Bicycle Safety and Helmets
With spring around the corner (hopefully), I wanted to write about an important health topic. Next month, our 4th and 5th graders will be participating in a bicycle safety program from AAA. In 2011, 265,554 children in the US from ages 5-14,were treated in the emergency room for bicycle related injuries. There were also 85 deaths due to head injuries.
Did you know that RI law requires any child 15 or younger to wear a helmet while riding a bike, scooter, using a skateboard, roller skates or rollerblades! The helmet shall fit properly and be secured to the person’s head by straps. The helmet shall meet the established standards by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Wearing helmets have been a proven intervention that has reduced the risk of head injury by 80%.
Do’s
With spring around the corner (hopefully), I wanted to write about an important health topic. Next month, our 4th and 5th graders will be participating in a bicycle safety program from AAA. In 2011, 265,554 children in the US from ages 5-14,were treated in the emergency room for bicycle related injuries. There were also 85 deaths due to head injuries.
Did you know that RI law requires any child 15 or younger to wear a helmet while riding a bike, scooter, using a skateboard, roller skates or rollerblades! The helmet shall fit properly and be secured to the person’s head by straps. The helmet shall meet the established standards by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Wearing helmets have been a proven intervention that has reduced the risk of head injury by 80%.
Do’s
- Always ride on the RIGHT side of the street, with the flow of the traffic
- You must obey the same traffic signs and signals as cars
- Even if you are only riding a short distance from home, you still must wear your helmet
- Don’t ride with headphones on
- Don’t let friends sit on the handlebars or seats of your bike while you are operating your bike
- Do not wear your football or hockey helmet to ride your bike