With spring here and summer not far behind, the relaxed warm-weather activities bring a plethora of safety concerns that our community needs to be vigilant about. The Chesed Fund and Project Ezra President Frank Storch recently received this heartbreaking email from a very concerned community member:
I’m not sure if you are aware of what
happened this week with a bike accident in our community. On Tuesday, I was
driving, and as I crossed over an intersection, a young boy slammed into the
side of my car. It happened so fast… I really think something needs to be done
for the safety of the kids in this community. He was riding a bike with a
motor. He was going very fast and did not stop at the stop sign. Judging from
the damage to my SUV, he had a serious impact when his bike hit the side… He
flew into the air and hit the windshield with his head and elbow. Thank G-d he
was wearing a proper helmet, but now, days later, he is still in the hospital.
I’m still shaken, and he’s still in the
hospital having needed surgery. B”H, it wasn’t
fatal, but it could have been. Just a few seconds and a guardian angel for him
and me, and thankfully he is alive. I see many kids biking, often unsafely in
the streets. We teach our kids how to ride bikes, but more importantly we need
to teach them bike safety. And when they are riding in the street, we need to
teach them to read and adhere to road signs and basic safety on the road.
The letter writer concluded by suggesting that that safety classes be
offered during school time for elementary, middle, and high school students. Mr. Storch comments,
“I couldn’t agree with this woman more. Safety training should absolutely be
part of our school curricula and is a project I have wanted to be a part of for
a very long time.”
Safety Stats and Facts
An estimated 80
million Americans ride bikes of many different types, according to Johns
Hopkins Medicine’s publication, “For Parents: Bicycling, In-Line Skating,
Skateboard, and Scooter Safety.” They recommend that cyclists of all ages
follow safe riding habits, including always wearing helmets when riding. Head
trauma is the most common injury in accidents involving bikes, in-line skates,
skateboards, and scooters and is the leading cause of death and disability in
these types of crashes. Wearing a helmet can reduce the risk of death or injury
and reduce the severity of the injury by as much as 85 percent. In fact, there
has been a 54 percent reduction in the number of bike-related deaths since
1999. Even with aggressive bicycle helmet programs and laws, however,
approximately 55 percent of children don’t always wear a helmet while
bicycling.
As popular as
biking is, electric scooters (aka e-scooters) are in competition with them for
the “in” mode of transportation nowadays. The electric scooter market is
expected to reach $41.98 billion by 2030, according to a Grand View Research
Inc. study. Working on electricity, they are one of the most cost-effective
go-to travel options for short distances. “You see so many kids using them to
get around,” notes Mr. Storch. “They are driving them at maximum speed and
darting between cars; if they are lucky, drivers spot them, but if not, they
are getting hurt, sometimes quite seriously.”
And not only
children. I heard about a middle-aged professional who decided to jump on a
neighborhood kid’s scooter – without wearing a helmet – to relive his fond
childhood scooter memories, only to fall and receive a brain injury so serious
that he could no longer work in his profession.
Health officials
have seen a dramatic increase in scooter-related accidents and injuries,
according to Johns Hopkins. Most of the injuries happen among boys under the
age of 15. The most common injuries are fractures or dislocations to the arm or
hand, followed by cuts, bruises, strains, and sprains. Almost half of all
injuries tend to happen to the arm or hand, while about one-fourth are to the
head and another fourth to the leg or foot. The CDC recommends the same
precautions for scooters as for bicycling and in-line skating. In addition to
wearing helmets, elbow pads can prevent 82 percent of elbow injuries, and knee
pads can prevent 32 percent of knee injuries. (And wrist guards prevent
injuries among in-line skaters.) Deaths directly related to scooter accidents
have also happened.
Scooters
should be ridden on smooth, paved surfaces without traffic. Don’t ride on
streets and surfaces with water, sand, gravel, or dirt. And don’t ride scooters
at night. Young children should not use scooters without close supervision.
Helmets and Safety for Kids
The Chesed Fund
and Project Ezra has run a helmet program for 35 years to help increase the
safety factor when riding bikes, scooters, and skateboards. In the last few
years, it has even established a special “Helmet Day,” providing thousands of
kids in the community with subsidized, below-cost helmets. It also offers
incentives for the kids to wear helmets when riding bikes or scooters, such as
free ice cream or fries.
“Obviously, helmets
are not the only answer,” says Mr. Storch. “Safety training is something that
kids need to learn from an early age, so if a kid is mindful about crossing
streets, reading road signs, and riding bikes and scooters safely as a young
kid, he or she is probably less likely to get hurt. Wearing reflector belts at
night when riding scooters or bikes is another way to help prevent injuries or,
chas veshalom, tragedies.”
That safety
training will once again be offered free of charge by Northwest Citizens Patrol
(NWCP) during the week of August 1 (exact date to be determined), according to
NWCP President Neil Schachter. Its popular annual program, “Safety on Wheels and
Official Bike Engraving,” will take place for boys and girls, ages 7 to 12, at
the Agudah of Park Heights on August 1, from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. The Shomrei
Emunah session will take place on Wednesday, August 3, from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m.
This informative session on bicycle and auto safety will highlight accident
prevention and proper usage of protective gear. Debbi Baer, president of the
Maryland Child Passenger Association, along with the NWCP Police Officer, will
enlighten the group on common errors people make on their bikes and in their
cars, and bring home the serious results that can occur. Send your child with
his/her bike and your driver’s license number. NWCP will engrave the bike and
mark it with the NWCP’s color tape.
You can register
in advance by calling 410-664-6927 (NWCP), ext. 8.
The Mommy in Me
Esti Taragin is
not only a physical therapist who is the manager of outpatient rehab at Sinai
Hospital, she is one of those mothers who tell every kid on the block that they
can’t ride their scooters without a helmet.
“As a physical
therapist, I have treated patients with brain injuries from jumping on a
skateboard or a scooter, falling off, and developing pretty significant
injuries,” Mrs. Taragin explains. “It’s the Mommy in me, plus I have little bit
of a medical background. Wearing a helmet any time you get on a bike, scooter,
RipStik, skateboard, or rollerblades, is super, super important.
“Another thing I
see in the community is that kids are riding in the middle of the street, and
on top of that, they are riding in the dark without any reflectors,” she
continues. “We need to educate our kids about the importance of these things.
People think that, because they are low to the ground, it is not so dangerous.
But if you fall wrong – and you can’t always control how you fall – it’s still
a risk of a significant injury. I think it’s important to educate our kids even
if they are getting on it to just go up and down the street – they need to wear
a helmet. Something can happen at any point.”
Helmets
should be approved by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Snell
Foundation, or the American Society for Testing and Materials. The helmet
should fit comfortably and snugly. It should sit on your (or your child’s) head
in a level position and not rock from side to side. The helmet should have a
chin strap and buckle to keep the helmet in place. The helmet should be made
out of a hard outer shell and an absorbing liner at least one-half inch thick.
Jumping for Joy?
Dr. Dov Frankel, attending
ER physician at GBMC, concurs, but adds, “If you want to know what the biggest
injury is that comes into the ER, trampolines is one of the big ones. A lot of
the trampolines I have seen in our community have net fences, but there are a
lot that don’t and are open. I’m not saying that if you have a net it’s fine. With
a net, there is probably less of a chance of getting some of the injuries I
see. You are bouncing around and have no control once you are so high up in the
air. You land in an area that you are not used to. You have a FOOSH (fall on outstretched
hand) reflex and that’s how you get all the fractures. So many people bouncing
at a time makes getting an injury even more risky…Trampolines are just a
disaster; there are so many ways for it to go wrong, even though I know it is
so much fun.”
Dr. Frankel
continues to say that trampoline accidents are followed by all the hoverboard
and scooter accidents. “The reality is that, if people would listen and wear
helmets, shin guards, and wrist guards, then it is safe. You are not going to
break anything.”
Water Safety Tips
Regarding pool
safety, there can never be too much safety when it comes to watching your
children by the pool. Some time ago, I heard a story of a mother who was
“watching” her toddler at a neighborhood swimming pool. Unfortunately, she
either took her eyes off him to text on her cell phone or was shmoozing with
another parent, while the toddler drowned, r”l
– which reminds me of another horror story I heard about a mother whose
young child was left unattended in the bathtub as she answered the door and shared
the same fate as the child at the pool. No child should be by a pool alone, and
there should be multiple locks and safeguards around the pool to make it very
difficult to access it.
Mr. Storch agrees,
noting that swimming pool and beach safety is a huge concern in the warmer
months. “No one should ever swim alone; using a buddy system is an easy
solution. Swimming at a beach without a lifeguard or without knowing how to
respond to dangerous riptides has unfortunately taken the lives of too many
people in our own community in the last few years.”
Enjoy the Great Outdoors…Safely
Mr. Storch also
reminds us of the increase in tick bites and the potential for Lyme disease
during the warm seasons. Making sure to dress accordingly when hiking or
outdoors as well as checking yourself or your children for ticks after being
outdoors are great preventative measures.
“It is also
important that summer camps train their staff in important lifesaving measures
such as first aid and CPR,” continues Mr. Storch. “If camps or families plan
trips to amusement parks or other events, it is critical to follow all the rules,
such as height and weight restrictions, etc., and to take precautions not to
lose any campers. Additionally, many people travel more during the spring and
summer and should make sure to store emergency gear like a first aid kit and
flashlight in their cars.”
For those planning
a summer vacation, The Chesed Fund recently developed two free important
resources – a national Chaverim card with a listing of over 40 Chaverim phone
numbers from across the country, and an international Hatzalah and Shomrim
card. They both can be downloaded on its site and then stored in your car.
