor vehicle crashes are the third-leading cause of TBIs in the country, resulting in about 14 percent of all brain injury deaths each year. But can brain injuries cause car accidents?

According to a recent report from Reuters Health, while we often consider car accidents to be a proximate cause of TBIs, we rarely discuss the situations in which concussions and other brain injuries can produce symptoms that increase a driver’s likelihood of being involved in a collision.

A recent study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine indicates that many medical professionals who treat younger athletes for concussion understand that the injury raises the risk of being involved in a car accident, but very few advise their patients against driving. 

More than 930,000 residents call DuPage County home, and anyone who has lived here for over a year understands the significance in fluctuation of weather patterns. Everything from sunshine to snow causes damage to buildings and other structures.Therefore, it is especially important that landlords repair damages as soon as possible to precent tenants from being injured, or even killed, in slip and fall accidents. 

Potential Damage From a Slip and Fall

Slip and fall accidents occur when a person trips, slips, loses balance, or otherwise falls and an an injury results. Causes of slip and fall accidents may be due to any number of outside forces. Perhaps the paint on the concrete was wet with rain and therefore caused loss of traction. The sidewalk may have been cracked and caused one's foot to catch. Or, an object may have been in the walkway that was not appropriately flagged or otherwise signaled and caused tripping.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and estimated 1.7 million people suffer from traumatic brain injury (TBI) each year. Of those, approximately 52,000 experience fatality. Motor vehicle accidents are the third leading cause of those deaths. Thankfully, science is starting to make some headway in treatments—some of which may save victims that would have otherwise died from their injuries. The following explains further.

Improved Screenings for Injured Victims

Lack of early detection is one of the biggest reasons that TBIs become fatal. This is exactly why science has started focusing on methods for earlier and better detection. For example, rather than search for a brain hemorrhage in a CT scan, some victims might be better served through biomarker testing. MRIs may also be used to better detect if a victim has experienced mild traumatic brain injury. This can reduce the risk that less severe cases are missed, which can, in turn, reduce the risk for secondary injuries that could easily become life-threatening.

When most people think of head injuries, they think of concussions: blows to the head experienced during major falls, automobile accidents, or while playing sports that can have lasting effects. There is, however, a lesser known but quieter, insidious type of head injury in which few people are aware. Experienced even during minor accidents or simple slips and falls, these injuries are slow-growing but can quickly and easily become fatal if not detected. These injuries are known as subdural hematomas.

What is a Subdural Hematoma?

Like concussions, subdural hematomas are injuries to the head. However, unlike concussions, subdural hematomas do not need a major blow to occur. They can occur because of a simple fall, or even just starting to fall and then catching yourself. Subdural hematomas can also occur even during a minor automobile accident, where the head is suddenly jolted or bumped so slightly that the injured person does not even remember or fully register the hit. Those who are aged 60 or older are most susceptible because of how the brain changes with age.