Put a Lid on It! Bike Helmet Safety Week 2014

Your support will allow the Ohio AAP Foundation to provide additional bike helmets to children throughout Ohio as part of Bike Helmet Safety Week in 2014, May 9 - 18. By May of 2014 the Ohio AAP Foundation will have distributed over 10,000 bike helmets to those in need. Bicycles are tied to more childhood injuries than any consumer product, including trampolines, ladders, and swimming pools. In 2010, the number of people injured by NOT wearing a bike helmet was 51,000 – enough children to fill the University of Akron’s James A. Rhodes Arena nearly 10 times. Currently in Ohio, estimates are that just 10-20% of children wear bike helmets, yet more than 70 percent of children ages 5 to 14 ride a bicycle regularly. Seventy-five percent of bike-related fatalities among children would be prevented with a helmet. Helmet use can reduce head injury risks by 85% and severe brain injury by 88%.

Universal use of bicycle helmets by children ages 4 to 15 could prevent between 135 and 155 deaths, between 39,000 and 45,000 head injuries, and between 18,000 and 55,000 scalp and face injuries annually. A $10.00 bike helmet saves the healthcare system $41.00 per child.