By Bola Adewara
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Though I now have a great reservation about Buhari’s administration, that will not stop me from wishing his son ‘soonest recover’…ah, sorry ojare Shina Peters. I mean ‘soonest recovery.’
I have admired the guy from afar. Seeing him around his father all the time showed me some kind of mentoring going on. I’ve never read any negative report on the guy. He is a gentle youth, silently contributing his quota around his dad. Get well boy. You will not die in Jesus name.
Meanwhile let us jaw jaw on this accident. While riding the bike, did he wear a motorcycle helmet? I guess he did not, that was why he had a needless injury to his head. The human head is a delicate place. Its the headquarter of the body. We should guide and protect it jealously.
God did not put the mouth on the leg, nose by the shoulders, brain tucked away inside the stomach, ears under the feet. He has reasons for concentrating everything on the head. So when the inventor of helmet came up with a product and a manual, he was working in tandem with God. Let me tell you a bit about the helmet and why we must use it always.
The oldest known use of helmets was by Assyrian soldiers in 900 BC. They wore thick leather or bronze helmets to protect the head from blunt objects, sword blows and arrows in combat. Soldiers still wear helmets to protect the head from bullets and shell fragments.
When the first motorcycle was invented by Gottlieb Daimler, it was built for fun and not for speed. Motorcycles have now become synonymous with speed and so helmets are a must have accessory.
Though there is a controversy on the actual inventor of the helmet, but the first major milestone in the history was in May 19, 1935 after T.E Lawrence (more popularly known as the Lawrence of Arabia) had an accident on his bike suffering severe head injuries. He was in a coma for around six days and passed on. His death highly disturbed Hugh Cairns, one of the medics who attended him. Cairns started researching on head injuries and the number of deaths caused due to head injuries suffered in motorcycle accidents. The statistics he gathered were shocking. Finally, in 1941, 6 years after Lawrence’s death, Cairns was ready with his first report, which was published in the British Medical Journal under the name ‘Head Injuries in Motorcyclists – the importance of the crash helmet’.
Cairns faced a lot of obstacles in his research work, the biggest being that he could not find enough riders who would voluntarily wear the helmet to show that wearing helmets did make a significant difference. However, Cairns got his first victory, when in November 1941, the British Army, having lost two riders within a week in accidents, issued an order for all despatch riders to wear helmets.
The increasing speed of motorbikes led to the rise in accidents and subsequent deaths. It was then that the first ever shock-absorbing helmet was designed by Professor C.F. Lombard of University of South California. This helmet was specially designed for high-speed riding. It comprised of a tough outer shell and two layers of padding; one for comfort and the other that absorbed and dispersed the energy generated at impact. The invention by C.F. Lombard was the turning point in the history of helmets. Soon after the invention, many companies popped up in various places and started manufacturing the helmet.
Helmets have become one of the most essential accessories that was designed to save lives and is still saving lives. The choice to wear or not is yours as is the capability of making a wise decision. Wear a Helmet – Ride safe, ride smart!
Be healed, Yusuf, in Jesus name.
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