In California, it's the law: Anyone under 18 must wear a helmet while bicycling.
Raise your hand if you've seen kids biking sans "lid"?
That's a lot, but at least our state has a law.
A new report by the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital show that in areas where no bicycle helmet laws exist, nearly one-half of children, ages 4 to 17, never wear a helmet.
Here are the grim facts about kids and bike injuries: Every three days, a child in the United States is killed while riding a bicycle, and every day at least 100 children are treated in emergency rooms due to bicycle-related head injuries.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has determined that universal bicycle helmet use by children, ages 4 to 15, would prevent about 40,000 head injuries and about 50,000 scalp and face injuries every year.
By the way, here's California's youth helmet law:
21212. (a) A person under 18 years of age shall not operate a bicycle, a nonmotorized scooter, or a skateboard, nor shall they wear in-line or roller skates, nor ride upon a bicycle, a nonmotorized scooter, or a skateboard as a passenger, upon a street, bikeway, as defined in Section 890.4 of the Streets and Highways Code, or any other public bicycle path or trail unless that person is wearing a properly fitted and fastened bicycle helmet that meets the standards of either the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) or the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), or standards subsequently established by those entities. This requirement also applies to a person who rides upon a bicycle while in a restraining seat that is attached to the bicycle or in a trailer towed by the bicycle.
