Bicycle Basics
How often are children injured in bicycle related accidents?
It's interesting because you only know about injured children in bicycle related accidents if there's a report made by the police, a vehicle involved or if the relative or witness takes the child for emergency care, and tell the physician that the child was injured while riding their bicycle. Often a child will break their arm and their carer will say, "Well, he broke his arm", not always relating precisely how the injury occured. So there's a real discrepancy in the number of children injured in this manner, but I believe in my business and knowing children, a child is probably hit by a car or falls off a bike every hour. A tremendous amount of children are injured riding a bike. The national data certainly makes bike riding a dangerous sport, but you need to look at how it happens to make sure that there's a real understanding how dangerous bike riding is. But often the reporting happens when it's not reported as a bicycle crash. A child hit by a car, is often not recorded as a bicycle related accident and the bike is secondary. So we don't have any unbiased data. We're now creating that with law enforcement to indicate if a bicycle, a scooter or a skateboard was involved, but often these are indicated as a pedestrian crash.
How can my child stay safe while riding a bicycle?
You know, I think the first thing that a parent can do to make their child stay safe while riding a bicycle is to make sure you start young and give them a healthy respect for the bicycle. Start young with all the safety equipment, such as a helmet and a good bike. When you start young, that child will be trained to use a helmet, it will be just an automatic response before they ride a bike. Also, as a parent you need to model positive behaviour. So many times we see kids wearing helmets and the parents aren't, which sends a wrong message to the child that when you're an adult you don't have to take the safety precautions that children do. I think that role modelling safe behaviour is very important. Also riding bikes with your child is important; being aware that a bike is not a toy, it is a form of transportation and to treat it as such. Make sure your child wants to ride the bike and it's not something you want them to do, and then ride with them. Train them like you would train them to play the piano or learning their multiplication tables. It's a skill that needs to be acquired and it's a skill that needs to be practiced in order to make a child safe.
What is a "bicycle helmet"?
A lot of parents look at a bicycle helmet and it looks like an ice chest. The bicycle helmet has white foam and a piece of flimsy looking plastic and a couple of straps. Parents don't realize that this piece of foam is the difference between your child surviving a bike crash and not. A lot of parents will say "Well, I never rode a bike with a bicycle helmet when I was a kid and I'm around to talk about it". Well, times are different now: there's more traffic, bicycles are faster, children are taking more risks, and they're less supervised. So a bicycle helmet is a really a really important thing. And, the way the bicycle helmet works is interesting because the bicycle helmet is like a gigantic sponge. And, if you took the sponge and put it on a puddle of water, that sponge would soak up the water. Well, that's exactly what the foam does on a fall. When that bicycle helmet hits the ground the bicycle helmet soaks up the energy of the fall. This is the way we explain it to children, because they are as sceptical about bicycle helmets as parents are. That a bicycle helmet is a gigantic sponge which soaks up the energy of the fall, slows it down, and protects your head. And then I show the benefits of the bicycle helmet using the watermelon drop. There's nothing more graphic that can show a child why a bicycle helmet is so important because that watermelon is the same consistency as all of our heads. When that bicycle helmet smashes on the ground, you don't have to say too much to a child. They understand that wearing a bicycle helmet can prevent that and if you don't that's what happens. So starting young, showing that a bicycle helmet does work, showing how protective a bicycle helmet is, and peer pressure. If everyone in the family is wearing a bicycle helmet, and Mom and Dad say no bicycle helmet, no bike, that bicycle helmet is going to do its job.
How do I check the quality of a bicycle helmet?
Well, you know, the first thing you don't want to do is buy a helmet at the yard sale, buy the helmet at a flea market. You want to buy a helmet from a quality store. Price is not always the greatest indicator. There is an organization called Helmets R Us, and get a very nice, quality helmet that meets all the safety standards for five dollars. You can walk into a bike store and pay 15 dollars. But the helmets are certified. The helmets you get at Helmets R Us are all certified, that's a non-profit organization dedicated to making sure everyone can afford a helmet, but also the helmets that you go into your fancy bike stores are also certified. So you want to buy it from a legitimate store or an organization that you've checked out.
How often do I need to replace a bicycle helmet?
Depending on the wear and tear of the helmet, you should replace a bicycle helmet every single year, sooner if the bicycle helmet has been in a crash. The bicycle helmet only works once, so if the bicycle helmet is in a crash, you need to replace it right away. The bicycle helmet can never be worn again. But a bicycle helmet will last at least one year, if it's maintained. If your child's tough on the bicycle helmet, cracking nuts, throwing the bicycle helmet on the cement, the dog's chewing it up, you may need to replace it sooner. But you need to spot check your bicycle helmet, just like you do your children's shoes.
How do the parts of a bicycle helmet work together to protect my child?
The bicycle helmet has various functions and there are parts to it that work together. It's really important that the helmet has the two side pieces that adjust to keep the helmet close to the ear, as well as the buckle. The buckle needs to fit and you need to hear a snap. It's not good enough for it to go in there if it can easily come out. Then you want a helmet that has a microshell on it. And the reason that you have a plastic covering, when a child falls off their bike, is the helmet hits the ground several times before the child comes to a stop. The microshell holds the foam in place so the foam doesn't split apart while the child's head is hitting the ground these two or three times. The foam under here is not the same foam that ice chests are made out of. It's a quality foam that's designed to absorb the impact of a fall. These are the basics of the helmet and they're all like this. You have some helmets that have longer backs and you have some helmets that have fitting mechanisms here but it's really about what your child's comfortable wearing, what you can afford and what is recommended by a safety expert that you might discuss the matter with.
How do I correctly fit my child with a bicycle helmet?
You don't want to go to the store and buy a helmet thinking he's a small, medium or large because a lot of people think, "Oh, my kid's seven years old, he must have a small head", well it doesn't work that way, so you need to take your child with you and don't be embarassed, you open those bags, open those boxes and put that helmet right on your childs head because there are different shapes and different models. Once you get it on his head, it should fit two inches above his eyebrow, okay. When I say two inches, two fingers. It shouldn't sit back here, but right above his eyebrows. You don't want it too low because you want to make sure that he can see you when he's riding his bike, but right above his eyebrows is the perfect fit. And then one strap goes in front of his ear, one strap goes in back with the little plastic buckle right underneath his ear, which is the anchor that you need to keep that helmet on your child's head. And then make sure that your child raises his chin because you don't want to catch that skin underneath the chin and buckle it. Try them on just like you would try shoes on, there's nothing more important than to make sure that helmet fits properly, so if you have to try every helmet on in the store, do it. Make sure your child likes the helmet, make sure the child is fitted properly with the helmet and if you're at a bike store ask them to help you. Be pushy, be insistent and make sure you get the helmet that you're happy with when you walk out of the store.
Should my child wear a bicycle helmet while riding a tricycle or play vehicle?
All children should wear a helmet when they're riding a tricycle, a little plastic Playskool tricycle, a little firetruck. Anything that rolls, a child should be wearing a helmet on.First of all, it's a great lesson to teach them, that anytime they're moving in a vehicle whether it's a little truck or a little tricycle, they need to be wearing a bicycle helmet. And, if they start young, they're going to remember it when it's time to ride.I don't care if the child is riding in the living room, the family room, down the hallway, or in the driveway, street or sidewalk - they always should wear a helmet. It can protect them anywhere they fall. Many kids - if you fall on a hardwood floor it's just as hard as the concrete out on the street. So, any time they're rolling, they need to wear that bicycle helmet.
Does my child need to wear a bicycle helmet while biking in our driveway?
When children are riding bikes, regardless of where they are riding their bikes, on public property, on private property, they should be wearing a bicycle helmet. The law in California and several other states says only on public property do children or teens have to wear a bicycle helmet. But as a responsible parent, you need to make sure your child is wearing a bicycle helmet when riding a bicycle in the driveway, in the patio, anywhere there is a hard surface. That includes the living room. So children need to wear bicycle helmets all the time.
