Not using their heads

This past week I saw two stunning examples of why kids don't wear bicycle helmets.

On Thursday evening I was getting into my car to go home when a father and son rode by on a tandem bicycle. The son was wearing a helmet but the dad wasn't. What kind of example is that? As soon as the kid is old enough to assert his own way he won't wear a helmet either.

On Saturday I was at the Lloyd Folkfest in Bud Miller Park when I saw a dad with two kids. The older one had her own bike and she had a helmet. The younger child was safely strapped into a bike seat on dad's bike, complete with his own little helmet. Dad, of course, was bareheaded.

I rarely see an adult on a bicycle wearing a helmet. Little kids almost always wear them and older kids hardly ever.

My brother and I used to watch families cycle by our house, the kids all with helmets, the parents without. "Oh look," we'd say. "Orphans."

I once stopped a Mountie on the street who was riding his bike to work to ask him where his helmet was (I knew him and he usually wore a helmet)-- I think I'm a bit of a zealot on this issue.

I don't care if it messes your hairstyle. I don't care if you think it makes you look goofy. A helmet can save your life.

MADLibrarian

P.S. An excellent book that deals with this subject is Mick Harte was here by Barbara Park.