HUNTINGTON BEACH : Schools Due to Act on Bicycle Helmets

Huntington Beach City School District trustees are expected to adopt a policy Tuesday that “strongly encourages” youngsters to wear bicycle safety helmets when riding their bikes to and from school, to reduce chances of serious head injuries.

The policy would stop short of making helmets mandatory, a top priority for Judi Brenner, a mother of two boys in the district and a former pediatrics and emergency room nurse.

But the proposed policy is the next best thing, she said. “That is our long-term goal, making helmets mandatory,” Brenner said this week.

“I would love to see them arrive with a helmet on their head, but we will do it step by step. This will let people know that there is a policy. It will send a message.”

School officials said that they support Brenner’s desire for bicycle safety and the voluntary use of helmets, but that requiring mandatory safety headgear poses enforcement problems and may raise civil-rights questions.

“Helmets can be pretty expensive, especially if there are several children in the family,” Board President Brian Garland said. “What do you do, suspend the kids who aren’t wearing helmets? Our job is to get kids to school, not send them home.”

Sowers School Principal Ian Collins, who has seen three of his pupils injured in accidents this year, said that a mandatory helmet policy may bring the civil-rights issue into play.

Schools can impose bicycle rules on their property, but they might be challenged if they try to set standards on public streets, he said.

Helmet proponent Brenner said that most youngsters who are killed in bicycle accidents die of head injuries. And helmets reduce injuries by 85%, according a 1988 finding in the New England Journal of Medicine, she said.

Brenner said bicycle accidents are a leading cause of death and disability for youngsters, claiming the lives of 400 to 500 children under the age of 15 each year.

She said police records show there were 179 bicycle accidents with 163 injuries last year in Huntington Beach, “some very serious and many involving children.”

The helmet policy, which received its first reading two weeks ago, takes effect when adopted.

Principals will send letters to parents urging the use of helmets.

The policy is expected to receive another boost next fall during Bicycle Safety Education Week at schools. The use of helmets will be strongly urged, Brenner said.