En route to the house, I witnessed a rider who suddenly lost control on the motorcycle and was thrown off. Thankfully, his helmet took the brunt of the impact, sacrificing itself to protect his head. The helmet’s shield was broken resulting in some pieces of glass scattered on the ground. I got so scared for him and asked myself, what if he wasn’t wearing a helmet?
This incident made me constantly looking out for motorbike riders who had their helmets on or even the passengers they picked. From my observation two out of 10 riders had their helmets on, with one out 10 wearing them together with their passenger, whilst seven out of 10 people had no helmet on together with their passengers.
Research by the Johns Hopkins Internal Injury Research Unit found out that as low as 33 percent of motorcycle riders used helmets. This came up during the Bloomberg Safety workshop in Kumasi.
According to a United Nations (UN) study, 34 million people died from motorcycle crashes globally between 2008 and 2020, of which 1. 4 million lives could have been saved with proper use of helmets.
A certified quality helmet can reduce the risk of death by 42% and injuries by 69%. A research from Reuters found out that people wearing helmets reduced their risk of severe traumatic brain injury by 52% and their risk of death by 44%.
In Ghana, from the 2022 data by the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), 41% of the 2,373 deaths through road fatalities involved motorcycles, although motorcycle crashes reduced by 12.35% from 3,157 in 2021, the statistics revealed a rather worrying trend with motorcyclists which are more exposed to road traffic.
The Ghana police, in a video, illustrated the importance of wearing helmets where they used a watermelon to explain the severity of injuries from not wearing a helmet, how it was crushed badly, and how it didn’t suffer major crushes while being in a helmet. Several education have been made by major institutions like the National Road Safety Commission, Road Safety Management, and Motor Transport and Traffic Management, but Ghanaian motorcyclists are adamant.
The most shocking comes with the riders who have helmets on, but their passengers don’t. This brings us to the question as to why some riders are adamant in wearing their helmets.
Speaking to some riders and passengers in Odorkor, they expressed their thoughts on this topic. According to Abdul, he had only one helmet, and when asked if he didn’t care about the life of his passenger, he answered that they do not like wearing it.
A passenger complained about the discomfort that comes with wearing the helmet. Mr. Tawiah shared with me his experience with an accident that caused him to lose his teeth. He said that if he was wearing a helmet that day, the severity would not have been the same.
According to passenger two, she would wear it if the rider had a spare, if not she would still take the ride and pray she is not faced with any accident. She added that most of the riders were good and it was safe with them.
Mr. Saleem also stated that he and his mates knew the important of the helmets, because some of the police personnel instruct them to put it on, but they sometimes wear it to get by the police and in some cases to avoid being fined on the spot. He even compared it to how drivers wear their seatbelts only to get by the police and remove it once they were out of sight.
Through these conversations with the riders and some passengers I realised they knew the severity of not wearing the helmets, but they were just nonchalant and mostly get tired of putting it on despite the danger of not doing so.
According to health experts, helmets are essential in preventing traumatic brain injuries. It reduces the amount of force applied to the brain and protect against severe cuts, skull fractures and broken facial bones. Riding a motorcycle or bicycle is just one activity that puts users at risk of brain injury.
Helmets are 37 percent effective in preventing motorcycles deaths, and 67 percent in preventing brain injuries caused by accidents. The efficacy of helmets significantly reduces the severity of injuries sustained from head trauma.
The helmet has a hard plastic shell on the outside and foam on the inside. If one hits their head, the materials in the helmet will help reduce the force and energy of the impact, which reduces the energy applied on the skull. The foam works to cushion the blow to the head, while the smooth, plastic outer allows your head to safely skid across the surface of impact without jerking your neck. Ghanaians should not prioritise comfort or apathy over life.
Safety first!
By Theodora Tsitsope Tornyo
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect The Chronicle’s stance.
