Helmet Saves Young Bicyclist From Serious Injury in Collision : Accident: Huntington Beach girl is among first to benefit from new state law requiring minors to wear protective headgear while riding.

Marcia White knows firsthand what can happen to bicyclists who refuse to wear a helmet because they think it may not be “cool.”

A helmet saved the 11-year-old from serious injury or worse when she collided with a car while riding home from school Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s stupid not to” wear a helmet, the sixth-grader said Thursday. “They can definitely save your life.”

Marcia, a student at Isaac L. Sowers Middle School, was a block from her home when the accident occurred. She was thrown onto the hood of the car as it slowed for a stop sign. The impact was so great that her helmet shattered the windshield, Police Lt. Chuck Poe said.

The youngster was hurled to the ground and struck her head on the pavement. The helmet cracked, but Marcia was spared.

“The helmet saved her from serious injury,” said Fire Capt. Bob Filipek, whose engine company paramedics treated Marcia. “Bottom line: It saved her a lot of problems.”

Paramedics stabilized Marcia’s back and neck and took her by ambulance to Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, where she was treated and released. She returned to school the next day.

Marcia is among the first children saved from serious injury since a new state law requiring minors to wear helmets while cycling went into effect Jan. 1, authorities said.

Shirley Carey, a Huntington Beach City School District trustee and a neighbor of Marcia’s, said the girl has been wearing her helmet “religiously.”

“She is a real good role model for others resisting the new law because they feel that helmets aren’t cool or because it musses their hair,” she said.

Sowers Principal Paul R. Morrow said Marcia became the center of attention when she returned to school Wednesday and showed friends her Sportech helmet “with a big crack down the middle.”

“Without the helmet, we probably wouldn’t have her with us,” Morrow said.

Morrow said that of the approximately 600 Sowers students who ride bicycles to school, he’s only had to talk to about 10 or 15 who refused to wear helmets. The school district has a mandatory helmet policy, which also went into effect Jan. 1.

“I tell them, ‘You walk or you wear a helmet,’ ” Morrow said.

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Marcia said her accident happened while she was crossing Sprit Circle in her neighborhood. Two vans were parked on the street and blocked her visibility, she said, and she failed to see the oncoming car.

“I couldn’t stop in time and we collided,” she said. “I was scared. It (the helmet) saved my whole life.”

Marcia’s mother, Norma White, said there’s little question that the helmet saved her daughter from serious injury. “She could have had a concussion or be in a coma. It would have been really, really serious complications or maybe worse.”

Still, White said she has concerns that the helmet sustained such extensive damage from the impact with the slow-moving car. She said she plans to talk with the Parent-Teacher-Student organization that supplies the helmets to see if they should be more durable.

She said she paid about $20 for the Marcia’s helmet.

The California Coalition for Children’s Safety and Health said bicycle-related crashes are the No. 1 cause of death and brain injury among children between the ages of 5 and 14. Nearly 18,000 children statewide were treated in emergency rooms in 1991 because of bicycle-related head injuries. About half of the 138 people who died of bicycle injuries statewide in 1991 were children.

The new state law applies to bicycle riders under age 18. In the first year, violators will get only warnings from police. Starting in 1995, violators or their parents will be fined up to $25 for each offense.