Hmmm - helmets? Mel rant for Tuesday!

[melchpeppi]

Ok, so I understand that kids still dont think that helmets are cool but FOLKS! Today I counted seven kids riding their scooters WITH THEIR PARENTS to school, without helmets! Add to that, the three kiddos riding their bikes WITH THEIR PARENTS to school - no helmets in sight!

And that is on our four minute walk to school .

Yesterday I saw a couple of boys riding their bikes with their helmets on... on the handlebars that is . No parents in sight, so I get that - cos helmets aren't cool hey?! And if mum and dad arent here to make me wear it then...

Accidents happen, even when parents are there. The statistics are there - scooters are dangerous and head injuries DO happen.

I just cannot believe that there were parents right next to the kids (or up or down the street) and they didnt enforce the helmet rule .

Please bear this in mind when your kids are on any kind of wheels - especially if they are crossing roads. Helmets, although daggy, save lives.

[~Miss Cinders~]

Yeahuh No helmet no ride here.
B14 learnt his lesson the hard way.

[pip]

I saw a family our riding on the way home on the weekend. Mum, dad and the three younger kids all had their helments on, but the older child probably 14 had his helmet hanging off his elbow. Not going to do much good if it isn't on your head.

From the moment our kids started riding their trikes they have the rule inforced no helmet no riding.

[melchpeppi]

I find it really hard to bite my tongue! We have the same rule here, although Lola is hardly old enough to be concerned about her appearance yet.

[KristyMum]

One of the Mums I know said gosh it's getting ridiculous - helmets are mandatory now 'oh look let kids be free, wind through their hair etc' and I replied back that yes well that's lovely but if it's gonna happen we usually have it happen to us if the kids don't wear a helmet to which she replied that bad things rarely happen to them... and that she wanted them to be 'free'
I very tactfully added that it's about the children, not about her and that it can happen to anyone.

I know because my brother, not even knocked down by a car but by another person on a bike flying by while he was standing still next to his bike to cross the road, got cleaned up and ended up with a massive gouge in his helmet... which otherwise would have been his head. You don't even need to have had that happen to know it.

DH also works in 'spinal and head injuries' so he sees the effects of nasty accidents with and without helmets every day.

Some people are lucky and that's great. Being cotton wooly isn't helpful either but a helmet is a reasonable precuation I think. We learnt at UNI with negligence/attributing blame cases that it's a see-saw equation of risk on one side and cost of prevention (both $ and other) on the other side. Helmets, seatbelts all fall into the category of worthwhile for not much cost. imo anyway.

Heck there are parents I see every other day who don't believe in seatbelts either, and have no prob with Baby on their lap in the front seat... *sigh*

Regardless of whether you believe in helmets, it's the law. simple.

[*Tracee*]

It's one of the big rules in our house too Mel.

I'm really glad our school enforce the helmets are for scooter and skateboard riders too, not just bikes. You can always ask the police to do a patrol of the area one morning, some warnings and police presence can make a huge difference!

[lush_jokes]

We have that same rule too. When my brother was in year 7 (and I was yr 5) I saw him get hit by a car If it wasn't for his helmet he would have likely been killed . . .

[Wems]

Elizajayne is the only one who has ridden her bike outside our yard and she always leaves wearing a helmet and returns wearing a helmet......So I hope it stays on the whole time Being Elizajayne I am pretty sure it would

Helmets aren't the done thing around here apparently.........I am pretty sure most of the kids riding around with out them wouldn't even own a helmet........so they don't even have a choice

[MadMel]

I only just brought the boys helmets

Having said that they had only been out of the yard a couple of times on their scooters. Now we are doing family walks at night with the kids on their scooters, I brought them helmets on Jaidans birthday...

but yeah I was one of 'those' parents

[Jo]

Can I also add for those who don't already know, the helmets for scooters and bicycles are *completely* different, a bicycle helmet will not protect your childs brain properly during a fall, the way you'd fall being hit off a bike and falling off a scooter are different, the impact points are very different, the helmet needs to protect the forehead and the base of the brain.

[MadMel]

oh serious? I just got them a ben 10 and transformer helmet Didn't realise they were meant to be different helmets!

[Jo]

This is a skate/scooter helmet, it protects the back of the head in a fall. Do yourself a favour if they are scootering and pickup a pack of protective gear, we got one for liam and seriously it was like $15 for knee and elbow pads and plastic wrist protectors. Wrist breaks are the most common injury with scooters so well worth the investment. Liam flew off his scooter at the park the other day, smacked into the concrete, still had all the exhileration that any other child would feel, but didn't experience the pain, he got up dusted himself off and got back on, which he'd never have done without protective gear

[melchpeppi]

Arent the big coverage helmets best? Like the old skool Stackhats?

I saw some great ones on our neighbours kids today, they were low on the forehead - just plain black, looked rather like the army battle helmets .

At least you have helmets now Mel, there is no point being angsty about the past . Onward and upward I say!

And OMG Mel (lush_jokes) at seeing your bro being hit by a car . I bet you still have nightmares about that

[melchpeppi]

This is a skate/scooter helmet, it protects the back of the head in a fall. Do yourself a favour if they are scootering and pickup a pack of protective gear, we got one for liam and seriously it was like $15 for knee and elbow pads and plastic wrist protectors. Wrist breaks are the most common injury with scooters so well worth the investment. Liam flew off his scooter at the park the other day, smacked into the concrete, still had all the exhileration that any other child would feel, but didn't experience the pain, he got up dusted himself off and got back on, which he'd never have done without protective gear

Yep thats the one I saw! We are getting these when Lola is more interested in scooting

[Jo]

Nope, the standards for impact points on skate/scooter helmets are totally different and a scooter helmet will not protect you if you get knocked off your bike.

[Wems]

Oh god seriously????????

My kids better just be happy with their track and stuff in the back yard for a long time then.......that would be 21 helmets I would have to buy NO WAY JOSE

[MadMel]

I got them packs each. Have the helmet and wrist/knee/elbow things. I'll look at getting the other helmets when I can afford it.

They look cooler anyways Though I think Jaidan will argue with me cos his is Ben 10 lol

[Pandamum]

Eye opener for sure. My kids scooter without helmets. Have never even associated the two activities or considered the need for one. Makes me think that kids on scooters around here don't wear helmets or I would have seen it before now.

Can't see myself going out and buying scootering helmets but it has raised my awareness - thanks Mel.

[Wems]

So why do they sell those packs with the helmet and safety gear together if the helmets aren't even meant for scooters/skates

the helmets in the packs look just like the helmets the older kids have for their bikes

[Jo]

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

[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...

[Jo]

lots of older kids ride scooters on the road, those stupid v ones too and the stupid bendy skateboard things, it's lunacy.

[Wems]

we don't have footpaths here except for the main street so it's road or nothing for walking, riding and bikes

and I am pretty sure you aren't supposed to ride scooters/bikes on the footpath anyway unless it is a dual bike/pedestrian footpath

[angelskies]

in qld its legal to ride scooters and bikes on the footpath =)

[MadMel]

I think it's legal here too, if not I've never had anything said to me.

If there is NO footpath it's different. There is a spot that we walk that is road for about 10 meters and we have to walk on the road there... but no way I would let my children ride on the road when there is a perfectly good footpath there.

[melchpeppi]

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

Yep - unfortunately I have seen 3 and 4yo kiddos riding scooters on the roads here, without helmets (and it is a VERY hilly place..)

[melchpeppi]

Also, on the 'law' front - it is legal to smoke cigarettes, jump off bridges with elastic tied to your feet or ride a moped with only a learners permit, it does not mean that they are all safe and good things to do without taking precautionary measures KWIM ??

Those ripstiks are crazy too

I think Im getting old - to me, rollerskating in the street was crazy and wild

[shelly77]

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

I know....The boss wrote something in a note to parents and suggested a helmet...the staff was just worried that someone was going to get injured.

[shelly77]

re post above ...the first part is a quote. Try to do to put in as quote but obviously it didn't work Sorry

[Wems]

in qld its legal to ride scooters and bikes on the footpath =)

I just had a look at it is a local council thing so not a state wide or national thing

So thats why you can't here I guess.....the only foot path is pretty much the main street so of course that is pretty busy with pedestrians so thats why the kids get in trouble for riding them along there