The views expressed by Mr Brenton Smith and a few other motorcycle drivers in this week’s edition of the Sunday Observer highlight the need for ongoing and even more intensive public education on the value of bikers wearing helmets, and road safety in general.

Mr Smith told us that days after a collision in Trelawny five years ago, he woke up in hospital with a broken jaw, half his teeth gone and a broken nose. He was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash and believes that had he been so equipped he would not have survived.

“Helmet bruk neck,” was the conclusion reached by Mr Smith, who claims that he was told by a doctor — apparently the one who treated him after the crash — that had he been wearing a helmet he would not have lived.

Maybe that physician is among those who don’t believe helmets help, as related to us by Dr Terry Smith, an international helmet expert and road safety specialist.

Dr Smith told this newspaper that having seen many different accidents — from decapitations to helmet crushing — there has been only one “bizarre accident” in which he believes the helmet may have contributed to the fatality.

Said he: “A rider fell off his motorcycle doing probably about 80 to 100 km; his torso struck a tree and his head ended up whiplashing around the tree.”

In that circumstance, he said, “If you think about the physics of an additional mass on, that may have contributed. However, I would argue that you’re not going to survive an 80-100 km impact into a tree anyway.”

Responding to Mr Smith’s verdict on helmets, the doctor insisted the protective headwear does not contribute to the risk of neck injury.

“A full-face helmet,” Dr Smith explained, would have protected Mr Smith’s jaw and teeth. Dr Smith, who has a PhD in head injury biomechanics, argued, “If you think about all the energy that went into his face to create those fractures, that’s likely why he didn’t sustain a serious brain injury because the teeth, the jaw — all the structures of his face — absorbed all that energy.”

Mr Smith and other motorcycle drivers who think like him will require a lot of convincing to correct a badly flawed mindset.

Ms Sydoney Preddie, project manager for road safety and road users at JN Foundation, hit the nail on the head. She argued that efforts to increase awareness should be accompanied by enforcement of helmet use to help reduce injury and death.

Some years ago, when Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin was the police commissioner, he had instructed the constabulary to enforce the law governing the wearing of protective gear while operating motorcycles. It got off to a good start but eventually fizzled, resulting in a return to the dangerous and illegal practice.

Our story on Sunday highlighted the grim reality that since 2012, more than 1,400 motorcyclists have lost their lives on Jamaica’s roads. And, according to the JN Foundation National Helmet Wearing Coalition, more than 80 per cent of motorcyclists who received fatal or severe injuries in crashes were not wearing helmets.

Ms Preddie, the coalition and the National Road Safety Council will need all the help they can get to have Jamaicans accept the great risk they take in ignoring road safety advice.