With a new surge in the interest of biking as a form of healthy, eco-friendly transportation, Awesome LA was super excited to come across an application focused on reminding our eco-conscious, fit cyclists around the city about helmet safety–in an awesome way of course! Riding bikes is cool, riding bikes and getting in an accident without a helmet is, well, quite possibly deadly which can be compared to the injuries caused in the construction site accidents. A huge portion of bicycle accident fatalities are a result of head injuries. Thankfully, we have Helmet Hero to the rescue!

Gregory Tung, our newest Awesome LA grant winner and self-anointed Helmet Hero, has been an avid bike rider all his life. He is a huge supporter of bicycling as a main form of transportation and an advocate for bike safety. This includes proper biking attire, reflectors and lights at night and most of all, bike helmets. He noticed that most cyclists in LA don’t wear helmets (we are quite an image-conscious, casual city after all). The situation is compounded by poor urban riding technique as well (riding on the sidewalk, against traffic, disobeying traffic rules etc.).

In Greg’s words: “My goal with the Awesome Foundation grant was to purchase bike helmets and distribute them to cyclists in LA who are riding without helmets. As the Helmet Hero, I find cyclists that aren’t wearing a helmet, and give them a free helmet if they promise to wear it and spread the word about bike safety. The impetus for applying to the Awesome Foundation was my blog, Scare Yourself Every Day, where I try to push myself to do something new and interesting every day. So naturally, this became my new project.”

So if you see someone chasing you down Figueroa in a cap and with a load of helmets, you’ll know it’s Helmet Hero to the rescue! Details on the official party and grant giveaway to come soon!