Where Are Your Helmets???

[wackydeirdre]

As the cooler weather approaches it has been wonderful to see so many moms and dads out riding with their kids teaching them the fun and importance of exercise for everyone. I have to ask though, where are your helmets???
You unwittingly teach your children helmets aren't really necessary, only a legal formality for children. Anyone can get into an accident, not only racers. I very often watch you and take notice that you are enjoying the scenery so much you don't really look where you are going without your helmets on your heads. You won't look stupid with a helmet on, you'll look smart. Enjoy your rides, teach the kids safety is at least as important as exercise, and brush your hair when you get home.

 

[heddywouldgo]

As the cooler weather approaches it has been wonderful to see so many moms and dads out riding with their kids teaching them the fun and importance of exercise for everyone. I have to ask though, where are your helmets???
You unwittingly teach your children helmets aren't really necessary, only a legal formality for children. Anyone can get into an accident, not only racers. I very often watch you and take notice that you are enjoying the scenery so much you don't really look where you are going without your helmets on your heads. You won't look stupid with a helmet on, you'll look smart. Enjoy your rides, teach the kids safety is at least as important as exercise, and brush your hair when you get home.

I'd have to agree and have made the same observation numerous times. I was in Colorado last month for a family reunion and all of the kids rented bikes and a few adults did in order to chaperone some rides. They all come riding up and my uncle is in the back riding along without a helmet. Many of these kids had never ridden in a large group or in an organized ride, so before I led the group off we did a little safety run-through and made sure everyone knew how to use a bike. We of course went over the importance of a helmet and it just made my uncle look like a total bufoon. I really just don't get it- but it seems if you aren't "into" cycling, then the helmet is just an uncool annoyance. Not until you fall and konk your head though!!

-Heather

 

[wackydeirdre]

I'd have to agree and have made the same observation numerous times. I was in Colorado last month for a family reunion and all of the kids rented bikes and a few adults did in order to chaperone some rides. They all come riding up and my uncle is in the back riding along without a helmet. Many of these kids had never ridden in a large group or in an organized ride, so before I led the group off we did a little safety run-through and made sure everyone knew how to use a bike. We of course went over the importance of a helmet and it just made my uncle look like a total bufoon. I really just don't get it- but it seems if you aren't "into" cycling, then the helmet is just an uncool annoyance. Not until you fall and konk your head though!!

-Heather

No arguements here! The really stupid thing is that some of these same people saw me crash one day two months back. My leg,elbow, and shoulder were cut deeply. I hit my head also but since I had my helmet on I wouldn't have noticed at the time except for that the visor came off. I later had a slight headache but that was all. These people saw me pick up my bent bicycle and re position it (the brakes and front tire were a bit off, my light came apart and my pump came loose). Anyone that didn't see me go away bloodied definetly heard about it. Perhaps they see me as the stupid one. I wouldn't be surprised to hear them gossiping "if she didn't have a helmet on she really would have been hurt". One woman came out of her house and said "you were lucky you weren't killed!" Excuse me for having a hobby.

 

[charly h]

Oh yeah, and what about the people that cycle along with their helmets dangling from their handlebars??? Duh! Much good they'll do there! Also, although a helmet isn't going to help if you get flattened by a lorry, a head injury is about as bad as it gets in terms of severity, and many people get them from comparatively slight impacts. And while I'm ranting! What do people think about cycling and drinking? I get the feeling that some people consider it less serious to drink and ride a bike, than drink and drive a car. I think this is really stupid, dating from the time I picked a guy out of the road while working who was totally drunk and had fallen off his bike next to a bus on one of London's major routes with a nasty head injury and, you guessed it, no helmet!!!! Grrrr!

 

[wackydeirdre]

Oh yeah, and what about the people that cycle along with their helmets dangling from their handlebars??? Duh! Much good they'll do there! Also, although a helmet isn't going to help if you get flattened by a lorry, a head injury is about as bad as it gets in terms of severity, and many people get them from comparatively slight impacts. And while I'm ranting! What do people think about cycling and drinking? I get the feeling that some people consider it less serious to drink and ride a bike, than drink and drive a car. I think this is really stupid, dating from the time I picked a guy out of the road while working who was totally drunk and had fallen off his bike next to a bus on one of London's major routes with a nasty head injury and, you guessed it, no helmet!!!! Grrrr!

Never thought about drinking and cycling. People probably do it all of the time. How about the kids of the parents who don't wear helmets? Did you ever notice that, whille, sure they've got a helmet on so their parents don't get fined, the kids are wearing the helmets as more of a fashion statement than anything? The helmets, if they are on at all, are on backwards, sideways, and in the rare instance the helmet is on front to back, the front is pushed past the hairline so we a can see their presently cute faces. There are some little girls (who at least presently live) up the street from me wear their helmets all kinds of ways. 5 and 7 years old who sit at the top of their driveway waiting for a car to come down the street then ride down and into the street missing the car by inches. Their mom watches them while they do this. You never know if they'll be there or not since there are a lot of things obstructing view to their house. I try not to cycle past their house as they pull the same stunt when I do as they know I ride for speed. Also, If I or anyone else ever hit them it would end up being my or someone elsed fault. It really is increadible they are still alive. Perhaps mom wants them dead. She got divorced a while back and is back living with her parents.

 

[Karlsmum]

Is it not illegal to not wear helmets in the US? In Australia kids get fined if they get caught by the police not wearing their helmets ... and I'm guessing if the kids were with their parents then the parents would get in BIGGER trouble. My kids wouldn't even dream of getting on their bikes without their helmets, what a stupid risk. Even when they're riding their bikes in our backyard they still put their helmets on !!!!!

 

[wackydeirdre]

Is it not illegal to not wear helmets in the US? In Australia kids get fined if they get caught by the police not wearing their helmets ... and I'm guessing if the kids were with their parents then the parents would get in BIGGER trouble. My kids wouldn't even dream of getting on their bikes without their helmets, what a stupid risk. Even when they're riding their bikes in our backyard they still put their helmets on !!!!!

Kids, in New York at least, have to wear helmets until age 13 or their parents are fined. That is the law, at least. I never once have heard of this law being enforced. They do wear them for the most part, they just often have them on any way but the correct way so they might as well not wear then at all.