Youngsters get pedaling in Metuchen at the kickoff of a four-month helmet safety program that runs through Sept. 30 in nine Middlesex County municipalities. I n an effort to reduce traumatic brain injury in children, Safe Kids Middlesex County of the Level 1 Trauma Center at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital kicked off its sixth annual “Wheels Under Your Feet? Helmet on Your Head! Think Positive Campaign,” a four-month helmetsafety program in nine Middlesex County municipalities on June 21.
The helmet safety campaign rewards children who wear a helmet when participating in wheeled activities such as bicycling, skateboarding, rollerblading or riding a scooter. Town police officers give a “summons” to any child “caught” wearing their helmet through Sept. 30. Each summons can be redeemed for free items and enters the child in a raffle drawing. The campaign is part of a statewide education and awareness initiative to promote the expanded helmet law requiring all children under 17 to wear a helmet.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that a properly worn helmet can reduce the risk of brain injury by as much as 90 percent. However, less than 50 percent of children wear helmets regularly.
“The goal is to get children and adolescents to wear their helmets whenever they put wheels under their feet,” said Diana Starace, Safe Kids Middlesex County coordinator and the injury-prevention coordinator for Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. “The campaign is modeled after a successful program held in Cranbury for the past 15 years. Their program has become so successful that it is estimated that approximately 90 percent of children age 14 and under wear their helmet on a regular basis.”
Last year, Cranbury police gave out over 500 summonses, and parents wear helmets as well after realizing the importance of helmet use.
“You would think we were the ice cream man,” said Sgt. Greg Pfremmer of the Cranbury Township Police Department. “The children see a police car, and if they aren’t riding their bicycles already, they will run out and put on their helmets and ride their bikes in front of us.”
Each summons awards a free scoop of ice cream, Italian ice, or slice of pizza and small soda, depending on the town’s sponsoring merchant. The summons also contains information about the new state helmet law as well as information about the correct way to wear a helmet. Every time a child receives a summons, his or her name is entered into a raffle for a new bike and helmet, with one winner from each town selected at the end of the campaign.
Dunellen, Middlesex Borough, Metuchen, Highland Park, Edison, Monroe, Plainsboro and South Brunswick are also taking part in the program. Each participating town is encouraged to hold an “All- Wheeled Sports Rodeo,” where children showing up with wheels and a helmet can go through an obstacle course and receive a “certificate” upon completion of the course. Sponsored by Safe Kids Middlesex County, the Level One Trauma Center at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, Middlesex County Comprehensive Traffic Safety Program, the Brain Injury Association of New Jersey and the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety, the campaign will be measured in terms of its success by pre- and post-campaign observational studies looking at the percentage of children wearing a helmet while participating in any wheeled sport. “Each year we expand the campaign and increase the number of youth we reach. Our long-term goal is to implement this campaign throughout Middlesex County,” noted Starace.
Anyone interested in learning more about this campaign or other safety programs may contact Safe Kids Middlesex County at 732-418-8026.