By Robert Howard The Hamilton Spectator (Sep 8, 2006)
Sure,
helmets aren't cool to teenagers. But neither is spending your life as
a quadriplegic -- or ending it on the hood of a car. The
human body is a marvellous and resilient thing, but the skull and thin
membranes that protect our brain are little protection from concrete,
asphalt or automotive steel. It doesn't matter, in the end, if a
bicyclist or a driver had the right of way. If there's a collision,
it's a pretty sure bet who's going to walk away and who is not. The
unpalatable truth is that two area boys would likely be alive today,
and another might have escaped serious injury requiring
hospitalization, if they had been wearing helmets while riding their
bicycles. Those tragedies are just recent examples of a continuing
safety issue. Recent
accidents -- and behaviour seen every day on city streets -- show many
youngsters are disregarding the provincial bicycle-helmet law, which
requires cyclists under 18 to wear an approved bicycle helmet when
riding a bike on a roadway or sidewalk anywhere in Ontario. That
law has saved lives -- and saved others from lives of drastically
reduced quality or mobility. Wearing a helmet while cycling reduces
head injuries by as much as 85 per cent. Riders not wearing helmets
make up 90 per cent of fatalities in bicycle accidents. But
the fact is that children and young teens do not appreciate risk or
consider consequences the same way as adults. The accident is never, in
their mind, going to happen to them. Parents need to insist on helmets. It
would seem a worthwhile investment of resources -- and could save lives
-- if Hamilton police were to mount a new, proactive
education/enforcement campaign. Some kind of tiered approach of
warnings, parental contact, then penalties would be appropriate. (The
law sets fines for parents who knowingly allow their children under 16
to ride without a bicycle helmet, while cyclists who are 16 or 17 can
be fined directly.) But
helmets are not the only safety issue among the burgeoning bicycle
population. Some irresponsible bicyclists give the majority a bad name
(and motorists near heart failure) by disregarding common sense and
traffic law. Too many cyclists breeze through stop signs and edge
through stop lights, expecting drivers to see and yield. They want it
both ways: drivers to respect their right to be on the road while they
disrespect traffic law. And
here's a fact: A rider in fashionable black on an unlit bicycle after
dusk is virtually invisible to drivers, even if there are street
lights. A bicycle is required to have lights and reflectors after dark,
(and a bell or horn). The
use-your-head safety rules may not seem cool but they save lives: Wear
light colours, have working lights and reflectors, obey traffic laws. Of course, there's no sense using your head if you don't protect it. Wear a helmet -- and insist that your loved ones do, too.
