Bicyclists should wear helmets

Chris Scherer of West Windsor
    The Packet recently ran a photo on the front page showing a woman without a helmet riding her bike. She was riding with a child (presumably her son) on a trail-a-bike attached to her bike. Fortunately, the child was wearing a helmet. It is the law in New Jersey (Title 39 of the Motor Vehicles and Traffic Regulation laws; 39:4-10.1) that children 17 and under are required to wear helmets.
   As adults we set powerful examples for children, and I would like to remind parents to wear their own helmets, too. The data on bicycle-related accidents reveal that:
   • Nearly 90 percent of deaths from bicycle crashes are the result of head trauma.
   • Permanent brain damage can result from an impact of 300 gs (g represents g-force, a measurement of an object’s acceleration), while skull fracture and even death can result from 500 gs.
   • A head-first fall from bicycle height to concrete surface (on a stationary bicycle) can cause 1800 gs.
   • A properly fitted helmet can reduce g-force from 1,800 gs to less than 200 gs.
   • If 100 percent of bicyclists were to wear helmets, bicycle deaths would decrease by 75 percent.
   I know from experience how important it is to wear a helmet. Having been hit by inattentive automobile drivers and having survived because I was wearing a helmet, I never leave my driveway on a bicycle (or motorcycle) without wearing one.
   Parents, please put on your helmets and set a good example for your children. Your head is just as precious as theirs. Please think first. What would they do without you if you were to have a collision? If you don’t wear your helmet, thinking may not be an option for you.
Chris Scherer,
West Windsor Bicycle
and Pedestrian Alliance
Literacy Day
Thank-you
To the editor:
    On behalf of Literacy Volunteers in Mercer County, we would like to thank the Princeton Public Library for hosting the first ever Literacy Day on Sept. 20.
   With the help of Mary Lou Hartman of the Princeton Public Library, Marilyn Shteir, English library volunteer, Glenn Moore, president of the Literacy Volunteer Board of Trustees, and Eleanor Horne, president of the Social Investment Fund at the Educational Testing Service, we were able to put together an informative program to highlight the need for greater awareness of literacy education in Mercer County.
   The inspirational moments of the event were the encouragement and praise provided by Congressman Rush Holt, our guest speaker, and the testimonials of adult literacy students and volunteer tutors as to how English literacy can transform lives in the Mercer County community.
   An estimated 60,000 adults in Mercer County read at fifth-grade level or below. The lack of basic skills strongly correlates with a wide range of problems – poverty, unemployment, crime, loss of productivity in the workplace and lack of parental involvement in children’s education. Research shows that as literacy levels of parents increase, so does their child’s educational success.
   Princeton Public Library, along with the Educational Testing Service and Congressman Holt, deserve recognition for their efforts to combat this problem. We at the Literacy Volunteers in Mercer County offer our sincere appreciation to them for their leadership and support in such an important matter.
Faye Abdou,
Lydia Frank,
Trustees,
Literacy Volunteers
Mercer County