Offering free Rita’s Water Ice to those spotted
By: Michelle McGuinness
The Cranbury Police Department will make wearing a bicycle helmet cool this summer by offering children age 16 and under coupons for free Rita’s Water Ice if they’re seen wearing them.
Cranbury officers who are on patrol from the end of June through the end of September will hand out the free water ice coupons this summer as part of Wheels Under Your Feet, Helmet on Your Head, which was organized by the Fraternal Order of Police in conjunction with the Cranbury Police Department.
Any youngster in Cranbury seen wearing a helmet while riding a bicycle, skateboard, scooter or similar item is eligible to receive the tickets as part of the program, which has been run for about 10 years.
"The kids love it," Cranbury Patrol Officer Greg Pfremmer said. "They’ve been asking ‘when is it starting, when is it starting?’ "
Officer Pfremmer said a child can receive more than one ticket during the summer and that the child’s name and phone number will be written down by officers. On Cranbury Day in September, all those names will be placed into a raffle where the children can win a $300 gift certificate to The Bicycle Rack in East Windsor.
Officer Pfremmer said water ice coupons, good for one kid size water ice, were donated by Mike Fogerty, who owns the Rita’s Water Ice in East Windsor where the coupons can be used.
"I think it’s a great thing that the cops are making sure the kids are safe," Mr. Fogerty said. "It’s for the community."
Mr. Forgerty said he was happy to donate coupons to a cause that could help keep children in the area safe.
Officer Pfremmer said that even though most kids in the area wear helmets, he wants to see even more particularly teenagers heed the state law that requires children 16 and under to wear helmets.
According to Officer Pfremmer, bicycles can be confiscated and parents notified if a child is not wearing a helmet.
He said Cranbury police are not out to punish children, and would rather reward them if they are wearing a helmet.
He said about two or three years ago Meghan Palagyi, then 16, was hit by a car traveling about 50 mph on Plainsboro Road. Though not required by law, Ms. Palagyi was wearing a helmet at the time.
"It probably saved her life," Officer Pfremmer said.
Officer Pfremmer is confident the program encourages more children to wear helmets, regardless of the new law.
"We’re very lucky where we have a very high compliance," Officer Pfremmer said. "I attribute it to this program."
He said that when officers are out on patrol in summer, children who see police vehicles immediately throw on helmets and jump on their bikes.
"It’s really cool," he said. "We really get a kick out of it."
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, the Brain Injury Association of New Jersey and the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety have provided materials and educational pamphlets for the event.

