It’s astonishing how few athletes take such simple precautions. During Super Bowl Week this year, I watched the Steelers pile in their courtesy Cadillacs to drive to practice. Not one in five bothered with the seat belt, which struck me as extraordinarily dumb considering how many drivers there are out there who still haven’t figured out what a red octagonal sign means.

There’s a reason that race car drivers wear seat belts. It’s because they save lives. Same with motorcycle racers and Tour de France riders and helmets. The NFL makes Roethlisberger wear a helmet, so he does. The state of Pennsylvania doesn’t make him wear a helmet, so he doesn’t.

Roethlisberger is just 24 years old, a Super Bowl champion and therefore feels even more invulnerable than most people his age. Just a year ago, he spent part of a day explaining to the Pittsburgh media why he wasn’t taking an undue risk by riding his motorcycle without a helmet. “I'm not really a risk-taker," he was quoted as saying, adding that he usually rode in groups and was a careful rider.

Now he’s a hospitalized rider, not because he’s not careful but because motorcycles are dangerous. People in cars don’t see them. People in cars sometimes don’t see trees and bridge abutments and telephone poles, either. People in cars hit things. If you’re in another car surrounded by air bags, you have a good chance of climbing out unscathed. If you’re on a motorcycle, good luck to you.

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We can only hope that Roethlisberger will figure out why helmets are a good idea. We can also hope other athletes take note of this and act accordingly.

There’s a reason a lot of states have laws requiring helmets. Pennsylvania had such a law for 35 years, then caved in to the right-to-be-brain-damaged lobby and made helmets optional. The reason helmets are required is that they save lives — a lot of lives.

Wearing a helmet doesn’t make you a sissy. Not wearing one could make you dead.

In Pennsylvania, it’s still your choice.