Don’t be a statistic. Set a good example.

There’s an anti-smoking commercial airing that has pulled at the heartstrings of many parents. Maybe you know the one? The ad that shows a toddler left by his parent at the top of an escalator in a busy train station. The commercial states that it only took the boy 60 seconds to react and appear distraught at the absence of his parent and encourages viewers to imagine if this boy lost his parents for good. There has been some controversy over the harshness of that ad, and whether or not you find it a bit over the top or not, the message certainly rings clear.

The emotions evoked in that ad are similar to those we have at Bell about a child that may be left behind because a parent failed to wear their helmet and incurred a devastating injury as a result, putting a child in the emotionally and physically difficult circumstances to try and take on an emergency situation and, even worse potentially leaving a parent unable to care for their own child long-term. In most cases, it’s a scenario that never need present itself through simple prevention.

And despite the many articles, like this one from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts’s AHealthyMe site or like this one on Education.com, and studies pointing out the importance of parents wearing helmets to set the proper example, there are still many occasions where those of us of us here at Bell Sports see parents out with their kids riding bikes and the parents are not wearing a helmet. Knowing the research statistics on bike-related injuries and watching the intensive testing that we put our helmets through, it makes us shudder when we see parents without helmets. Does it mean you’re a bad parent? No. Does it mean you can do better? We can always be better, and this is one example of something very simple we can do to set up our kids to practice good safety habits and even act as a role model to other children.

According to the results of a study from researchers at the University of Toronto in Ontario, Canada that appears on the Children’s Hospital website, adult and peer helmet use when bike riding is positively associated with helmet use in kids. Data associated with this study showed that 95% of children wore a helmet when riding with an adult who wore a helmet compared to the only 41% of children that wore a helmet when riding with an adult who didn’t wear a helmet. And, if your child can set the example of wearing a helmet, further data from the study shows that 77% wore a helmet when riding with another child who wore a helmet. The study emphatically suggests that by wearing a helmet it’s a great way to encourage your child to wear one, too. And we agree.