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Bike Helmet Safety Tips
Wearing a helmet when you ride your bicycle dramatically reduces your risk of a life-threatening head injury. Take a look at the facts before you ride without one.
Do you wear a helmet when you ride your bicycle? Do your children? If your answer is yes to both questions, give yourself a giant pat on the back. Why? You're taking steps to prevent head injury and to save your own life or that of your child.
On the other hand, maybe you don't wear a helmet when you bike and don't require your children to do so. Perhaps you think you don't need one, or you don't wear one because you believe helmets are uncomfortable, hot or unflattering. If this is the case, it's time to sort through the facts.
Why wear a bicycle helmet?
Wearing a bicycle helmet is the single most effective way to lower your risk of traumatic brain injury and death when you or your children ride a bike. A helmet protects your head by absorbing the force of an impact that otherwise would hurt you. Thick plastic foam inside the hard outer shell of the helmet provides padding so the helmet takes the force of the blow, instead of your head.
Although 20 states in the United States have mandatory bicycle helmet laws, you need only to walk down the street to see that plenty of kids and adults still aren't using them. In a 2001 survey, researchers found that 85 percent of teenagers in grades nine through 12 rarely or never wear a helmet when they ride their bicycles.
But when you or your children ride a bicycle without a helmet, you're taking a chance. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 500,000 people were injured in bicycle crashes in 2002. Sixty percent of these were children and teens up to age 15.
Don't make the mistake of assuming bike helmets are just for kids. Close to 80 percent of deaths attributed to bicycle accidents in 2001 were of riders 16 years of age and older. Want another reason why adults should wear helmets? A Mayo Clinic study found that children are more likely to wear bicycle helmets if their parents wear them.
How to select and wear a bike helmet
Have you checked out bicycle helmets lately? Manufacturers have listened to complaints from bicyclists and have made helmets cooler, more comfortable, easier to adjust and even more stylish than older helmets.
When you shop for a helmet, be sure to buy the correct size. See that it fits snugly and doesn't hinder your vision. You shouldn't be able to move the helmet in any direction, back to front or side to side. Sizing pads, which are included in the box, can help make the fit more secure.
Here are more tips:
- Buy helmets that meet or exceed the safety standards developed by the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) - look for the CPSC sticker.
- Wear your helmet flat atop your head, not tilted back at an angle or pulled low over your forehead. Be sure you keep the chin strap buckled while riding.
- Throw out your helmet after it's been through an accident. Even if it looks undamaged, the force of a blow can easily render it useless.
- Set a good example. Make sure you and your children wear a bicycle helmet every time you ride.
- Teach your children to remove their helmets before climbing on playground equipment or trees, because the helmet and chin strap can snag and cause choking.
Use your head
You've sorted through the facts and realize that wearing a bicycle helmet can prevent head injury and death. Wear your helmet every time you ride. Set a good example for your children.
Courtesy article provided by www.mayoclinic.com
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