You are Responsible for Your Child’s Safety While Bike-riding!

Bicycle riding injuries,wear bike riding,teach bike riding

Do you live in a place where there are strict laws concerning bicycle riding? Well, certain local jurisdictions and states have passed a law that any child riding a bike should don a helmet. In the case that the headgear is missing, the child’s parents may have to pay up a fine. Of course, age limits are different for different areas.

This compulsion has been introduced after the Consumer Product Safety Commission has made known certain facts and information. If you wish to understand why they are saying what they say, check out www.bikehelmet.org. You can even connect with them directly via your telephone (800-638-2772). They even have a website for children, with plenty of activities—it is called “Get in the Helmet Habit”.

Prior to March 1999, some voluntary standards for helmets were introduced by three organizations—Snell Memorial Foundation, American Society for Testing and Materials or ASTM, and American National Standards Institute or ANSI. After that, the Consumer Product Safety Commission brought in some mandatory standards for helmets. Helmets manufactured after March 1999 are supposed to meet these set standards and carry labels proclaiming that they are CPSC-compliant.

The guidelines state that children below four years of age must have helmets with extra coverage at the back and the sides. Such children either go tri-cycling, or sit on the front seats of their parents’ bikes. Their headgear is meant to be light in weight for their not-so-strong neck muscles cannot handle heavy stuff.

The trouble starts when your toddler is stubborn about donning a helmet! What you could do is ask him/her to try it out for short durations of time around the house itself. To give added glamour, let him/her put on a pro-football type costume or a favorite dress. And give your child company by wearing your own helmet too! It works most of the time. If this idea fails, well, do not allow him or her on the bike till he/she is ready.

Infants below one are not allowed on bikes, regardless of a child seat or a trailer. And these babies cannot wear helmets!

In case an older kid wishes to go in for rapid skateboarding or practice skating maneuvers, he/she can get a multi-sport helmet. Such a helmet gives added protection to the back of the head, considering that such sports involve falling backwards. However, they are not to be used for bicycle riding. Those helmets are designed differently.

Sometimes, you might have a helmet of earlier days (before CPSC came in) still lying around the house. Well, it can still be used as it does afford sufficient protection. But of course, if this helmet has been involved in a crash or your kid outgrows it, replace it. You may not see the impact of a crash or a fall on the outside of the helmet, but the materials would have definitely weakened. So, get rid of this headgear.

Thus, thanks to the CPSC, helmets are much safer to use now-a-days. They are lightweight, comfortable, and provide plenty of ventilation (The opening even allow a ponytail to slip through!).