What and where?
This is a bike and helmet I saw in my apartment complex. Bikes are a common form of transportation around Athens, but they are rarely ridden with helmets.
ž How is it public health?
This is an example of public health for two reasons. First, because bikes are a very economical option for transportation, and have no emissions, unlike cars, busses, scooters, and other motorized transport. This reduction in emissions could drastically improve air quality and therefore quality of life in many places. Second, helmets are very important to public health as a harm reduction strategy. As with most forms of wheeled transportation, motorized or not, bikes can be dangerous, and wearing a helmet prevents severe head injury.
I chose this because of the number of bikes I see around campus, my own use of a bike, and the apparent lack of helmets. I have a friend who was recently severely injured in a bike crash, and was not wearing a helmet. Because of this, he had to get his jaw and lower face surgically reconstructed, and it has affected his life for the last few months. I also feel very strongly that wearing a helmet is a very small investment that could prevent a lifetime of pain.
It is important to see this as public health because people need to be more aware of the benefits and risks of bicycling and wearing a helmet. Often the best ways to make a community safer is to make safe personal practices normal. If biking with helmets was the norm in Athens and people reminded their friends, the norms would change, and injuries that do occur would be far less severe.
William Hedgpeth
Eva Russo
Klade Harmon
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