GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Biking around the block just got a little safer for children in West Michigan after Saturday’s Lids for Kids helmet giveaway.
“I don’t have a helmet big enough for my head. It’s just in my genetics. I got a big head,” Kennedi Young, one of hundreds of kids at Saturday’s event, joked before she was fitted with a proper helmet.
Sinas Dramis Law Firm held the event at Garfield Park in Grand Rapids.
The law firm has been a proud partner of Lids for Kids since 2003.
“[What] we want kids and parents to walk away with is if you’ve got wheels under your feet, put a helmet on your head, whether it’s a bike, a scooter, a skateboard, you just don’t know when you’re going to need that helmet,” Tom Sinas with Sinas Dramis Law Firm said.
29 people were killed on bikes in Michigan in 2021, according to national data.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that of those 29 people, the largest age group is kids between five and nine years old.
“We want them to get used to…the helmet so that when they grow up, they continue tow ear the helmet and continue to do so,” Daeturon Jones, a parent, said.
“It’s important that they protect their brains, protect their heads,” Mike Rules, another parent, added. “I probably should have worn one more when I was younger. I thought I was too cool but it’s really important that I make, try to make sure that my kids protect themselves.”
Data shows that more than half of the vehicles involved in deadly bike crashes were SUVs.
Arthur Treadwell, a Lids for Kids volunteer, says it doesn’t matter what kind of accident you get in on a bike, it’s best to have on a helmet.
“I think it’s very important, you know, being an avid bicyclist myself, I’ve had a lot of spills,” Treadwell told FOX 17. “A lot of my spills have been headfirst and so my helmet is proof of that.”
Saturday’s event also featured games, along with a meet-and-greet with local firefighters and the opportunity to tour a fire engine.
Lids for Kids has distributed more than 13,000 helmets to children throughout Michigan since it first started.