This afternoon I had to help out with a man who hit the breaks too hard on his scooter and went over the handlebars. Happened in front of the police station in Pleasant Grove, UT. Man came up on stopped traffic a little too fast wiped out. If he'd had his helmet on he'd have walked away with little more than some scrapes and cuts on one arm.
Instead, because he wasn't wearing his helmet he smacked his head and jaw on the asphalt and ended up with a concussion. He'd try to get up, black out, and fall down and hit his head again. Kept losing consciousness. So another witness and I lifted him carefully and set him on the lawn to the side of the road, and had him roll onto his side (he was feeling nauseated).
Fortunately the police, fire dept., and Ambulance were all on scene in under 4 minutes.
Anyway, I'm not suggesting any laws mandating helmets. Just encouraging any of you who use motorcycles, scooters, or even bicycles, to please use your helmets. This man was lucky that it wasn't worse and will hopefully recover OK, but still I worry he could have lingering effects from the obvious concussion. I'd hate for any of you to take a hit to the head like that.