Safety First: Cycling Helmets and Seat-belts

This morning after dropping my son at school I took a walk around the neighbourhood, a lovely walk, through the park and adjoining cricket grounds ... lots of trees and a view of the mountain. It is good to see so many children cycling and walking to school but I find it disconcerting that so many of them are cycling either without helmets, or with helmets perched on top of their heads, with the straps dangling down. If they were to fall off their bikes, the helmets would go flying.

It may not be cool (I am guessing that that is the reason they are not wearing them) but it will certainly offer some protection if necessary. A study by Schwellnus and Derman in the SA Family Practice Journal in 2005 cited that the use of cycling helmets can reduce head injury by 85% and that wearing a hard shell cycling helmet was the most important measure for preventing acute injury.

And to come to one of my favourite bug bears - people have much the same attitude to wearing seat-belts in this country. Wearing of seat-belts was a non-negotiable for me when it came to my children, even though there were no laws in place at the time. They were placed into their seats and belts done up. The car was "not able to ride" if for any reason there happened to be a protest about being belted up. Having worked at a school for children with cerebral palsy and head injuries, as well as a hospital for spinal cord injuries, I had seen firsthand what the effects of being involved in a car accident could be, especially if no-one was wearing a belt. 

Even though wearing a seat-belt has now become law, I shudder to see the number of children, without seat-belts, sitting in the backseat in a position where they could be catapulted through the front window if the car should brake. And even worse, are the adults who hold babies on their laps in the front passenger seat!

A visit to the Arrive Alive website will show that wearing a seat-belt reduces the probability of being killed by 50% for drivers and front seat passengers and 25% of passengers in the rear seat. The risk of death for infants is 70% and for children aged 1-4 years, 50%. And consider this - 75% of vehicle occupants who are ejected from the vehicle (not being restrained by a seat belt) during a crash die, while only 5% of restrained occupants do. 

It is not worth taking the risk, even for that short trip down the road. I know. I have a nephew in his mid-20s whose life was irreversibly changed when he lost his leg from the hip after being tossed out of a car on the way to get takeouts one night two years ago. The 19-year-old driver was killed. No-one was wearing a seat-belt.