Car hits bike... spring in New England

[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!

[spazzdog]

must not want to mess up their hair...

spazz

[snapdragen]

I know a guy who keeps a handful of Performance gift certificates - specifically for kids helmets. When he see's a parent and child, and child is without helmet, he give 'em a certificate. Hopefully they use them!

[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

[CorsairMac]

It doesn't help tho for the younger generation to see the Pro riders riding without helmets. Take a look at some of the team training pixs from this past winter and you'll see quite a few of the Discovery boys without helmets. And the TdF last year, most of them (if not all?) did the big climbs with no helmets and if the kids were watching that, you better betcha they noticed it. There were even scenes with the riders tearing their helmets off as soon as the rules allowed and tossing them off to the side if they couldn't find their team car. Not a very good message.

[RoadRaven]

I can understand pro-racers in an organsied race chucking their helmets away when they head up hills - it gets so hot under there and they dehydrate more rapidly. But it scares me when they go downhill helmetless...

My kids know that this is an organised section of a race and they never go out, even into the front paddock, without helmets... but we have lots of talks about safety and they often comment on things they have seen (like kids wearing helmets with straps undone).

We also have two helmets in the shed on the wall, my sons with stone indentations, and mine with a piece the size of my fist missing from the back.

But I whole-heartedly agree Corsair, what about the kids that watch and that is the only message they get - no discussion around why, or about the associated risks with that choice...



And tlkiwi... hey there you - hope you're enjoying spring in London - beautiful balmy almost-winter day here, hoping for 18' today Yeah, I think that it was early/mid 90's the helmet rule came in. Damn good thing too.

[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.