“Biking is freedom, but safety keeps it that way.” ~ Unknown
To the concerned citizen who left the letter to the editor in the office door, your letter is not published because it was unsigned. That’s standard newspaper policy, not a critique of what you wrote, which I will address here, because it’s something I’ve been meaning to write about for a while: bicycle safety.
As I write this, one of my grandsons is getting an elbow bandaged after a bike crash. I’m thankful it’s an elbow. This summer I heard far too many calls over the scanner about kids on bikes vs. cars, some resulting in significant injury with long-term impacts. And I remember too well the death of a young former neighbor who crashed his bike and hit his head on a curb — no helmet. He was in a coma for a few weeks before he died.
One of the wonderful things about living in a small town is that our kids and grandkids can ride their bikes all over, and they do. All too often they do so without helmets or safety instructions. It has come up in casual conversation, in a recent town board meeting, and in my own car on Saturday when a kiddo failed to stop at the stop sign and proceeded to angrily wave his little arms at me as if he had the right-of-way (he did not).
As the unsigned author of the letter writes, “When I was in grade school we had bicycle training.” I remember that, too. And I remember when my own kids were small, the town had both a bicycle safety program and access to free bike helmets. What has to happen to bring those programs back? It’s not a perfect solution. There will always be accidents, and there will always be foolhardiness and ignorance, but it also might prevent a tragedy or two, and that would be worth the effort.
Thanks to the letter writer for reminding me to mention it.
The world feels like it’s going to h-e-double-toothpicks without the incentive of a handbasket right now, and we’re basically helpless to do anything about most of it, but when there is something we can do that’s positive, proactive, and beneficial, we should.