Gave away an old helmet yesterday...

... one I was wearing in a 85 mph getoff at Gateway International last year. It was a bit rashed up (not much), and it probably should have gone straight to the trash can... not sure why I kept it for so long, seeing as how I replaced it with a new one immediately.

Anyhow, yesterday afternoon, I heard a trio of 50cc motors circling the block... looked out the window to see three kids between 12 and 14 riding these mini bikes with full fairings... bigger than pocket bikes, but still very small, certainly not street legal. It looked like fun, but I was slightly disappointed to see not a one of them wearing a helmet. I had a sudden flash of inspiration:

I went to the garage and pulled out my rashed lid. I went outside and stood on the sidewalk until one of the kids came around the block again. When the first kid rolled up, I stepped out into the street, and he slowed to a stop, probably thinking I was going to lecture him or otherwise ruin his fun. I walked over and handed him the helmet and said "Take it. You can keep it."

He looked very surprised, and asked "Really?"

I said "Sure, it's yours."

One of his compatriots who saw this, rode up and said "Thanks, sir!" to me as I was walking back to my house.

Today the kids were on their bikes again. The kid I gave the helmet to was wearing it, and his two buddies both had bicycle helmets on.

That made me pretty happy.

go buy some $20 helmets from wallmart or who ever seels cheap helmets like this give it to the other kids, if i had a spare helmet i would send it to you...


Good Move..

that's awesome

That's a great story!

Same thing going on in my neighborhood , why don't these parents give a crap about thier kids safety?

Same problem in our neighborhood too! Some of you might remember Scott posting about this problem. We finally wrote a letter to the parents, telling them that the kids MUST have helmets on.
I don't see the kids riding as much anymore. I believe they started wearing bicycle helmets. I guess it is better than nothing right? I wish the parents would have bought them real gear to wear. They have plenty of money, apparently they just don't care about the kids. Sad.

While I felt pretty good that I was able to get the kids to wear some headgear, I can see how kids end up riding $600 power toys without any protection for their noggins...

People just perceive these things differently. If you ask a pediatric neurosurgery nurse (my sister), she'll tell you that allowing any child to even look at a mini bike or a ATV is a heinous act of child abuse. In her mind, these contraptions are designed to turn children into parapalegics. And that's exactly the conclusion any one of us would come to if we had to take care of every parapalegic kid in the bi-state area.

Of course, people get killed every day taking baths, walking up the stairs, driving to the grocery store, etc. but she doesn't seem to think we all need helmets when we do these things... probably because it's not her department to deal with dead motorists, stair climbers and bathers.

It's part of the human condition... we obsess about the handful of dangers that have the most impact on our daily lives... not necessarily the dangers that present the most risk. Us motorcyclists, we see potential head injuries ruining our fun. Electricians wring their hands about poor grounding. The public health inspector sees potential food poisoning everywhere.

We are all ignorant of at least some of the perils that await us.