I’m a self-confessed safety nut. When it comes to safety, I play by the rules. This is especially true when it comes to children and safety. Car seats, seat belts, bike helmets, bicycle laws, pedestrian laws…you name it. I’ve been known to dial 911 when I see an unbuckled kid flailing around a car. (I lost a dear friend in a car accident because he wasn’t buckled.)
Anyway, I just stumbled across these statistics on bicycle helmet safety. I thought they were important enough to share. 1 in 8 cyclists with a reported bicycle injury has a brain injury. Yet a very high percentage (45 to 88 percent!) of cyclists’ brain injuries can be prevented by the use of a helmet.
Wow. Helmets are cheap, costing less than $10 to $20 for helmets that meet the CPSC standard guidelines. I wonder if I should keep a stash of helmets in my garage to hand out to kids…
MN is one of only 14 States that doesn’t have a mandatory helmet law. This simply doesn’t make sense to me…especially when I consider the safety advantages to children (and everyone!) of wearing a helmet while biking.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Amy // May 28, 2008 at 1:25 pm
I totally agree! I hate it when people talk about riding even mopeds and motorcycles without a helmet! One of my Taiwan coworkers’ wife was an ER nurse and from what she saw, she convinced everyone she knew to wear a helmet!
2 Sheryl // Jun 6, 2008 at 3:10 pm
You have touched on one of my soap boxes. Helmets are so important. It doesn’t matter WHERE you are riding. Adults should wear them too! You are not fully protecting your child when you put a helmet on them, but don’t wear one yourself. Not to mention the benefits of leading by example.
3 Priscilla // Oct 27, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Well said.
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