Recreational & Family - Neighborhood Kids and Helmets

I need to bounce something off the group, and this is probably the best forum.

First of all, I am an avid roadie. I ride pretty much every day, either commuting or recreationally/club rides. I am an avid proponent of helmets and always use one, even if it's just a quick ride around the cul-de-sac to check an adjustment.

I have 2 daughters, ages 6 and 8....they know they MUST wear a helmet if they ride....which they do.

We live in what I would describe as an educated, upper-middle class neighborhood, with lots of kids.

The "problem" is that most of the neighborhood kids ride around without helmets, including my daughter's best friend who is also 8 and lives next door. I know these kids HAVE helmets but for whatever reason they ride around the neighborhood without one.

For the past couple of months whenever I see one of these kids (if I know them) I yell out "where is your helmet?" or "don't forget your helmet!" but the kids continue to ride without one.

The state law in pennsylvania is that all children under a certain age (12? 14? 16?) must wear a helmet.

Should I just shut up and make sure my own kids wear their helmets? Or maybe approach the parents and remind them the importance of wearing a helmet, advice from a "real" bicyclist?

I should just shut up and not mention it anymore, right?

Doug

There are some good (and really long) threads on here that debate the effectiveness of helmets. Let's just say the other parents may rather their kids not wear bike helmets and have good reasons for doing so.

Should I just shut up and make sure my own kids wear their helmets?

Afraid so.

One of my son's friend's moms doesn't wear a helmet biking, and I probably don't think she should, she rides a cruiser pulling a trailer with her baby, she grew up before helmets (like all the parents I guess), I don't think she rides off the sidewalk even in the neighborhood. In general they've been of the school (kind of as we are) of letting our kids learn through experience why they don't slam their heads into pointy things (neither they nor we have gone all out w/ foam corners on tables/hearths etc...). They are willing to let their kids not wear helmets, we are not. And it turns out, their kids want helmets anyway and got them. My son has seen me after a couple wipeouts and he knows he doesn't want to go through that so I never have to remind him about his helmet, and that's about the limit of my job.

My son has actually USED his helmet once. his firends is a couple of years older. and rides a schwiinnn stringray. it looks like a chopper. my son asked me if he should wear a helmet ...and i saiad yes but remeber i let you do dangerous things and we take risk but we understand the consequeces if things go wrong and we play more then we think.

He is playing more than thinking.

My kids have grown up knowing they don't touch their bike, scooter or skateboard unless their helmet is on! It's just a rule we have ALWAYS had and always will have! That being said, NOONE else in our neighborhood wears a helmet. My kids have said at one time or another to the kids they should wear one, but the kids say their parents don't make them. We have a ramp for the kisd to use, but noone is allowed to use it without their helmet, therefore it's always just my kids on it. The other kids won't wear one no matter how many times you tell them to. But yet the first crash/head injury it's gonna be "man I wish I wore that helmet", and in your mind you can say "i told ya so". Kinda mean for kids, but really, it's not that hard to wear one.

I tell my kids the reason I make them wear one is because I love them! Same reasoning for buckling up everytime!

For over 40 years I have rarely worn a helmet. I didn't require my kids to wear helmets. I don't require my grandkids to wear helmets either, because it's up to their mom and dad to raise them, not me...which is the point of my response. Your best bet is to raise your kids and let other parents raise theirs. ;)

I grew up riding and racing without helmets, but we didn't hear about the accidents like this!

There many reasons to wear helmets.... http://www.inlineplanet.com/2006-03/15-death.html.

My kids and I are NOT EVER to ride or skate without helmets( Momma's Law).

My mother in law watch the kids while I work.

I go outside and my duaghter 3 is riding with no helmet. I tell her to get a helmet on and she sahe nana said ok.
nanas reponces "She was just in the driveway".
I explained that we cant have part way rules. No helmet no bike. that is playing more than you think."

I should just shut up and not mention it anymore, right?




yup.

I should just shut up and not mention it anymore, right?

Doug


Yep.

Jeff - who got a seatbelt ticket the other day going 25mph through my neighborhood, on the first day I've actually driven my car in weeks.

I should just shut up and not mention it anymore, right?

Doug

It sorta depends on the nature of your relationship with the kids and their parents.

Thanks for the feedback....so far this week I have been biting my tongue....not easy but it is getting easier.
BTW for adults it's your head, you dont have to wear a helmet if you don't want to....but I still think young kids should wear one.

sigh.

Doug

One time i was makeing some adjustemnts on my wifes bike. so i was doing circles in the driveway to test the derailures no helmet.
My son come out into the front yard.
DAD get your helmet on or ge off the bike. I told him he was right. and got my helmet.

Guess i am doing my job.

One time i was makeing some adjustemnts on my wifes bike. so i was doing circles in the driveway to test the derailures no helmet.
My son come out into the front yard.
DAD get your helmet on or ge off the bike. I told him he was right. and got my helmet.

Guess i am doing my job.


I pretty much never wear a helmet riding around the neighborhood checking out adjustments/repairs/rebuilds, and that of course is probably when I need one most, if the bike might lock up and flip over on me if I didn't get something just right...

Thanks for the feedback....so far this week I have been biting my tongue....not easy but it is getting easier.
BTW for adults it's your head, you dont have to wear a helmet if you don't want to....but I still think young kids should wear one.

sigh.

Doug


Because you wore one when you were a kid? Were your parents negligent for not requiring it?

The knee-jerk reaction is going to be "time have changes", but in this regard the only thing that's changed is the level of fear people have.

I'm curious to hear why others think our behavior as a group has changed. Parents now who require helmets, won't let kids walk to school, have safety locks on everything in the house are basically the same people as their parents who did none of these things.

I'm curious to hear why others think our behavior as a group has changed. Parents now who require helmets, won't let kids walk to school, have safety locks on everything in the house are basically the same people as their parents who did none of these things.

I dunno, I don't do any of those things but the helmets. I also, unlike my parents, don't put my kid on my lap to drive the car w/ as many controls as he can reach.

Because you wore one when you were a kid? Were your parents negligent for not requiring it?

The knee-jerk reaction is going to be "time have changes", but in this regard the only thing that's changed is the level of fear people have.

I'm curious to hear why others think our behavior as a group has changed. Parents now who require helmets, won't let kids walk to school, have safety locks on everything in the house are basically the same people as their parents who did none of these things.

Because none of us survived childhood of course! :D

I'm curious to hear why others think our behavior as a group has changed. Parents now who require helmets, won't let kids walk to school, have safety locks on everything in the house are basically the same people as their parents who did none of these things.

I require my kids to wear one vs. me not wearing one as a kid...because my kids jump off the ramp, because my kids are big klutzes! Because my kids are boys, and I'm a girl. I think that speaks a million reason why they have to wear one!

I don't let them walk the mile to school because there is a sex offender along the path.

We don't have safety locks on everything, although yes we did when they were toddlers, no sense giving them the poisons, they had to work for it!

Seat belts, I had to wear one growing up, always.

Some things are just easy simple precautions we can take to help protect our kids a little better.

Because you wore one when you were a kid? Were your parents negligent for not requiring it?

The knee-jerk reaction is going to be "time have changes", but in this regard the only thing that's changed is the level of fear people have.

I'm curious to hear why others think our behavior as a group has changed. Parents now who require helmets, won't let kids walk to school, have safety locks on everything in the house are basically the same people as their parents who did none of these things.
Are you a parent?

Because you wore one when you were a kid? Were your parents negligent for not requiring it?

The knee-jerk reaction is going to be "time have changes", but in this regard the only thing that's changed is the level of fear people have.

I'm curious to hear why others think our behavior as a group has changed. Parents now who require helmets, won't let kids walk to school, have safety locks on everything in the house are basically the same people as their parents who did none of these things.

It's not the level of fear that's changed, it's the level of awareness.

Children know bicycles are dangerous. They're frightened by them and require LOTS of peer pressure from older kids and their parents just to learn to ride them with training wheels. Riding often desensitizes them to the danger of cycling much like you don't fear driving, even though it's a leading cause of death for adults worldwide. There are volumes of statistics available to modern parents that people 20 years ago could only dream of having.

Stereotyping parents who can perform a reasonable risk-assessment into a group of neurotic parents who don't let their children have any freedom is entirely unfair. A bicycle is freedom, but with that freedom comes responsibility, and one of those responsibilities is cycling safely.

Because you wore one when you were a kid? Were your parents negligent for not requiring it?

The knee-jerk reaction is going to be "time have changes", but in this regard the only thing that's changed is the level of fear people have.

I'm curious to hear why others think our behavior as a group has changed. Parents now who require helmets, won't let kids walk to school, have safety locks on everything in the house are basically the same people as their parents who did none of these things.

I try to avoid engaging in arguments like this. There is clear-cut evidence that helmet use in chlidren decreases injuries. And it has been legislated (at least in my state). If parents choose to ignore this, that is foolish but their decision. Like parents who refuse to let doctors treat their kids' serious illness, and use faith healing instead.

A few generations ago there were lots of kids in iron lungs due to paralysis from polio....now with immunizations this is a thing of the past. Just because my parents didnt get polio immunizations, does that mean I should not get my kids immunized? But I digress.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback, and I am still biting my tongue on the neighbors kids behavior.

Doug

Children know bicycles are dangerous.

This is so freakin sad. Why do they think bicycles are dangerous? BECAUSE OF WUSSY, HAND-WRINGING ADULTS THAT MAKE ME ASHAMED TO BE IN THE SAME SPECIES!

I agree that you should keep it to yourself.

However, perhaps you could coordinate some sort of neighborhood bike safety class for the kids, brining in someone from the outside to lead it. Maybe at your next block party...or a reason to have a block party.

As is clear from all the discussion there is no easy answer. Some parents don't care because they don't care. Other parents never had any problems as kids growing up, therefore they don't see there being any risk to their kids. To each their own. I have been wearing a helmet since the mid 1980's. Back then it was HARD to find a descent helmet. I rode on a busy narrow road filled with dozens of school busses. I figured that sooner or later I'd be forced off the road by one of them. I was clipped by a driver who didn't stay put at her stop sign. I bounced off the hood. I almost hit the windshield. I was probably inches from hitting it. Once could say that since I did't hit anything, that I didn't need the helmet and they would not be entirely wrong. I like to be prepared for the worst yet hope I never need the protection.

Helmet use and seatbelt use all fall into the same catagory. Some folks don't feel like they need protection. Others take a more cautious approach. You can go overboard with the whole protecting your self. I've known two people how had nasty foot breaks just walking. No activity is without some danger.

Here are some observations:
- When I had the accident: The person who was driving behind the woman who hit me saw the whole thing happening. After it was clear that I was not seriously hurt she told me how she always makes her kids wear helmets, but never bothered herself. Seeing 1st hand how quickly a driver can make a mistake and can hit you, she told me she will never again go out riding without a helmet.
- A professor I worked for at the university lost his brother to a simple bike accident. The brother was riding around the neighborhood and was stopped. He somehow lost his balance, fell over , cracked hit head on the road and died. There was no speed involved and admitedly, he could have tripped while walking and the same thing could happen. He died for to young. A helmet would have absolutly prevented his death.
- My mother in-law had a bad car wreck back in the 1970's. She put her head and arm through the windshield of the car. She has permanent neurological damage because of the accident. She still won't wear a seat belt, after all she is fine... The sad part is that her husband was sitting next to her. The only damage he got was some minor bruising from the seat belt. I guess is permanent neurological damage is nothing than so be it.

I'll wear my helmet when I ride my bike, and I'll wear my seatbelt when I drive. Neither is guaranteed to prevent me from getting hurt, but it sure helps put the odds in my favor.

Happy riding,
André

A few generations ago there were lots of kids in iron lungs due to paralysis from polio....now with immunizations this is a thing of the past. Just because my parents didnt get polio immunizations, does that mean I should not get my kids immunized? But I digress.



Now there are all these kids with autism due to all of these excess immunizations. But I digress as well.

Because you wore one when you were a kid? Were your parents negligent for not requiring it?

The knee-jerk reaction is going to be "time have changes", but in this regard the only thing that's changed is the level of fear people have.

I'm curious to hear why others think our behavior as a group has changed. Parents now who require helmets, won't let kids walk to school, have safety locks on everything in the house are basically the same people as their parents who did none of these things.


I never had a helmet as a kid, although I was dropped in a childseat and was lucky I was not seriously injured.

I am a parent and require my 22 month old to wear his helmet in his trailer. He rides his push bike with his helmet. He rides a scooter at the sitter with a helmet-he also tries the ramp.

I grew up in Chicago and DID walk to school. When schools opened after the blizzard of 79' I did walk to/from school.

I also went skitching with friends (stupid and dangerious),roof jumped between garages for fun (equally dumb), Skied out of bounds from Alta Ski Area to Snowbird Resort (I also ski without poles).

I have done a few things in life, and to each his/her own...

This is so freakin sad. Why do they think bicycles are dangerous? BECAUSE OF WUSSY, HAND-WRINGING ADULTS THAT MAKE ME ASHAMED TO BE IN THE SAME SPECIES!

My six year old daughter just took a nasty spill down the side of a small mountain and was abruptly stopped by a rather large tree. She doesn't think bicycles are dangerous, trees are, and so are cars. If I was a "wussy, hand wringing adult", I never would let her ride on that steep of a path to begin with. The helmet is not paranoia, it's just using common sense. I can deal with her having bloody knees from a spill, but her long blonde hair being drenched in blood is nothing I care to ever see.

My six year old daughter just took a nasty spill down the side of a small mountain and was abruptly stopped by a rather large tree. She doesn't think bicycles are dangerous, trees are, and so are cars. If I was a "wussy, hand wringing adult", I never would let her ride on that steep of a path to begin with. The helmet is not paranoia, it's just using common sense. I can deal with her having bloody knees from a spill, but her long blonde hair being drenched in blood is nothing I care to ever see.

I think you proved the point that helmets are more for the adults than the kids.

Riding a bike is not dangerous. Using a styrofoam hat is optional.

you dont want to thats fine but kids may not have the cordination required to protect there head as they fall be cause they are LEARNING they fall ALOT becuase they are LEARNING. my kid got a new helmet this summer cause he bounced his head off the pavement doing inexcess of 20 mph down a hill.
when it's your turn to turn your kid into a vegetable have at it.

when it's your turn to turn your kid into a vegetable have at it.

I can't, because people like you have taken away that choice.

Noone wants someone else telling them how to live, but everyone's quick to try to dictate the lives of others.

Most of the kids in my neighborhood wear helmets. Which is a good thing since they ride in the middle of the road, ride the wrong way on the street, pull out without checking for traffic, don't look where they are going and basically do everything wrong that someone can do on a bike. Apparently their parents think the helmet makes up for the lack of common sense and lack of proper riding instruction.

I usually see at least 2 or 3 and sometimes as many as 15 or 20 near car bike accidents in my neighborhood in any given day and have yet to see one instance of where the car driver would be at fault. The sad thing is that about half of these are kids riding with their parents.

I think you proved the point that helmets are more for the adults than the kids.

How's that?
You lost me there.

How's that?
You lost me there.

Thus proving his point.

you dont want to thats fine but kids may not have the cordination required to protect there head as they fall be cause they are LEARNING they fall ALOT becuase they are LEARNING. my kid got a new helmet this summer cause he bounced his head off the pavement doing inexcess of 20 mph down a hill.
when it's your turn to turn your kid into a vegetable have at it.

I wonder how all of us survived as kids before helmets came into vogue?
Let's leave the fear card for Republican politicians, k? ;)

I wonder how all of us survived as kids before helmets came into vogue?
Let's leave the fear card for Republican politicians, k? ;)

I don't see how this is such a complex concept for some people to grasp.

The fact is that:
* Kids can be less coordinated than adults.
* Kids are shorter than adults and, as a result, less likely to be seen by that massive Ford Excursion backing out of the driveway.
* Kids are less attentive than adults.
All of these factors lead to children being far more likely to become injured. Acute closed head injuries are nasty. If the risk of such an injury can be dramatically decreased by something as simple as wearing a helmet, why not have your child wear one?

I have seen it happen. I was stopped at a stop sign and watched a kid flying down a hill plow into a car because he had lost control. I had never seen so much blood in my life. I don’t think that if he was wearing a helmet that it would be “more for the adults than the kids”.

I can understand the whole "we don't need the gubment tellin us what to do with our yunguns" mentality. If you feel like it should not be regulated, that's your prerogative. However, to argue about whether or not helmets help keep kids from sustaining serious injuries seems ridiculous.

I wonder how all of us survived as kids before helmets came into vogue?
Let's leave the fear card for Republican politicians, k? ;)


I don't see how this is such a complex concept for some people to grasp.

The fact is that:
* Kids can be less coordinated than adults.
* Kids are shorter than adults and, as a result, less likely to be seen by that massive Ford Excursion backing out of the driveway.
* Kids are less attentive than adults.
All of these factors lead to children being far more likely to become injured. Acute closed head injuries are nasty. If the risk of such an injury can be dramatically decreased by something as simple as wearing a helmet, why not have your child wear one?

I have seen it happen. I was stopped at a stop sign and watched a kid flying down a hill plow into a car because he had lost control. I had never seen so much blood in my life. I don’t think that if he was wearing a helmet that it would be “more for the adults than the kids”.

I can understand the whole "we don't need the gubment tellin us what to do with our yunguns" mentality. If you feel like it should not be regulated, that's your prerogative. However, to argue about whether or not helmets help keep kids from sustaining serious injuries seems ridiculous.


Yet you failed to answer my question. How did we all manage to survive? Indeed, is there some epidemic of kids getting killed in the other parts of the world, where cycling helmets are rarely used, that we are not aware of? If not, how are all those kids managing to survive?

Show me some data that shows the fatality rate among children as a whole is reduced by mandating that they wear bicycle helmets, otherwise you are arguing from emotion and fear...not facts.

Yes, a helmet provides better protection than no helmet...that is a no-***** item...but that no-***** item applies to just about any endeavor, including walking. The issue is whether there is a great risk of head injury to be protected from...and there is zero, zilch, nada, zippo data that kids are at any greater risk of head injury on their bikes than they are doing other things kids do, climbing trees, playing on roofs, etc.

So if you want your kid to wear a helmet...cool, you're the parent, you do what you think is right...but if you want to start mandating crap for others, you better have some good data that not only supports your solution, but supports the notion that a problem even exists that needs solving.

SHOW ME THE DATA!

Yet you failed to answer my question. How did we all manage to survive? Indeed, is there some epidemic of kids getting killed in the other parts of the world, where cycling helmets are rarely used, that we are not aware of? If not, how are all those kids managing to survive?

Show me some data that shows the fatality rate among children as a whole is reduced by mandating that they wear bicycle helmets, otherwise you are arguing from emotion and fear...not facts.

Yes, a helmet provides better protection than no helmet...that is a no-***** item...but that no-***** item applies to just about any endeavor, including walking. The issue is whether there is a great risk of head injury to be protected from...and there is zero, zilch, nada, zippo data that kids are at any greater risk of head injury on their bikes than they are doing other things kids do, climbing trees, playing on roofs, etc.

So if you want your kid to wear a helmet...cool, you're the parent, you do what you think is right...but if you want to start mandating crap for others, you better have some good data that not only supports your solution, but supports the notion that a problem even exists that needs solving.

SHOW ME THE DATA!

"If you feel like it should not be regulated, that's your prerogative."
By that I meant that I am not arguing for or against mandating helmet usage for anyone.

I know that if my kids are sitting in a restaurant eating pizza, they don't need a helmet.
There's no data out there to show you that kids are less likely to get a head injurt in that setting, but I use my best judgement as a parent.
If they are playing on the roof, they will be told to "get the hell off the roof". Once again, I am not saying your kids can't play on your roof if you don't mind.
If they are sharing a road with dumbasses who drive Yukons while texting their BFFs and putting on lipstick, they are going to wear a helmet.

You're right. It's my decision. We are pretty lax parents for the most part. I just see helmet usage as a no-brainer (har har har).

Do you wear a helmet?

yep we are the parents. the question i have is are you?

stop telling parents that they are being overly protectyive by making our kids wear helmets. the examples you give do not relate to cycling at all.

playing on roof. Not going to happen.
climbing a tree. If the child CAN climb a tree they are big enough and strong enough to take the landing on SOIL.

going 25 MPH down hill on pavement. is easy for a kid my son can drop my wife any day of the week. Will he play more than he thinks yes ( that's why they are children and have ther choices limitied for them) and he will get hurt. and has. the differnce is that a skinned knee does not = a concusion or worse.


Jeffs
http://www.bikeforums.net/image.php?u=70613&dateline=1183144271 (http://www.bikeforums.net/member.php?u=70613)
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Raleigh, NC


I can't, because people like you have taken away that choice.

Noone wants someone else telling them how to live, but everyone's quick to try to dictate the lives of others.

Look who is telling how how to live.

we have a bunch of people who do not have kids telling US how we should be as parents. LOL
Excuse me i have to drop some racing tips off at the Hincapie residence.

While lots of people can post that thier crash the helmet did nothing to help them:

i fell hit my head only a bumd a helmet wouldnt have helped..


noone get to post.

Geee if i was wearing a helmet i wouldnt be in a coma or dead.

yup.

Shut Up Enjoy Your Ride not thiers.

I want my grandson to wear a helmet because common sense tells me that in an ordinary fall to the pavement a helmet could be the difference between a bad headache and a subdural hematoma. But that's been done to death on other threads. To the OP: You want other kids to wear helmets because it's the law, so make sure they see you wearing yours. Continue to set a good example.

Thankfully most of these ill conceived child helmet laws are ignored and unenforced. I've read of a child that hung herself to death when her helmet became snagged on a piece of playground equipment. Easy to imagine how this could happen. No debating the effectiveness of that helmet.

Of course nobody ever sold more product by paying an advertising agency to brainwash sheeple into buying their "no helmet".

I am personally a little astounded reading discussions like this. I had a bicycle accident as a child with no helmet. A young kid cut in front of me while I was zooming along on my John Deere 10-speed. I went end-over-end and came to on the ground. I got up and felt that my shoulder was warm. It was soaked in blood from the back of my head.

I spent two hours in emerg. Got the back of my head shaved with no anesthetic. To this day, I have a big bump on my head from the scar tissue. So, I have lots of evidence of what happens with no helmet. If I'd had a helmet, I would have walked away.

We live in BC, where we have an all-age helmet law covering all areas and all people. My kids grew up using helmets and never complain about using them. They are so well accustomed that they show up at the dinner table wearing helmets and don't even notice.

People used to say that cigarettes were safe. They used to mix pesticides with their bare arms. Used to drive cars without a seatbelt lest they drive into a canal. But injury rates and increasing life expectancy have separate fact from fiction.

I hope no one loses their child thinking that helmets are unsafe because every day I have personal proof of what happens without a helmet.

"If you feel like it should not be regulated, that's your prerogative."
By that I meant that I am not arguing for or against mandating helmet usage for anyone.

I know that if my kids are sitting in a restaurant eating pizza, they don't need a helmet.
There's no data out there to show you that kids are less likely to get a head injurt in that setting, but I use my best judgement as a parent.
If they are playing on the roof, they will be told to "get the hell off the roof". Once again, I am not saying your kids can't play on your roof if you don't mind.
If they are sharing a road with dumbasses who drive Yukons while texting their BFFs and putting on lipstick, they are going to wear a helmet.

You're right. It's my decision. We are pretty lax parents for the most part. I just see helmet usage as a no-brainer (har har har).

Do you wear a helmet?

No, I don't wear a helmet, didn't make my kids wear a helmet, and don't make my grand kids wear a helmet unless their mommy or daddy tells me they want them to wear a helmet (which they have not). Everyone has survived to date. My theory as to why everyone has survived, wacky as it sounds, is that riding a bicycle just doesn't have any higher risk of head injury as a great many other activities that kids engage in daily.

Do you let your kids play unsupervised...you know, messing around the neighborhood, climbing trees, building forts, playing in pick-up football, baseball, basketball, soccer, kill-the-carrier, dodgeball, etc. games, general roughhousing, swinging on swings, climbing monkey bars, sliding down sliding boards, running, jumping and all the variety of stuff we did as kids? If so, do you make them wear a helmet, since, if they are like we were, they are obviously engaging in activities that carry the same or greater risk of head injury as riding a bike? Or are your kids highly supervised and controlled couch potatoes, never allowed to do anything that carries any hint of a risk or to be out of sight for a single second, like so many seem to be these days?

The only difference between you and I is how we perceive the risk of riding a bike versus so many other activities...and that's cool, as long as we don't try to inflict our perceptions as mandates for others. ;)

How did we all manage to survive? Sadly, not all of us did.


SHOW ME THE DATA!http://www.helmets.org/stats.htm

For your reading pleasure.


The only difference between you and I is how we perceive the risk of riding a bike versus so many other activities

That is without question.


Dr. Joe

Sadly, not all of us did.

http://www.helmets.org/stats.htm

For your reading pleasure.



That is without question.


Dr. Joe

The data I asked for does not exist, on that site or anywhere else. Nice try though, if you think I am wrong please provide a direct link to the specific study.
BTW, ALL of US did survive...or we would not be here chatting in an internet forum.
I guess they didn't teach logic in medical school. ;)

I want my grandson to wear a helmet because common sense tells me that in an ordinary fall to the pavement a helmet could be the difference between a bad headache and a subdural hematoma. But that's been done to death on other threads. To the OP: You want other kids to wear helmets because it's the law, so make sure they see you wearing yours. Continue to set a good example.


I'm sure you don't care, because like most you're relying on your "common sense", but you might want to do some research on death and injury rates.

Personally, if I were trying to mitigate risk for my daughter I would start with the highest risks. I'd have to do a lot of mitigating before I got to bicycles. I'd end up tacking that one just about the time I was dealing with the risks associated with walking and WAY after I made sure she could swim.

Out of curiosity, I wonder how many parents insist on helmets, yet haven't taught them to swim? Who made the decision that bike helmets were more important than swim lesson? Some lobbyist group, and because it's a law people now believe it's some super-dangerous activity.

Hell, if we REALLY wanted to protect kids, we'd outlaw putting them in a car. We're only willing to protect kids when the solution is buying some product to do so. Funny how that works.


-------

My stance has never been that helmets are not effective to some extent. Rather, my position is that the risk you're mitigating is a minor one, and the method we've chosen is a fairly ineffective one.

Personally, if I were trying to mitigate risk for my daughter I would start with the highest risks and kill all males with a working pecker.

Since I became a grandpa when I was only 42, I figured I would fix that for ya.

I encourage my kids to ride WITHOUT helmets. As adults, they will THRIVE and CONQUER amidst the mindless, petrified sheep.