Put a lid on it! Those five words sum up one of the easiest and most effective way to reduce bicycle-related trauma and death: always wear a properly fitted helmet when riding. Unfortunately, it’s often simple things like this that most often get overlooked. For those tempted to ignore the advice, Ira Riklis has one world: Don’t! He became aware of the importance of helmets more than 16 years ago when a child safety group came to him asking for help in providing helmets to local children.
From them, he learned that in 90% of bicycle-related deaths the victims were not wearing helmets and that helmets can reduce the risk of serous head injuries by nearly 90%. For Ira Riklis, the math was simple. He agreed to help the group in distributing and fitting 5,000 helmets for local kids. And ever since that time, he’s been a strong proponent in both urging others to wear helmets and in setting a good example by wearing them himself.