For once, it mattered that a victim was wearing a bike helmet.
But sadly, it didn’t make a difference this time.
Because a 72-year old man died after suffering a head injury in a fall off his bicycle, while swerving to avoid someone on a scooter in Oceanside Sunday morning.
A seven-year old child.
The victim, who hasn’t been publicly identified, was riding with a companion when they caught up to a family headed in the same direction, San Luis Rey River Trail near Mance Buchanon Park, around 10:40 am.
The child on the scooter “unintentionally veered” into the victim’s path as they were trying to pass, causing him to fall. Despite wearing a helmet, the man suffered a head injury.
Relatively slow speed falls like that are exactly what bike helmets are designed to protect against, but this time, it didn’t seem to help.
The victim was taken by ambulance to a nearby fire station, but died before he could be airlifted to a hospital, despite the efforts of first responders.
Apparently the child was unharmed. Physically, anyway.
This is at least the 52nd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 12th that I’m aware of in San Diego County.
Update: NBC San Diego says the seven-year old scooter rider was a girl.
My deepest sympathy for the victim and his loved ones.
Multi-Use paths are a failure. It’s more about a speed differential than a conveyance differential.
“For once, it mattered that a victim was wearing a bike helmet.”
It clearly didn’t matter. The death rate of cyclists does not fall as helmet wearing rates increase, despite all the thousands of “helmet saved my life” stories so beloved of lazy journalists.
The only thing a helmet gives you is a false sense of security, so that you take more risks, demonstrated by the fact that helmetted cyclists have more injury incidents.
That comment referred to news stories that report whether a victim was wearing a helmet, without mentioning whether they suffered a head injury, or if the crash was even survivable. In this case, the reference to a helmet was appropriate because the victim did suffer a head injury. But clearly, and tragically, it did not prevent his death.