Car hits bike... spring in New England

[spazzdog]

Warning... generalization to follow.

Why is it, our "baby boomer" generation, felt the need to give our children control of their lives and by extension the lives of the parents. No rules, rationalizing with the screaming 2 yr old, not locking up the bikes if no helmet firmly on head.

Not to sound like my parents, but if I didn't follow the rules I didn't get to play... period. Subsequently I learned at a very early age respect, reliability, consequences, responsibility and a few other important social skills.

I don't have children, but I tell you this from my heart... if my kid got on a bike or a skateboard or skates without a helmet, it would be a long time before they ever saw those toys again.

Of course, I'm all for taking jr. high school kids to the morgue to view what guns do to a human body to perhaps prevent a bit of the schoolyard shootouts.

call me crazy; just don't call me late for dinner.... spazz

[singletrackmind]

Yep. We've got the 'don't even let me catch you simply sitting on your bike without a helmet' rules. I've taken bike priviledges away for days just for doing the above. It's my goal to make it very clear that bike=helmet at ALL times. I've only had to take the bike away once. This, of course, goes for skates and scooters as well.

Also, many of the communities in our county are passing helmet laws-parents get fined but it gets waived if they show proof of an ansi approved helmet.

Hey! Check me out!
http://www.ksdk.com/news/news_articl...?storyid=79182
click on the 'click here to play video'.
The goal was to emphasize that bicycles were for everyone and that you don't need to spend a ton to ride bikes (says the chick on the $3000 bike). Well, you don't really, do you, just to get out with the family or friends and ride?

I'm the chick in the orange and blue flame jersey, green mtn bike and baby trailer attached. They do show my name, but not under the right face. Pat ended up with her name under my face. Ha! Yeah, that's me with the scary voice (is it really that high??) and all the eyebrows. They let me say my bit about helmets!!

Ok, quit laughing!

The guy doing the interview showed up with a borrowed bike and NO helmet and all of us in the group ganged up on him and MADE him wear one. Luckily I had my silver road helmet in the car and it fit him. The cool thing was that when he did the intro part of the story live he found another helmet to wear (we weren't there anymore). Good for him!

[chelle]

I spend a lot of time, especially in the spring at the local skatepark. I fly around on my bmx and occasionally I even fall down but that's ok because I've got my helmet, my knee pads and my elbow pads. When I started riding bike's back in the days of disco, helmets were not what they are now. Back then we used motorcycle helmets because all of the styrofoam helmets that we got broke. My parents rule was, no helmet= no bike.

I'm amazed that when i go to the skatepark, I'm usually the only one wearing a helmet. Sometimes an "old guy" who has to show up at work the next day will wear one too. The bmx'ers as well as the skaters and the rollerbladers never wear one. If you ever see a BMX video, no helmets. What kind of example are these "pro" riders setting for the kids that want to be like them.

I have a friend who suffered a serious head injury and he's never been the same since. He was one of those "it'll never happen to me type's". It's never a matter of if your going to crash, it's only a matter of when. Where I'm from it's the law to wear helmet's on bikes yet I've never seen anyone out enforcing it.

I now spend most of my time in Colorado and I was just stunned when I saw people riding motorcycles here without helmets. It's crazy. Perhaps these nutbars should have to visit the head injury clinic before they decide to not wear a bucket. I just get really irked when I see kids without helmets on.

I did an interview for a Canadian news channel and after the interview they asked to get some footage of me just riding around. I didn't have a helmet so I refused to ride on camera without one on.

I hope I'm still on topic, I feel better now.

[massbikebabe]

Spazz,

I do think here in Mass. there is a law requiring children to wear helmets. I think it was wrote in with the car seat till 40 pounds thing. Anywhoo, I agree with you completely and have raised my kids much like your momma and daddy raised you. Many of the kids I see have what I call PDD, or in lay mans terms, Parental Deficit Disorder. My kids look at me in fear when another kid pulls crap at the store that they knew they would never have gotten away with. Now that they are teenagers they often make comments like "Look at that little brat, Mom would have him by the ear right now!"

karen

ps- someday you have to come to Worcester and meet my kids...they are a hoot!

[LBTC]

I did an interview for a Canadian news channel and after the interview they asked to get some footage of me just riding around. I didn't have a helmet so I refused to ride on camera without one on.

Yay, Chelle! you rock, girl! The more I read of what you've got to say, the more I like ya! You're heads in the right place.

so why did you have your bike and no helmet? just curious...

well, I've got a new helmet on order now, after the trail goddess sent me a message....those little cracks don't look like much, but it's definitely time for another one!

cheers!
~T~

[spazzdog]

Maybe a few of those "splat" commercials... "your brain on drugs"

or PSA's by riders who went sans helmet and are now sans mobility...

or by parents who discovered the dangers of not enforcing the wearing of a helmet the day little johnnie/susie got clipped by good old neighbor bob down the street. Now they're sans johnnie/susie.

harsh yes... aimed at parents would it work?? you tell me.

[nuthatch]

Sometimes I wish I could lock the HELMET to their heads!

With little guys, it's easy to lock up the bike and refuse to start the car if helmets or seat belts are not in place. It just takes a bit of backbone on the parents part. We've all had to do it.

With the older kids, you can make sure they've got the helmet on when they leave the house, but you can't control whether it stays on once they're out of sight. Some of those kids you see riding around (the older ones) have just ditched the helmet somewhere so they aren't seen by their friends looking uncool. It's not an issue of parental control, it's an issue of being asinine at the 13-18 age range.

[bikerHen]

Way back when we owned and rode horses, my daughter learned that you don't ever ride without a helmet. This was reinforced after a small spill she took that put a very large dent in her helmet. When we sold the farm, moved closer to town and took up biking the first thing she asked was when do I get a helmet? So they can be taught! In fact, she has taken up horseback riding again and needs/wants mom to buy a new helmet for that too! She's smart, but expensive! bikerHen

PS - what really burns me is seeing the family out for a ride with kids wearing their helmets, but not the parents!

[Surlygirl]

In my house, no helmet, no bike, motorized or not. If I catch you without one, say goodbye to your bikes. Its been the rule since they've been old enough to ride. Since they've always had to wear them I don't get any grief. It drives me crazy to see families on outings and not wearing helmets. How can the kids learn if the parents don't wear them.
I think Mass has a kids under 12 helmet law but who knows if anyone enforces it.

[chelle]

Yay, Chelle! you rock, girl! The more I read of what you've got to say, the more I like ya! You're heads in the right place.

so why did you have your bike and no helmet? just curious...

well, I've got a new helmet on order now, after the trail goddess sent me a message....those little cracks don't look like much, but it's definitely time for another one!

cheers!
~T~

Well to answer your question. When I do an interview it's important to be sitting on or in front of the bike that your sponsor gives you as well as wearing the clothes of your sponsors as well. I brought my bike to stand besides but I didn't bring my riding gear. Did you see the pix in Bike Mag? One of my sponsors asked me when he saw them "how come you didn't wear your team jersey?". He didn't realize or care that it was 28 degrees out. What was important to him is that the team sponsors get seen. As much fun as it is to ride, at this level it's business.

[LBTC]

ah! The light goes on! That makes perfect sense now!

DH said you're in Bike mag...I'll check it out!

Namaste,
~T~

[spazzdog]

I asked my live-in policeman about the laws here in Medford MA... he said it is a law that kids 12 and under HAVE to ride a helmet. It just is rarely inforced. Too much "real crime" to take care of I guess.

I'll try to get more info from him later. He was on his way out to a detail when I snagged him for the answer this morning.

spazz

[singletrackmind]

I did an interview for a Canadian news channel and after the interview they asked to get some footage of me just riding around. I didn't have a helmet so I refused to ride on camera without one on.

Way to go Chelle!!
It amazes me how many parents will have their kids wear helmets but not wear one themselves. I think it's important for kids to see adults wearing helmets, otherwise it's just some rule for kids and yeah, when they get to the I AM AN INDIVIDUAL stage (12ish and up) they are going to want to shuck the 'little kid rules'. If EVERYONE is always wearing a helmet it's not going to be something only kids do, especially when people like Chelle who are among the elite and oft in media also have them on, therefore not a kid rule to resist.

The biggest thing I run into with adults is that many of them (including me) didn't wear helmets when we were kids. THEY are ok, right? My parents didn't know about helmets. It was my LBS that intro'ed me to helmets and me that got my parents wearing them. Too late for mom, who's early dementia was caused by a helmetless crash when she was a teen, but at least they were wearing them and dad still does (mom died after getting lost in the CO mountains, after she slipped away from dad to walk her dog in town. I guess you could say not wearing a helmet eventually killed her.)

I am glad to see more helmets in media and hope that trend grows by bounds.