(CLIFFSIDE, North Kitsap County) -- A 13 year-old girl, who told firefighters that she
never wears a helmet, escaped serious injury in a bike crash this afternoon -- probably
because her aunt insisted that she wear one today.
North Kitsap Fire & Rescue crews were called to the hairpin turn on Hood Canal
Drive this afternoon around 4:00pm. The girl, who lives in Utah but is visiting family in
Hansville, told firefighters that she'd been riding from north to south. She started down
the turn's steep grade and reached for the bike's hand-brakes. She unintentionally grabbed
the front wheel brakes and was catapulted over the handlebars onto the pavement. She
sustained scrapes to her left cheek, left arm and left hand. The helmet, however, suffered
a deep puncture wound. In the helmet's absence, the puncture wound would likely have been
inflicted on the girl's head. Her family declined ambulance transportation, and as a
precaution, is taking her to the doctor by private vehicle.
