Friday, December 30, 2005
Playing it Safe
Experts: Helmets help cut risk when kids get gift wheels
JIM HAUG
The Daytona Beach News-Journal
STAFF WRITER
 Corey Rodas, 12, above, plays on his skateboard and Sydney Rodas, 9, below, plays on her scooter while wearing protective head gear in the driveway of their Ormond Beach home. 
News-Journal photos by Nigel Cook |
ORMOND BEACH — Four days after Christmas, kids show off their bicycles, scooters and skateboards at a city park.
The sight is enough to make a concerned parent cringe.
Only two of the two dozen or so boys at the Nova Road skate park have strapped on a helmet.
Cousins Steven Campbell, 9, and Matthew Campbell, 7, are the only children under the supervision of an adult, Tom Campbell, who is Steven’s dad and Matthew’s uncle.
Mardi Rodas won’t even go to the skate park anymore with her kids. As the mother of two and the wife of a neurosurgeon, she said the sight of kids jumping over ramps without helmets “drives me nuts.” A fall of 2 feet is enough to cause a traumatic brain injury, which puts all bicyclists, skateboarders and scooter riders at risk, according to ThinkFirst, the National Injury Prevention Foundation.
To emphasize safety, Rodas said her husband, Dr. Raul Rodas, shows the family images of brain injuries.
One injury was from a boy who got a new scooter, Rodas said. “He thought he was cool. Then bam!” The boy hit the side of the garage.
As the mother of a 12-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter, Rodas worries that the brain does not heal as well as other body parts. “It’s just not as resilient,” she said.
The good news is that the chance of a serious injury decreases significantly if a helmet is worn, said Dr. John Prairie, an emergency room doctor at the Halifax Medical Center who advocates their use. “If you’re riding an open vehicle (like a skateboard or bicycle), why take the risk?”
Kids at the Ormond Beach skate park don’t think the injuries will happen to them.
“If you worry about getting hurt, you’re not going to live your life to the fullest,” said Mike, 13, who didn’t want his last name used to avoid getting in trouble with his parents.
Besides, the helmets are just not cool.
“I think it’s a loser style,” said William, 10, who also didn’t want his last named used. “My dad does make me wear (a helmet), but they get lost. Sometimes, I throw them away.”
For children’s safety, Florida requires helmets of bicycle riders younger than 16, but the same rule does not apply to skateboarders and in-line skaters. Users are considered legally responsible for their own injuries and damages, regardless of their age.
Mark O’Keefe, the spokesman for EVAC ambulance, said the “missing ingredient” in so many accidents involving children is the absence of adult supervision.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a new bicycle, skateboard or Red Ryder BB gun,” O’Keefe said.
To emphasize his point, O’Keefe recalled the movie, “A Christmas Story.”
“When Ralphie went outside (on Christmas morning) with his new BB gun, his parents stayed inside. What happened? He almost shot his eye out.”
This holiday season has had its share of real accidents involving kids. Two teenage brothers were taken to the Halifax Medical Center on Christmas Day after a head-on collision on all-terrain vehicles in Oak Hill, O’Keefe said. A 13-year-old boy was in-line skating in Altamonte Springs when he was hit by a SUV. He died from his injuries Thursday morning, according to news reports.
Rodas goes out of her way to stress safety. She has a message for the neighborhood kids who gather in her driveway.
“I always tell them we wear helmets here.”
Serial story: THE MOUSE AND THE MOTORCYCLE