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Camarillo police reward kids for wearing helmets
Deputies deliver high-fives
Juan Carlo / Star staff Kendra Hammond, left, helps daughter Sara Hammond put on her helmet as Deputy Ed Beauvais tells them about its importance. At right, Deputy Todd Eskridge high-fives Jacob Hammond for wearing his helmet.
Video: Rewarding safety
Instead of being ticketed, Camarillo kids are lauded for wearing their helmets.
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More from CamarilloCamarillo police are handing out rewards instead of punishments to motivate children to wear safety helmets.
Earlier this month, deputies started special patrols to spot and reward children wearing properly fastened helmets while on bikes, skateboards, scooters and skates.
The patrols are part of the Camarillo Police Department's first High Five to Stay Alive helmet safety program. A helmeted youngster receives a certificate for a free ice cream cone from McDonald's, a $20 gift card from Target and a high-five from a deputy.
Friendlier face for police
"This is so much fun," Deputy Ed Beauvais said of his new role as a positive reinforcement officer.
"You blindside the kids because they're used to seeing police officers as the guy who's going to punish them."
On a recent Wednesday afternoon, Beauvais pulled his patrol vehicle to the side of the road to congratulate two girls riding scooters and wearing helmets.
The girls stopped their scooters in an instant. Beauvais explained they were being rewarded, and their fear turned to surprise.
"When (children) actually do the right thing, and you see their faces, it lights up your day," said Beauvais, the school resource officer for the Pleasant Valley School District.
Camarillo police will also provide a free helmet to any child who needs one.
More than a year ago, the Kiwanis Club of Camarillo donated about 50 helmets of all sizes, which are available upon request at the station.
High Five to Stay Alive is the brainchild of Camarillo Senior Deputy Julie Novak, who said she would like to see it become permanent.
After receiving reports that many students were riding home from school without helmets, Novak said Camarillo deputies increased efforts to warn children and call parents about the importance of wearing them. Repeat offenders can get citations and a $25 fine.
"You need the negative consequences — that's important — but we want them to be motivated," Novak said,
The Breakfast Rotary Club of Camarillo donated $1,000 to fund the program, which Novak believes is already having a positive impact.
Tyler Smith, 13, was warned for not wearing a helmet earlier in the school year and was rewarded for wearing one last week.
Bumped, bruised, wiser
The Monte Vista Middle School seventh-grader said "everybody" at school knows about the program and that a lot of students wear helmets now.
Tyler said he would not wear a helmet before because he thought they were "rickety" and "bounced back and forth too much."
Now, he said, he wears one mainly to avoid going back to the hospital.
"I broke my arm three times and cracked my head open twice," Tyler said of his bicycle-related injuries.
Janet O'Leary, trauma program manager and injury prevention coordinator at St. John's Regional Medical Center, said the majority of injuries involving bikes, skateboards and skates are to the arms and legs.
California law requires only that children wear helmets, but O'Leary recommends they also wear wrist, elbow and knee guards to prevent extremity injuries.
Patrick FitzGerald, principal at Las Colinas Middle School, said getting children to wear helmets takes a continual effort by parents, police and schools. FitzGerald said school and community programs have helped to change the way students think.
"I don't know if it's become cool, but it's no longer uncool to wear them," FitzGerald said.
"It's become part of the equipment you use. If you get a bike or a skateboard, you get a helmet."
Posted by Andrew_Smolik on April 29, 2008 at 2:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Shame on those who peddle (no pun intended) the lie that helmets are a panacea for safe bicycling or that bicycling is an exceptionally dangerous activity. See the list of “Cyclists Killed While Wearing Helmets” at http://members.shaw.ca/jtubman/deadhe... . In summary, it notes:
“A polystyrene cycle helmet without a hard shell is designed to take a single direct impact at no more than 20 km/h. It is not magic.”
“And remember that severe bike accidents are pretty rare, and bike deaths are even rarer. (In Canada, more people die by falling out of bed (an average of 78 per year) than from cycling accidents; 5 times as many die from falling on stairs; and 2.5 times as many die from tripping and falling on level surfaces [source: Statistics Canada's reports on external causes of morbidity and mortality, 2000--2003].)”
Also see the Bicycle Helmet Research Foundation's website at http://www.cyclehelmets.org/ and the “Vehicular Cyclist” website's “Helmet FAQ” at http://www.magma.ca/~ocbc/hfaq.html . Note on the http://www.cyclehelmets.org/ homepage that countries with the least helmet use while bicycling are also the ones which happen to be the safest for bicycling.
The bicyclists who should really be getting the rewards are the ones who use the proper roadway position and direction (particularly at intersections and driveways) and stay off the sidewalks, which is the focus of Thousand Oaks' new bicycling education campaign as reported today at http://www.venturacountystar.com/news... .
Posted by tiredofviolence on April 29, 2008 at 7:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow Andrew-
this sure hit a sore spot with you, huh? These are not experienced riders, they are kids on scooters and bikes - they do not know "proper roadway postion", they are more than likely riding on a sidewalk in their own neighborhood. Yeah, helmets arent magic, but they beat wearing nothing. Good for the police officers encouraging the kids to be safe. Nice to see a nice article and not a messy violent one like every other day.
Posted by JohnAlamillo on April 29, 2008 at 1:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It's not the impact of vehicle vs. bike it's the impact of head vs. curb or asphalt. The simple act of falling off a bike can cause trauma. A helmet reduces that kind of risk.
Posted by sparks240 on April 29, 2008 at 6:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The little girl giving the cop a high five in the photo, might as well not be wearing a helmet. Her helmet is pushed so far back on her head, any face plant she does will result in a head injury. If the police are rewarding kids for wearing ill-fitting or improperly fastened helmets, they are doing a disservice to those kids.
Posted by Andrew_Smolik on April 29, 2008 at 9:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
“Data from one study [4] suggests that those wearing a helmet are more than 7 times likely to hit their heads if they do [crash].
“Many falls result in arm and shoulder impacts that keep an unhelmeted head just clear of the ground. A helmeted head, being twice as big and a little heavier, is more likely to hit something.
“[4] Wasserman RC, Waller JA, Monty MJ, Emery AB, Robinson DR. Bicyclists, helmets and head injuries: a rider-based study of helmet use and effectiveness. 1988. American Journal of Public Health: 1988 Sep;78(9):1220-1”
source: Bicycle Helmet Research Foundation, http://www.cyclehelmets.org/mf.html?1019
Posted by Andrew_Smolik on April 29, 2008 at 10:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
When first learning to balance on a bicycle, such as with training wheels, of course it is best to find locations without intersections and intersecting driveways (where collisions are the most likely) but with plenty of smooth-surfaced obstacle-free space (since most bicycling crashes don't even involve others). Under such optimal conditions, “proper roadway position” is quite simple: keep right except to pass but without nearly swiping the curb or edge. Empty parking lots might even be good. Sidewalks generally do not meet such conditions, though, which is why they are not optimal for bicycling.
Posted by goldeneye on May 1, 2008 at 7:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I think we ought to next have deputies changing kids diapers and cleaning litter boxes when old ladies are too tired to do housework. Give me a break.
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