Saratoga News
News
Citation can be a kid's ticket to bicycle helmet safety class
By Shannon Burkey
Last year, 145 children under the age of 15 were killed across the United States while riding their bicycles. Of that number, 97 percent were not wearing helmets.
These numbers aren't meant to keep kids from riding their bicycles, but with numbers that high and growing, the Traffic Safe Communities Network, a division of the Santa Clara County Public Health Department, said it wanted to do something to educate children on the difference a helmet can make.
"You're pretty defenseless. Whether you're in the right or wrong, a car is always going to win," said Ellen Corman, an injury prevention and special projects coordinator at Stanford University Medical Center. "Our point is not to keep kids from riding, but to teach them to ride smart."
Corman said an average of 1.5 bicycle accident victims come into Stanford's trauma center each day. That is why, as the chairwoman of TSCN's bicycle and pedestrian subcommittee, she felt it important to offer a class that addressed bicycle and pedestrian safety geared toward children.
"One of the things we wanted to do was look at helmet use. There are lots of programs that give away helmets, but just giving a kid a helmet doesn't make them want to wear it--they need the education," she said.
Through a grant from the state, TSCN began its pilot program, the Juvenile Traffic Diversion Program. The program, now going into its second year, targets youths who have been ticketed by law enforcement for not wearing a helmet or for pedestrian violations, such as not using a crosswalk.
Although the class is run through the public health department, the classes are jointly taught by the Los Altos, Mountain View and Palo Alto police departments, the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department and the Sunnyvale Public Safety Department.
The two-hour class, which can be taken in place of paying the $120 fine for jaywalking or not wearing a helmet, focuses on rules of the road, common traffic violations and bicycle safety. Each class also ends with testimony from a traumatic head injury survivor.
Saratoga neighborhood resource officer, Deputy Brad Davis, is responsible for running the class for the sheriff's office. Though he said officers don't like ticketing kids, he feels the class is vital.
"The information they are getting is really good and beneficial, and I think it does sink in," he said. "For the most part, the most powerful thing is they've never really heard the story first-hand from someone who's suffered a traumatic brain injury."
Dean Discher, a police officer in Sunnyvale, said officers are not out there writing tickets to harass kids; they are doing it because they truly believe it makes a difference.
John Milstead, who spoke to the June 4 class, suffered traumatic brain injury after a car accident in 1985. At that time he had just graduated from high school, received a score in the top 5 percent in the country on his SATs, was named Athlete of the Year by the San Jose Mercury News, and had been accepted into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
His accident occurred five days before he was set to leave for West Point. And though his injuries did not occur while riding a bicycle, the traumatic head injuries he sustained were similar to something that could happen in a bicycle accident.
"I never thought this could happen to me," he told the class. "I went from having an SAT score in the top 5 percent in the country and getting ready to head toward one of the most prestigious colleges in the country to being congratulated on finishing third-grade material."
To help make his point, Milstead asked one student to try and tie his shoe without using his right hand. He asked another to put a T-shirt on without using her right hand. "These are two examples of how your life might change after a traumatic brain injury."
Though sobering, class organizers believe Milstead's message really helps to make the difference in what the students take with them.
"Be smart. You don't want to discover what a traumatic brain injury will do to the rest of your life," Milstead said. "This isn't going to just go away. It stays with you for the rest of your life."
