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Bicycle Helmets Can Prevent Injuries

By Paul Grant
July 8, 2010 Updated Jul 8, 2010 at 4:03 PM EDT

According to the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute, five hundred and forty thousand bicyclists visit the emergency room every year. Many of these injuries could be prevented if they followed a few simple rules. The first and most important rule: wear a helmet. "Every child should always have protective gear and young children should be supervised," says Dr. David Goo, with Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. The second rule: bike on roads with little or no traffic. Dr. Goo adds that kids on bikes on crowded streets is a problem because some car drivers are careless, and that "it'd be better for children to ride in neighborhoods that have very little traffic or no traffic." The third rule is that all helmets should be approved by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Children should be taught to wear them on every ride starting when they get their first bike.

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