During this year’s Summer Sizzler I had the pleasure of attending a Bike Rodeo and Safety Day on Jun. 18 and I was surprised to hear that Saskatchewan does not have a law on mandatory bike helmets.
In Ontario we have had a bike helmet law mandating that children under the age of 18 must be wearing a bike helmet at all times for as long as I can remember.
Wearing a helmet is extremely vital and not only wearing a helmet but also wearing it properly.
Not wearing a helmet can be a costly mistake to make.
According to Saskatchewan Health between 1995 and 2004, 353 children under the age of 19 were hospitalized due to a head injury suffered while riding a bicycle, with a total of eight deaths.
In the same study, Saskatchewan Health noted that four out of every five cycling related deaths in the province were associated with head injuries.
In 2010 those numbers increased in Saskatchewan with five deaths alone in that year. There were also 32 permanent partial disabilities and five permanent total disabilities in 2010, according to The Cost of Injury in Canada released in 2010.
My parents were always very adamant with me that I wear a helmet and I admit as I got older I started tuning them out more and more for a number of years. Eventually I did stop wearing a helmet for a long time but as I started to grow out of my teenage years and back into my 20’s, I started realizing that not wearing a helmet was just not worth the possible head injuries that you can suffer.
The numbers do not paint a great picture either as only 17 per cent of Saskatchewan cyclists between the age of 12 and 19 wore a helmet when cycling according to the Canadian Community Health Survey released in 2009, while the Canadian average was 30.6 per cent.
In the same 2009 report, 37 per cent of all Canadians wore a bicycle helmet when cycling. In the four provinces that have mandatory bicycle helmet legislation for all ages those numbers increase to well above the national average. In Saskatchewan however, where there is no legislation that number drops well below the national average to 22 per cent.
According to a study done in 2009 by Thompson DC, Rivara F, Thompson R, helmet usage reduces the risk of head and brain injury by to up 85 per cent.
While still not perfect odds I like 85 per cent a lot better than zero per cent.
I understand it can be hard to wear a helmet while riding your bike in high school because of the ridicule you might receive for it.
There is a simple solution just tell them you value your health over “looking cool” and leave it at that. Besides today’s helmets come in so many different styles that you can look cool while also wearing a helmet.
So please, just wear one. No one in your community wants to hear about how you were seriously injured, or even worse, killed, because you thought you did not need a helmet.
It is just not worth it.
