Volume 5, Issue 2 November 2015

Bicycle and In-Line Skating Safety for the New Millennium

In the

Helmet Habit

B ICYCLE S AFETY : L ET S M AKE I T A P RIORITY !

I d ont quite know why my

daughter, Kate, fell from her bike
last July. Maybe she hit a s mall
rock or just lost her balance. We
found Kate lying on the ground.
She w as bleeding and had several
cuts and bruises on her face and
forehead. We called the
paramedics and she began to lose
consciousness just as they
arrived. At the emergency room,
we found out that Kate h ad a
broken nose, a missing tooth, and
four other loose teeth.
Fortunately, for all of us, Kate
was wearing a bicycle helmet.
Without even asking, three
different d octors h ave told us
that the h elmet probably saved
Kates life. Bicycle accidents can
happen to anyone!

Karen Brust
Boston, Massachusetts

Protect your child!

Did you know that each year over 1,200 people die and thousands more
are seriously injured in bicycle accidents? According to the American
Academy of Pediatrics, more than 500,000 emergency room visits
annually in the U.S. are attributed to bicycle accidents.
Surprisingly, most of these accidents, especially those involving
children, occur on quiet residential streets. Most do not involve cars.
And many could be prevented
with proper training and safety
equipment.
Over 500,000 trips a year are
made to emergency rooms for
Think about it. Before were
bicycle related injuries.
allowed to drive a car, we have
to be a certain age and go
through extensive training and
testing. Yet many of uschildren in particularride the very same
roads on a bicycle with little or no training at all. Kids are especially
vulnerable because of their undeveloped peripheral vision (about two-
thirds that of adults), poor speed judgment, and lack of a sense of
danger.
At Ride Safe, we believe bicycle safety education is crucial to our
well-being and to that of our children.
The bottom line? Bicycle safety is something we all need to make a
priority!

IN THIS ISSUE:

Bicycle Safety: Lets Make

It a Priority! / 1
Accidents Waiting to
Happen / 1
When Should a Helmet
Be Replaced? / 2
Kids and Traffic: Special
Reasons for Concern / 2

A CCIDENT S W AITING TO H APPEN

The majority of bicycle-car accidents are not r eally accidents, but
avoidable collisions. Most result from the bicyclists failure to use
proper riding techniques in a hazardous situation. Ironically, when
asked, most children injured in traffic could describe the actual law
they broke.

q See ACCIDENTS on page 2

Helmets!

Winners Wear

T HE L I GHT B U L B T EST

To illustrate the effectiveness of a

bicycle helmet, try the following.
Wrap a light bulb in plastic wrap,
seal the bottom with a rubber band
and place it in a bicycle helmet.
Secure the light bulb with tape a nd
drop the helmet o nto a flat, hard
surface from a bove your head. The
light bulb will not break. In most
cases, it will even still light. Now,
drop the light bulb without the
protection of the helmet. The light
bulb will produce a sick thud as it
breaks. Helmets can make a
difference.
Caution: This experiment is
meant to be done under close
supervision.

W HO S AYS H ELMETS A RE N T C OOL ?

q ACCIDENTS from page 1

Research indicates that
60% of all U.S. bicycle-car
collisions occur among
bicyclists between the ages of
8 and 12. Children are
permitted to travel with only
look both ways before you
cross the street and make
sure you stop at all stop
signs warnings. Obviously,
these warnings are not
enough.

1: Certainly not the children of S ilverton, Oregon! One of the biggest reasons children
dont wear bicycle helmets is because their friends dont wear them. By getting all the
children in your school or neighborhood to order bicycle helmets at the same time, you
can help turn this peer pressure from negative to positive. Suddenly, wearing a bicycle
helmet becomes the cool thing to do. With your support, your k ids can be cool, too!

Ride Safe

Editor:
Brandon Keith
Design and Layout:
Cassie L izbeth
Authors:
Chris Urban
Justine Youssef
Amanda Knicker
Published q uarterly b y:
Ride Safe, Inc.
P.O. Box 888
Warrenville, IL 60555
800-555-RIDE
Fax: 630-555-9068
Copyright 2015 b y:
Ride Safe, Inc.
All rights reserved.
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