Imagine the inability to communicate, the daily plight of terrible mood swings, being totally unable to care for yourself and having no freedom with mobility...

Sounds awful, right? Well, this is the reality of head injuries and as I found out, accidents CAN happen and do change your life overnight.

I was lucky – I avoided head injury, despite the velocity of my accident. But I find myself regularly driven mad in Oxford and you know why?

By cyclists who ride without helmets. But why I am, a wheelchair user, talking about this?

For this simple reason – during my ongoing rehab I spend a lot of time around people with head injuries. It saddens me to see marriages crumble, families destroyed and faces forlorn in the quagmire of what a head injury can do, both to those suffering from the injuries and those who care and love for them.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m pro-bike, in fact I’m jealous because I miss it. But as a driver now, I get enraged at seeing many cyclists without helmets.I’d never illegally drive without a seatbelt – why cycle without a helmet?

Just last week I observed two cyclists weave in and out of the traffic-riddled streets. They had helmets... attached to their backpacks and not their heads.

ARE YOU MAD? I heard myself silently screaming.

The romantic Oxford dream of hair flapping in the wind, wicker basket brimming with library books, might seem wise when you set off in the morning. Being fed every meal by a carer, losing control of bodily functions, struggling to speak, and regular emotional outbursts are less romantic.

I wish every person who I see helmetless could spend just one minute with someone who has suffered a traumatic head injury.

It makes me want to cry.

They are affordable, lightweight, and can be chained to your bike. There is simply no excuse.

Nearly three years on, I still feel guilty for the effect my injuries caused to my family and friends. Yet, I have retained all my faculties. Imagine how horrendous my situation would be if I’d suffered a head injury too?

So I beg you: wear your helmet.

You would buckle up in the car, so buckle up under your chin.