SHE SAYS...

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33111, 29 December 1972, Page 7

SHE SAYS...

All the publicity I have read on the question of motor-scooters and motorcycles lately points to hel-met-wearing being made compulsory on these machines at all speeds, and not just over 30 m.p.h. It will be a good thing, too, especially where young women on scooters are concerned. As it is, a lot of young women seem quite happy to take the chance of an accident and preserve their hair-styles under a scarf rather than use a helmet, and some of them end up paying a pretty high price for their decision.

The situation’s just the same when young women are pillion passengers, although I must say I have seen quite a few cases in which their escort has obviously handed over his helmet, and does without one himself.

Helmets are not pretty, they are not terribly comfortable, and they are a nuisance to lug around, but it seems to me that the risk of head and facial injuries is so high when one rides a scooter or motorcycle that the inconvenience

and discomfort is a relatively small price to pay for the extra protection. But women have a particular problem with helmets that men do not face —hair-clips and ornaments of various types. It is pretty clear that a large, hard metal object sandwiched between a helmet and a head is going to cause a very nasty wound if the helmetwearer is thrown off on her head. In fact, I have heard of one case where just such a thing happened, and a girl—who was wearing a helmet—was quite seriously hurt by a small decorative clip she was wearing in her hair, under the helmet.

The other day. when I saw a young women whip around a corner in the suburbs on a scooter, with her hair filled with those hard, electrically-heated curlers, my immediate reaction of “imagine going out looking like that” was closely followed by “and what a mess her head will be if she falls off.” I would not envy the doctors their job of sorting the curlers from the hair, blood and mangled scalp. And it could so easily have happened.