PARIS — A helmet is being credited with saving the life of a Hebron woman who crashed her motorcycle Monday night on Route 119.

Georgia Garneau, 59, walked away with minor injuries from the 7:20 p.m. crash, according to Paris Police Officer Nate Bowie. He said the novice motorcyclist was treated at the scene and declined to be transported to the hospital.

“She walked away, in my opinion, because she was wearing a helmet,” Bowie said. “If she hadn’t been wearing her helmet, this would have been a totally different scene.”

Bowie said that because Garneau recently obtained her motorcycle license she is required to wear a helmet and not carry any passengers for one year. The helmet, he said, most likely saved her life.

Bowie said Garneau was traveling on Route 119, also known as Hebron Road, heading toward South Paris when she failed to negotiate a sharp curve about two miles from Hebron Academy and was forced to lay down her 2005 Honda Shadow. Bowie said she hit a guardrail and slid more than 100 feet before coming to a stop, and her head hit the guardrail more than once.

Garneau was being followed by Dale Merrill, who was riding with her. He was not injured.


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