Newspaper staff wishes editor a speedy recovery

The Gazette newsroom, as well as the entire Gazette staff, is very thankful that helmet laws are in place in the State of Nebraska. As reported on page one in today's paper, the backbone of our newsroom, Editor Bruce Crosby was involved in a motorcycle-car collision Saturday evening at the intersection of West 6th and J Streets.

According to Bruce, "I vaguely remember leaving the house, but I don't remember anything about the wreck, just laying on the street waiting for the ambulance."

Bruce suffered a mild concussion, shattered knee, and broken pelvis, receiving treatment first from paramedics on the street, then Community Hospital. The long-time lover of aviation also experienced the thrill of an airplane ride to Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney, where he is currently a patient.

He will have surgery in a week or so, after the swelling goes down, to pin his shattered knee back together. He got out of bed Monday morning, and "it hurt like hell," but even so, doctors think he may be able to come home in a few days and then return for surgery next week.

"If I hadn't of been wearing a helmet, I would probably be dead," Bruce told Publisher Shary Skiles this morning.

The latest substantial effort to change Nebraska's helmet law was in 2010, when Sen. Charlie Janssen of Fremont sponsored LB200, which would have only required protective eye gear for riders 21 and older. Those riders who chose not to wear a helmet would have been required to obtain at least $1 million in medical insurance coverage. The bill died when the Legislature could not get the votes to end the filibuster that killed the bill.

Knowing Bruce as we do, we speculate that he probably would have been wearing a helmet even if LB200 had the votes to overcome the filibuster, and ultimately win the majority approval of the Legislature. He knows the statistics from the Nebraska Office of Highway Safety web site:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that helmets reduce the risk of fatal head injury by 40 percent and the risk of death in a motorcycle crash by 37 percent.

Unhelmeted motorcyclists are three times more likely to suffer traumatic brain injuries than helmeted riders in a crash.

All states that have weakened or repealed helmet laws have experienced an increase in fatality rates.

While it is true that helmets won't save your entire body -- Bruce's left leg and pelvis are a testament to that -- the outcome could have been far worse without a helmet.

Seat belts are required in four-wheeled vehicles and helmets need to continue to be a requirement for two-wheeled ones.

So Bruce, we wish you a speedy recovery. All typos, misspellings and grammatical errors in today's paper are in your honor.