CARE for Children, the lead agency for Safe Kids Pennsylvania — McKean County Partner, recently joined together with the Bradford Area School District to promote bicycle safety and properly fit approximately 150 Kindergarten students with free bicycle helmets.
Grant funding for the helmets was provided by a PA Department of Health Preventative and Health Services Block Grant through Safe Kids Pennsylvania.
Kimberly Engstrom, M.Ed., CARE preschool director and bike safety educator, talked to kindergarten students at George G. Blaisdell Elementary School about bicycle safety and the importance of wearing helmets including wearing bright colors; using hand signals; watching for traffic lights and stop signs; avoiding wet leaves, puddles, rocks, and cracks in the road; and always wearing a helmet. Engstrom also demonstrated how to properly wear a helmet and fasten the chin strap.
“Helmets provide protection from head and brain injury when children are riding bikes, scooters, skateboards etc., and a helmet is most effective when fit properly. When parents reinforce helmet use, children are more likely to use this injury preventing safety item,” Engstrom added.
Several CARE staff members as well as volunteers from the Safe Kids Pennsylvania-McKean County Partner Advisory Committee assisted in fitting the helmets. In addition to the helmets, students received a bicycle safety checklist and an emergency contact identification sticker for parents to complete and place inside the helmet.
According to Safe Kids Worldwide, nearly 50 children an hour visit emergency departments with an injury related to bikes, scooters, skates or skateboards. Properly-fitted helmets can reduce the risk of head injury by at least 45 percent; however, less than half of children age 14 and under usually wear a bike helmet.
Pennsylvania’s mandatory bicycle helmet law requires children under age 12 must wear a helmet while riding a bicycle, or while a passenger in a bicycle restraining seat or trailer. Children’s toys known as “big wheels” are excluded. The bike helmet law is intended to encourage children to wear helmets. People cited for violating the law will have their citation dismissed if they buy a helmet.
