Fifty years ago | British neurosurgeon advises motor cyclists to wear crash helmets

Madras, Nov 9: Mr. Lawrence Walsh, noted British neurosurgeon, yesterday advised motor cycle and scooter riders to wear crash helmets and motorists to use seat belts.

Mr. Walsh, Consultant neurosurgeon at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases and St. George’s Hospital, London, told The Hindu that crash helmets definitely improved the chances of recovery in case of head injuries. As regards seat belts in motor cars, certain disadvantages like possible injuries to the neck had been pointed out, but on balance he was sure they would have saved a lot of lives.

He found that crash helmets were not very common with motor cyclists and scooter riders in India. In the United Kingdom, however, the law required them to wear helmets. In the case of seat belts, while every car was required to have them, it was not obligatory to use them.

As regards legal sanctions to make the people wear crash helmets and seat belts, he felt that the devices should first gain widespread acceptance. Only if they were accepted by a majority could a law be passed; otherwise, it would become difficult to enforce it.

Mr. Walsh, who is in Madras to attend the Silver Jubilee scientific congress of the Institute of Neurology, said a major development in recent years was the employment of “EMI Scanning,” which provided a lot of information about the brain by using X-rays and without resort to injection or surgery. This technique had been very helpful since 1972 in diagnosing tumours and various other conditions of the brain.