A Helmet?

Some time ago, I was picking up some parts at this store and one of the owners saw my mountain bike in the back of my car.
He said" I uses to ride, but my riding partner doesn't ride any more".
I thought maybe He was talking about his wife.
He was, talking about His Son.
They had road all over the Rogue valley together

His son had gradated from a local high school and move to Portland and was working for UPS type place and He had been riding his MTB to work, about 11 miles a day round trip.

This had gone on for about a year.
And one day on the way home a drunk driver hit him and broke the bike and his son.

His son had suffered a lot of brain damage from the impact, and so He was not able to take care of Him self.
He came home to live with Mom and Dad.

The owner of the store, told me, that was 3 years ago.
He is just starting to ride again, He is riding real slow and on flat ground only.
His motor skills had been damaged, so He had to learn to walk, talk and eat all over again.
As will as His judgment, so He couldn't tell how slow or fast He is moving on the bike.

I looked at a helmet reporting web site, that test helmets for bikes and gather information of helmet users.
In 2005 there was 756 deaths of person not using helmets in the USA.
In 2006 there was 800 deaths of person not using helmets in the USA.
Funny part you never hear how many riders life's are save from using a helmets.

The rest of the story is.
The Son had been riding a bike from the time He was a little boy, I would bet He wore a helmet.
This young man, was not wearing a helmet that day, when He was hit by the drunk driver.
Maybe thing could have been different if He had??