If you’re looking for ideas for last-minute gifts children ages 5 through 14 who love to ride bicycles, Ira Riklis has one for you. Get them a good, properly fitted bicycle helmet. Of course, that’s a good idea for any loved one (including yourself!) who rides a bike. But it’s especially important for kids, who ride far more often that older riders and who suffer nearly half again more bicycle-related injuries.
Now, as far as injuries go, scuffed elbows and knees and even a broken bone now and then are one thing. Traumatic head injuries are quite another—they account for more than 50% of all deaths from bicycle accidents.
Ira Riklis became aware of these statistics some years back when a child safety organization in Charlotte, North Carolina, approached him to ask if he’d be willing to provide helmets for local kids. Once he learned of the dangers of riding without helmets, he was more than happy help. He and the group did some planning, and on a fine spring day more than 5,000 kids were fitted for free helmets in the parking lot of a local YMCA.