August 27, 2004
HEADS UP: HEALEY SIGNS LAW REQUIRING HELMETS FOR KIDS
Acting Governor Kerry Healey today signed into law a measure that will protect children age 16 or younger from serious head injuries and potentially fatal accidents by requiring them to wear helmets when riding bikes and scooters, rollerblading and skateboarding.
“If professional skateboarders can wear helmets, so can our kids,” said Healey. “Even Tony Hawk knows that you must take every precaution to protect yourself from injury. That’s why it’s so important that our children wear helmets.”
Healey noted that 40,000 children each year in the United States are treated in emergency rooms for head injuries sustained while riding their bikes.
The new law boosts the mandatory age for wearing a bike helmet from 12 to 16 years of age. It also fills a void by expanding the types of recreational vehicles that require child helmet use to include skateboards, in-line skates, razor scooters or other manually propelled wheeled vehicles. In addition, the measure mandates businesses that sell or rent protective gear to post information about the new law in their stores.
Healey pointed to studies that indicate wearing a bicycle helmet could reduce the risk of serious head and brain injury by as much as 90 percent.
“This is a good commonsense law that I’m proud to be a part of,” said Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino. “I applaud Governor Romney, Lieutenant Governor Healey, Representatives Toomey and Petruccelli as well as all of the child safety advocates who have been working on this legislation. We know from the example of other states that this law will save lives.”
“The popularity of these types of recreation activities is soaring. As children get older and into their teen years, they take more risks when using this equipment and they need to be protected,” said Representative Timothy J. Toomey, Jr., House Chairman of the Joint Committee on Public Safety. “We all want kids to have fun, but we also do not want them to get hurt. When they are wearing a helmet, our children significantly decrease the likelihood of sustaining serious head and spinal cord injuries. That level of protection has always been my goal.”
“As the study released by the Department of Public Health this week highlighted, traumatic brain injuries are a major public health concern and cost burden to the Commonwealth,” said Public Health Commissioner Christine C. Ferguson. “Prevention steps like this law will go a long way in helping our teens ride their bikes safely.”
Thirty-three other states and the District of Columbia currently have bicycle helmet laws and, of those states, California is the only one to have an in-line skating law. Approximately 50 percent of skating-related injuries happen to those not wearing a helmet and other protective gear such as knee pads, elbow pads and wrist braces.
“There are dozens of advocacy groups across the state who have supported this bill over the years and who thank the Governor and the legislature for passing this important law,” said Erin Christiansen, Director of the Boston Public Health Commission Injury Prevention Program and coordinator for the local chapter of the National Safe Kids Campaign. “There are easy things we can do to protect children and teens from injury, and requiring helmets is one of them.”
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