Pity the poor children in Wadley, Georgia, in the Deep South of the US. US website Bicycle Retailer and Industry news reports that in the last three years, many children in this town who rode bikes without helmets also found themselves without bikes. Although not enforced until 1997, an ordinance passed by the Wadley, Georgia's City Council in 1993 impounded bikes of helmet-less riders younger than 13.
As you'd expect, the law combined with education is getting more children in this rural Georgia town to wear helmets, a recent study found.
Whilst the report makes notes of the amount of children wearing helmets, and the amount of bikes that have been impounded, it makes no mention of any decrease in head injuries.
We're not suggesting that children wearing helmets is anything less than a VERY GOOD IDEA, but surely it should be up to individual parents to enforce rather than the police. Let's hope this idea stays firmly on the other side of the Atlantic. |
