cycle safety

My wife had an off from her bike this afternoon on the way home. She was shocked, bruised and a bit scraped but otherwise unhurt.
A woman stepped out from in front of the stopped bus my wife was overtaking and the woman looked the wrong way, despite the fact a stream of cyclists had already come past and my wife was at the rear of these other riders.
The impact threw my wife off her Specialized and floored the woman. Luckily all the cars had stopped (possibly why the woman looked the wrong way?). But do you know what saved my wife from injury? It was her basket. It's bent out of shape but I reckon it absorbed much of the impact and is what stopped my wife from headbutting the woman, which wouldn't have done either of them any good.

Luckily my wife, apart from being shaken up, only has bruises and her new Lidl gloves held up well for instance and meant she only had a minor scrape on one hand. The bike is ok as well, just the basket that's a gonner.