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Helmet Safety – Every Time You Ride

The single most effective safety device to reduce head injury and death from bicycle crashes is a helmet! Wearing a properly fitting helmet can reduce the chances of serious head injuries by 85%. Teach your children to wear helmets and follow simple safety guidelines, and you can create safe habits that last a lifetime.

The best way to stay safe when biking or skateboarding is to always wear a helmet.

  • Make sure the helmet fits and your child knows how to put it on correctly.
  • A helmet should sit level on the top of the head with the rim one to two finger-widths above the eyebrows, and should not rock forward and backward or side-to-side. The straps of the helmet should form a “V” under the ears and must always be buckled snugly.
  • Remember, bike helmets are for biking. Kids should not wear their helmets on the playground, where straps can get caught on equipment and cause injury, or for activities that require specialized helmets, such as skiing and football.
  • Make sure the bike is the right size for your child, and in good repair.
  • Also check your child’s bike to be sure it’s in good working order. Check to be sure reflectors are secure, brakes work properly, gears shift smoothly, and tires are tightly secured and properly inflated.
  • Model and teach proper bicyclist behavior. Ride on the right side of the road, with traffic, not against it. Stay as far to the right as possible. Use appropriate hand signals and respect traffic signals, stopping at all stop signs and stop lights.

Safety in a Snap!

Presented by St. Luke's Children's Hospital and Kohl's Cares®

The Safety in a Snap! program focuses on motor vehicle, bike, and water safety, reminding parents and kids to snap your life jackets, bike helmets, and car seat clips or seat belts to help prevent the top three causes of death and injury to children: bike and motor vehicle accidents, and drowning. Safety in a Snap! is funded by a grant from Kohl's department stores and the Kohl's Cares® cause merchandise program. Through this initiative, Kohl's donates a percentage of sales to benefit children's health and education programs nationwide, including hospital partnerships like ours. Kohl's helps us promote safety by providing free helmets and car seats for local families.
Picture Your Health.

How do you define health? Physical? Mental? Social? Health goes beyond medical care. It's how we take care of ourselves, how we interact with our communities, how we take care of each other.

Let St. Luke's support your health, however you define it.

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