Helmets are mandatory in Grand Cayman. I don't really see why it has to be a law, it's in your best interests to wear a helmet on a bike or a seatbelt in a car. Not so much in Florida. It always used to amaze me to see people cruising around on choppers with their mullets flowing in the breeze, but at least they were just cruising... 25, 30 mph something like that.

I learned the hard way on August 4th that even 25mph is pretty damaging if you're hit by a car and take a tumble from a two-wheeler onto the asphalt. Fortunately I had on my new, full-face helmet at the time. Based on the scratches and whatnot on the helmet, if I had a half-face helmet I would have had some nasty road rash on my face, or worse. As it was, I ended up with (eight weeks later) some purple scarring on my knee underneath the healed skin. It's kind of creepy looking, you can see how thick the skin it on top of the purple scar. The rest of my road rash has cleared up and only left little white flecks in my tan where the scabbing was. My left foot and my left shoulder (rotator cuff) are still giving me some issues and the Doc has me on Arcoxia still.

A couple weeks ago I was up in Miami for the week and one night I was driving back to my hotel on 836W (Dolphin Expressway) and a guy FLEW past me on a crotch rocket. With no helmet. Now maybe it's because I've had a "strong sign" but I remember thinking "jeeze Louise, what is he THINKING?" A couple nights later on the same stretch another crotch rocket whizzed past me on the Expressway, this time with a passenger, and both with no helmets. USUALLY whenever you see people who ride those kinds of big bikes, they've also got full leathers and full-face helmets, but this guy had on jeans, sneakers, a t-shirt and no helmet. Unbelievable.

Just a few days ago I was IM'ing with my brother and was telling him about my accident a couple months ago. He asked me if I was wearing a helmet and I said "DUH... of COURSE I was..." and then told him about the two bikes on the Dolphin Expressway a few weeks ago.

Then this morning... as I'm waking up the local news on the radio announces that on that same stretch of road, at LeJeune, right by the airport, a motorcyclist lost control. He went down and he and his passenger skidded along the ground, hit and then WENT OVER the embankment on the exit ramp and fell onto another exit ramp below. Both were pronounced dead at the scene. Turns out that they were two people from here in Grand Cayman, one was an RCIP officer. Weather conditions weren't mentioned, nor was any specific reason for causing the loss of control, but it doesn't really matter. It happened, and two people died because of it. Would it have made a difference if they were wearing helmets? Maybe, maybe not but it certainly wouldn't have made anything worse.

Seriously, even if you're on a bicycle, wear a helmet. There ARE worse things than dying.