Recently a classmate of mine was badly injured in a bike accident. He was riding down a hill and crashed. Luckily he was wearing a helmet and it probably saved him from serious brain damage. Since then, kids in the fourth-grade at Pioneer Elementary have been remembering to wear their helmets. A very high percentage of cyclists’ brain injuries can be prevented by wearing a helmet.

Even though nearly all kids have heard it is a good idea to wear a helmet, many kids still don’t. In fourth-grade at Pioneer Elementary, teachers asked kids if they wear their helmets every time they go on bikes or things like that and a little less than half the kids said they don’t. Kids and adults get serious injuries from not wearing one. Health care costs rise every time someone gets hurt.

If wearing helmets were a law, parents would be stricter because kids not wearing a helmet could get a fine. Parents would also be stricter because of injuries and accidents that could happen to their kids. Now that wearing a seatbelt is a law, for example, parents have been stricter about kids’ seat belts.

I realize the police department is busy enough with what they do already but if policemen are driving around and see kids riding bikes with helmets on, they could probably just stop, roll down their window, and say, “Good job for wearing your helmet.” Or if they are not wearing one, all they have to do is give them a warning. It’s not hard at all.

For the safety of children, Arlington should pass a bicycle helmet law for kids.

Jordan Kraski

Pioneer Elementary