Originally published October 7 2005
Canadian study says parents must set the example for wearing helmets
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Dr. Patricia Parkin, of Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, looked at information gathered over nine years, and concluded that nearly all kids -- 95 percent -- wore protective head gear when with a helmeted adult. Only 41 percent of kids wore helmets when their parent didn't wear one.
If you want your kids to wear bicycle helmets while biking, you ought to strap on your own helmet and ride with them.
While you're at it, make sure your kids' bike buddies are also wearing helmets, and encourage kids to have a positive attitude about it.
So says a new Canadian study in Pediatrics.
When kids ride bikes, they're much more likely to wear bicycle helmets if they're with helmeted parents or friends, report Patricia Parkin, MD, and colleagues.
Parkin works in the pediatric medicine division of Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children.
Head injuries are the No. 1 cause of death in bicycle accidents.
Bicycle helmets have been shown to reduce the risk of brain and head injury in bike accidents by 65% to 88%, the researchers note.
But every year, about seven out of 1,000 U.S. kids up to age 14 have a bike-related accident.
There are about 51 hospital admissions and more than 1,400 emergency room visits for every bicycle-related death, write the researchers.
For nine years, trained observers watched kids aged 5 to 14 biking in Toronto's school yards, parks, and roads.
The observers jotted down whether the kids were wearing helmets and if they were biking alone.
Thirty-six percent were with at least one other child.
Almost all of the kids -- 95% -- wore helmets when riding with a helmeted adult.
But only 41% of the kids wore helmets when riding with a nonhelmeted grown-up.
Peer pressure also mattered, but adults were more influential.
* More than 3 out of 4 kids wore bicycle helmets when they rode with other helmeted kids.
Parents can serve as positive role models, and efforts should be made to improve kids' attitudes about wearing bike helmets, the researchers write.
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