...And Other Safety Issues

On Sunday, we attended a minor league baseball game at Storm Stadium (Padres) in which Dr. Sean Bush was honored for his work with snakebite victims. It was great...he threw out the first pitch. His wife, mentioned that he didn't want to "throw like a girl". Well, he'd be lucky to throw like some of the girls on the local high school softball team! He did a fine job, though, and hopefully opened some eyes to the dangers of snakebites. We're still looking for donations for Zamo's additional physical therapy and possibly one more surgery. She looked wonderful, though. Zamo was charismatic and very friendly, coming up to me and holding both of my hands. What a doll. I was happy to see such remarkable progress with her wounds.

On the way home, my son and I encountered an accident site. The road was closed off, so we had to go around it. Driving by, we noticed only one small truck, which was badly damaged on the front right fender. I was concerned that perhaps it had collided with a motorcycle. There were people standing around crying which was disheartening, but we didn't know what had happened. We learned yesterday that it was actually a vehicle vs. bicycle accident. The fender was so badly damaged, it was apparent that some amount of speed was involved. A 15-year-old boy, the same age as my son, was struck. He was not wearing a helmet and it cost him his life. I don't know if the vehicle driver was at fault, but regardless of that, had this young man been wearing a helmet, he may have survived being thrown onto the asphalt, where he struck his head. It is such a tragedy and perhaps one that could be avoided. His family is devastated and there is no going back.

Also last weekend, a young man in Huntington Beach, California was enjoying a party with friends. They were kids from a Christian school and there was no alcohol involved -- they were just fooling around. One of his friends jumped into his car and started it and began to drive off. He made a bad decision to jump onto the top of the car. The friend kept going and said he was "just playing". When he rounded a corner, not going very fast, the young high school student fell off the roof of his own car. He was killed by trauma to his head, which was no match for the pavement.

We need to educate our children about helmet safety. While helmets may inhibit some movement, they are essential to saving lives. They may be inconvenient, but that inconvenience is worth the trade off. A funeral is inconvenient too.