Stanford's Department of Public Safety hosts a free bike safety class twice a month. Occasionally, we feature special guest speakers who share their personal story and testimony on bike safety and encourage you to wear a helmet and follow the rules of the road—two of the best ways to prevent injuries and stay safe while riding your bike.

Randy Livingston

VP Business Affairs, Chief Financial Officer and University Liaison for Stanford Medicine

Randy Livingston speaks from personal experience on the importance of wearing a helmet while riding a bicycle.

A BIKE HELMET SAVED ME

"I actually fractured my femur, ended up in the hospital for a couple of days because of that, but I also smashed my head on the pavement, and the helmet did exactly what it's supposed to do. It actually splintered into several pieces, and I came out without a concussion or any kind of severe injury. But I am absolutely convinced that had I not been wearing a helmet at that point, I would either be dead or permanently disabled."

Dr. David Spain

Chief of Trauma and Critical Care Surgery at Stanford University Medical Center

Dr. David Spain presents the importance of wearing a bike helmet from a trauma
surgeon's perspective.

PROTECT YOUR BRAIN

"If you look at people who do get a head injury riding their bikes, 98 percent of them weren't wearing a helmet when this happened. But if you do wear a helmet, it reduces your risk by 85 percent, so that's huge, right? ... You're 20 times more likely to die with a head injury... We can fix ruptured spleens, we can fix ruptured diaphragms, we can fix broken legs, we can fix broken arms. We have nothing to offer the brain... We can fix everything else, except the brain."