Hmmm - helmets? Mel rant for Tuesday!

[Wems]

I think if my kids get a head injury it is going to be very unlikely to come from wearing a bike helmet on a scooter

More likely from falling out a tree, or off the roof, or from the top of the TV antenna tower and they never have helmets on then

Or crashing their motorbike and go carts (which they do have proper helmets for )

But I never really thought about needing the 2 different helmets

[Shannon]

I am very picky with the kids and bike helmets - infact they don't even try to get on without a helmet. But we don't put them on for scootering. My kids seriously don't go fast enough, they aren't stunt kids, it's so that they can be lazy on the way to the park. It would be faster for us if they walked . And then I wouldn't have to carry the scooter back home either *sigh*.

I really cringe when I see a child riding a bike without a helmet - but I get it from their POV, they are indestructible aren't they? . I remember though when the law came in that it was the year I stopped riding my bike as a child. It was hard to transition to the 'have to', but these kids don't know any different do they? Or they shouldn't .

[MadMel]

see the boys have never ridden bikes here, until Jaidan got one for his birthday which is why I got the helmet, and I got Chase one too because a week before some lady yelled at Jamie cos the boys were scootering without helmets... I didn't even think really... cos i never see kids with helmets on scooters... and my kids to... oh about 2km/h lol

[shelly77]

We bought our little man who is 2yrs a balance bike for Chrissy and the first thing he did after hubby put it togehter was point to his head, say helemt and run out to the shed. Guess we are very lucky...hubby takes him riding on the back of his bike and he has always worn a helmet.

I had no idea about the different helmets....will have to remember that when my 2 little men are hassling me for scooters and skateboards.

We had big problems with scooters and ripstiks being riden to our school (am a teacher) without helmets. I think parents didn't think their kids needed one, or maybe they did and kids just ignored them thinking they were too cool to wear one!

[*~Melinda~*]

The helmets in those packs usually are for bicycle riding, but they can promote any helmet for skateboarding or scootering because there is no legal requirement for you to wear a helmet. The two helmets have different impact and protection points, the road helmets for bicycles protect the wearer mostly from the side and front, the scooter/skate hemlets protect the back of the head. You don't *have* to get a scooter/skate helmet, but you can't stick them on a scooter with a bike helmet and presume they are going to be protected from head injury, because they aren't very well protected in a bicycle helmet

How did you find this out or know to go looking into it? (not questioning it, just wondering why it isn't common knowledge)

[mummygeorgie]

Oh wow, Jo, that's interesting. I didn't know that.

I don't think I can get two new helmets right now but I will definitely bear in mind that they are not as well protected as they should be when scooting/blading. They mostly scoot/blade in the park, though, so aren't going to have a vehicle collision there at least. A has been keen on scooting home from school, but I've vetoed it for now - there are a couple of reasonable hills with busy roads at the bottom and he just won't stay with me/slow down.

As kids we always had to wear bike helmets even before it was compulsory; my dad was a keen bicycle rider and worked for bike safety campaigns etc and insisted.

[aussieclownfish]

It's illegal to ride a bicycle without a helmet, but you are legally allowed to ride a scooter without a helmet... which is why many parents think it is totally fine. Children under age 12 are allowed to ride their scooter on the footpath.

[Wems]

We had big problems with scooters and ripstiks being riden to our school (am a teacher) without helmets. I think parents didn't think their kids needed one, or maybe they did and kids just ignored them thinking they were too cool to wear one!

But there isn't anything you can do as a school really is there other than educate and suggest they do......you can't make the kids wear a helmet when riding a scooter/rip stik

[Jo]

When we did some googling a while ago we found a lot of sites (raising children, transport, kid safe, etc.) that had information on the different types of helmets. That led to looking at skate websites and scootering information sites which described why the different types of helmets are so important. Even at walking pace you can fall backwards on a scooter onto the back of the head, which can cause serious brain injury. It's not being on the road and getting hit by a car that is the issue with scootering and skating, it's falling and the impact it can have on the parts of the brain that are most likely to hit the ground

[MadMel]

I would be more horrified seeing a child riding their scooter on the road than seeing them riding without a helmet...