Bicycle Injuries and Kids
The single biggest thing you can do to reduce serious injury among children riding bikes, skateboards, Rollerblades and similar wheeled products?
Make sure your kids wear a helmet every time they ride. 
Here are some pretty interesting stats from Safekids.org that back this up.
Bicycle, Rollerblade and Skateboard Safety
Key Facts
• Each year, approximately 140 children are killed as bicyclists.
• Children sustain more than 275,000 nonfatal bicycle injuries each year.
• Nearly 690 children are injured daily due to bicycle-related crashes.
• A total of 251,366 total child bicyclist injuries were recorded in 2005.
• An estimated 14,000 youth bicyclists were injured involving a motor vehicle in 2005.
• More than 70 percent of children ages 5 to 14 ride a bicycle regularly.
• National estimates report that bicycle helmet use among child bicyclists ranges from 15 percent to 25 percent.
• Apart from the automobile, bicycles are tied to more childhood injuries than any other consumer product.
Wheeled Sports Safety
• Each year, children between the ages of 0-14 years, sustain an estimated 38,155 roller skating injuries and represent 57 percent of all rollerblading/in-line skating injuries.
• Each year, there are approximately 61,000 injuries to children involving skateboards.
• In 2004, an estimated number of 18,743 head injuries were treated in emergency rooms due to skateboarding.
When and Where
• 53 percent of children (16 years and under) are killed bicycling on minor roads (connecting roads and neighborhood streets) compared to 46 percent killed bicycling on major roads (high-volume roads across cities and towns).
For motor vehicle-related bicycle crashes,
• 69 percent of child bicyclist deaths occur during warmer months (May - October)
• 58 percent of child bicyclist deaths occur at non-intersection locations.
• 70 percent of deaths occur between 2-8 p.m.
Who
• It has been estimated that 75 percent of fatal head injuries among child bicyclists could have been prevented with a bicycle helmet.
• Children are five times more likely to be injured in a bicycle-related crash than older riders (15 years and older).
• Males account for 82 percent of bicycle-related deaths. Males make up 70 percent of nonfatal injuries among children.
• More children ages 5 to 14 are seen in hospital emergency rooms for injuries related to biking than any other sport.
Proven Interventions
• Universal use of bicycle helmets by children ages 4 to 15 could prevent between 135 and 155 deaths, between 39,000 and 45,000 head injuries, and between 18,000 and 55,000 scalp and face injuries annually.
• Helmet use can reduce the risk of head injury by 85 percent and severe brain injury by 88 percent.
• Various studies show that bicycle helmet legislation is effective in increasing bicycle helmet use and reducing bicycle-related death and injury among children covered under the law.
• One study showed that within the five years of passage of a state mandatory bicycle helmet law for children ages 13 and under, bicycle-related fatalities decreased by 60 percent. Police enforcement increases the effectiveness of these laws.
Another thing that you can do is work to promote recognized bike lanes here in Springfield, Missouri. We need more driver awareness and bikes lanes help. Read this article and interview by Professor Andy Cline on his blog Carbon Trace. He has some great tips about bicycle commuting.
Then go to one of the great local bike shops here in Springfield and sign the petition. While you are there, pick up a helmet for your kids, grand kids, nieces and nephews. They make a great Holiday gift.
