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Kiwanis Family Safety Day: A Bicycle Safety Program for Your Hometown
Kiwanis Family Safety Day: A Bicycle Safety Program for Your Hometown By Corinne A. Francis
Boston, Massachusetts
Any person 12 years of age or younger operating a bicycle or being carried as a passenger on a bicycle on a public way, bike path or any other public right-of-way must wear an approved helmet. -Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 85, section lIB
HEN THE KIWANIS Pediatric Trauma Institute began in 1981, its focus was the provision of tertiary care for seriously injured children. As time went by we learned about the anatomy of accidents from our patients and their families. One pattern recognized was that collisions involving cyclists and motor vehicles often resulted in severe head trauma, usually out of proportion to the kinetic energy of the impact. In 1989 we received a grant from the Milliken Family Trust Foundation to develop a bicycle safety program for school children. This foundation is a charitable endeavor of a family whose 16-year-old daughter was killed in a bicycle accident in 1974. We used the funds to visit schools in Massachusetts and to learn how to teach bicycle safety. The most fertile ground seemed to be in grades 1 through 4, and the most promising approach was to involve older children as instructors. This experience led to development of curriculum materials for classroom teachers and take-home bicycle safety cards, which were distributed to Massachusetts schools. A year later, we were asked to suggest a child safety project to the Key Club, the high school arm of Kiwanis. We described to them our initial success in the schools and after discussion the New England District of Key Clubs,
W
From the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute, Boston, MA. Presented at the Fifth National Conference on Pediatric Trauma, Vail, Colorado, June 2000. Supported in part by grants from the Milliken Family Trust Foundation, the New England District of Key Clubs, and the Kiwanis Foundation of New England. Address reprint requests to Corinne A. Francis, Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute, New England Medical Center, 750 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111. Copyright © 2001 by W.E. Saunders Company 1055-8586/01/1001-0013$10.00/0 doi:lO.J053/spsu.2001.19398
44
representing all 6 New England states, offered to fund an enlarged and continuing bicycle safety program. From those beginnings, the Kiwanis Family Safety Day Bicycle Rodeo has evolved. This program is carried out in hometowns by local organizations with the purposes of (1) teaching children how to ride bicycles safely and (2) providing bicycle helmets for children.
METHODS
Planning for a bicycle safety rodeo begins 1 year before the scheduled date. When a community organization decides to sponsor a rodeo, their representative contacts the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute office in Boston. They receive a pamphlet explaining that the goals of a bicycle rodeo are to raise parent awareness about bicycle-related injuries, to teach bike skills, to provide an opportunity for children to learn safe techniques in a fun setting, and to build support for helmet use by children. The brochure describes forming a local committee, assigning tasks, deciding on the site, obtaining permission from the town or property owner, developing flyers and print advertisements, soliciting support from local business, obtaining support from schools and public safety departments, designing a media campaign, teaching complimentary bike safety classes in schools, signing up volunteers, collecting materials, arranging for traffic control, and cleaning up after the event. Time lines are suggested for the 7 months before the event. Recommendations are made about enlisting the participation of local officials (the mayor, the police chief, fire chief, school principals) and which local businesses might become financial sponsors. The organization is invited to review the brochure and make a go or no-go decision. If the decision is to proceed, the organization then receives a 60-page manual developed by the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute. The manual has detailed chapters on forming the committee, enlisting volunteers, materials needed, choosing a rodeo site, finances and supplies, publicity, awards, conduct of the rodeo, sample rodeo stations, and more precise timelines. It describes an approach to local newspa-
Seminars in Pediatric Surgery, Vol 10, No 1 (February), 2001: pp 44-46
KIWANIS FAMILY SAFETY DAY Table 1. The 9 Stations of a Model Bicycle Rodeo 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Sign-in and orientation The Bike Shop (mechanical inspection) Helmets The demon driveway Crazy crossroads Who's there? Thread the needle Dodge-em drive The hazard quiz
NOTE. These stations are staffed by volunteers provided in advance with a manual describing how to conduct the station.
pers and radio stations. A special bicycle helmet offer is included; the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute has arranged with a manufacturer of ANSI- and Snell-approved bicycle helmets to purchase them in bulk at $6 each. The helmets are passed on to the sponsoring organizations at the same price for the children who attend the rodeo. The recommended date for a bicycle rodeo is Mother's Day. This date combines the coming of Spring, a Sunday when supermarket parking lots are available, and a nice family flavor. A rodeo is composed of nine stations (Table 1). When several communities agree to hold their bicycle rodeos on a specific day it is often possible to obtain a proclamation from the state governor to initiate a media campaign. A draft is provided in the manual. The sponsoring organization can order reprints for distribution of bicycle safety material that the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute has collected from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National SafeKids Campaign, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Bicycle Manufacturers Association, the American Automobile Association, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and other interested groups. RESULTS
Four bicycle rodeos were held in 1993 as a pilot study. The first draft of the manual was generated from the lessons learned at these sites. The program achieved instant popularity, and in 1994, 114 bicycle rodeos were presented in the 6 New England states and 2 in Colorado, almost all sponsored by local Kiwanis clubs. In 1995 there were 134 rodeos, 124 of which were in New England, 8 in other states, and 2 overseas, and the program continues grow. Sponsors have included children's hospitals, police departments, Cub Scout troops, hospital emergency departments, other service organizations, fire departments, bicycle stores, schools, town recreation departments, and many others. The average cost to an organizing committee was $350 in cash and many hundreds of hours in volunteer time. In the past 6 years 60,000 children have been taught how to ride their bicycle safely and how
45
to wear a bicycle helmet. In addition, 36,000 helmets have been distributed and over 1 million pieces of printed information given to children and parents. DISCUSSION
An estimated 80 million Americans ride a bicycle, and more than 80% of American children own a bicycle at some time in their life. 3,4 The number of reported accidents has been constant at one half million a year. 5 Sixty-six percent of the injured are between the ages of 5 and 14 years, and accidents are most common during the summer months.4 Most bicycle crashes are caused when the cyclist loses control of the bicycle. Loss of control is most often the result of hitting a curb or bump in the road, particularly when traveling at high speed downhill, or becoming confused in traffic or riding a bicycle of the wrong size. 7 Mechanical factors include poor maintenance, particularly involving the brakes. Injuries from bicycle crashes result in severe and potentially fatal injuries, particularly when a motor vehicle is involved. The usual injuries sustained are abrasions, lacerations, and fractures. Approximately 35% of the injuries involve the head. Collision with motor vehicles, although not a common mechanism, frequently results in the most severe injury and accounts for 90% of the fatalities. 8 Many injured cyclists are beginning riders, and in most incidences the cyclists contribute to the cause of the crash. 6•7 In a major review of trauma deaths in children, Rivara 2 estimated that 29% of the nearly 12,000 deaths from traumatic injuries occurring annually in children in the United States could be prevented. After a 6-year experience with bicycle safety rodeos, our original premise has not changed: a community's children are the responsibility of every member of the community. Grassroots programs that benefit children can be created successfully and sponsored by local community organizations. An effective program must be simple, provide an organizational template for the local sponsor, use readily available supplies, bring the community together, and produce results that are easy to recognize. In teaching accident prevention it is necessary to recognize that a new group of bicycle riders become at risk each year, and, therefore, education in bicycle safety is a continuous, never-ending process. The bicycle rodeos described here are a grassroots program devised for presentation by local organizations to sponsor in their own communities. It has been refined into a turn-key project in which the community group supplies the labor and follows the manual. Kiwanis Family Safety Day is a program that can be used in every community.
46
CORINNE A. FRANCIS
REFERENCES 1. Bicycle Safety Rodeo Manual. Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute, Boston, 1994 (and subsequent editions) 2. Rivara FP: Traumatic deaths of children in the United States. Pediatrics 75:456-462, 1989 3. Ernster J, Gross RH: Reducing the accident toll among young bicyclists. Oklahoma Med J 12:397-402, 1982
4. Waller JA: Bicycle ownership, use and injury patterns among elementary school children. Pediatrics 47:1042-1050, 1991 5. Flora JD, Abbott RD: National trends in bicycle accidents. J Safety Res 40:20-27, 1989 6. Gonski L, Southcombe W: Bicycle accidents in childhood. Med J Australia 2:270-271, 1979 7. Accident Facts. Washington, National Safety Council, 1990
Boston, Massachusetts
Any person 12 years of age or younger operating a bicycle or being carried as a passenger on a bicycle on a public way, bike path or any other public right-of-way must wear an approved helmet. -Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 85, section lIB
HEN THE KIWANIS Pediatric Trauma Institute began in 1981, its focus was the provision of tertiary care for seriously injured children. As time went by we learned about the anatomy of accidents from our patients and their families. One pattern recognized was that collisions involving cyclists and motor vehicles often resulted in severe head trauma, usually out of proportion to the kinetic energy of the impact. In 1989 we received a grant from the Milliken Family Trust Foundation to develop a bicycle safety program for school children. This foundation is a charitable endeavor of a family whose 16-year-old daughter was killed in a bicycle accident in 1974. We used the funds to visit schools in Massachusetts and to learn how to teach bicycle safety. The most fertile ground seemed to be in grades 1 through 4, and the most promising approach was to involve older children as instructors. This experience led to development of curriculum materials for classroom teachers and take-home bicycle safety cards, which were distributed to Massachusetts schools. A year later, we were asked to suggest a child safety project to the Key Club, the high school arm of Kiwanis. We described to them our initial success in the schools and after discussion the New England District of Key Clubs,
W
From the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute, Boston, MA. Presented at the Fifth National Conference on Pediatric Trauma, Vail, Colorado, June 2000. Supported in part by grants from the Milliken Family Trust Foundation, the New England District of Key Clubs, and the Kiwanis Foundation of New England. Address reprint requests to Corinne A. Francis, Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute, New England Medical Center, 750 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111. Copyright © 2001 by W.E. Saunders Company 1055-8586/01/1001-0013$10.00/0 doi:lO.J053/spsu.2001.19398
44
representing all 6 New England states, offered to fund an enlarged and continuing bicycle safety program. From those beginnings, the Kiwanis Family Safety Day Bicycle Rodeo has evolved. This program is carried out in hometowns by local organizations with the purposes of (1) teaching children how to ride bicycles safely and (2) providing bicycle helmets for children.
METHODS
Planning for a bicycle safety rodeo begins 1 year before the scheduled date. When a community organization decides to sponsor a rodeo, their representative contacts the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute office in Boston. They receive a pamphlet explaining that the goals of a bicycle rodeo are to raise parent awareness about bicycle-related injuries, to teach bike skills, to provide an opportunity for children to learn safe techniques in a fun setting, and to build support for helmet use by children. The brochure describes forming a local committee, assigning tasks, deciding on the site, obtaining permission from the town or property owner, developing flyers and print advertisements, soliciting support from local business, obtaining support from schools and public safety departments, designing a media campaign, teaching complimentary bike safety classes in schools, signing up volunteers, collecting materials, arranging for traffic control, and cleaning up after the event. Time lines are suggested for the 7 months before the event. Recommendations are made about enlisting the participation of local officials (the mayor, the police chief, fire chief, school principals) and which local businesses might become financial sponsors. The organization is invited to review the brochure and make a go or no-go decision. If the decision is to proceed, the organization then receives a 60-page manual developed by the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute. The manual has detailed chapters on forming the committee, enlisting volunteers, materials needed, choosing a rodeo site, finances and supplies, publicity, awards, conduct of the rodeo, sample rodeo stations, and more precise timelines. It describes an approach to local newspa-
Seminars in Pediatric Surgery, Vol 10, No 1 (February), 2001: pp 44-46
KIWANIS FAMILY SAFETY DAY Table 1. The 9 Stations of a Model Bicycle Rodeo 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Sign-in and orientation The Bike Shop (mechanical inspection) Helmets The demon driveway Crazy crossroads Who's there? Thread the needle Dodge-em drive The hazard quiz
NOTE. These stations are staffed by volunteers provided in advance with a manual describing how to conduct the station.
pers and radio stations. A special bicycle helmet offer is included; the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute has arranged with a manufacturer of ANSI- and Snell-approved bicycle helmets to purchase them in bulk at $6 each. The helmets are passed on to the sponsoring organizations at the same price for the children who attend the rodeo. The recommended date for a bicycle rodeo is Mother's Day. This date combines the coming of Spring, a Sunday when supermarket parking lots are available, and a nice family flavor. A rodeo is composed of nine stations (Table 1). When several communities agree to hold their bicycle rodeos on a specific day it is often possible to obtain a proclamation from the state governor to initiate a media campaign. A draft is provided in the manual. The sponsoring organization can order reprints for distribution of bicycle safety material that the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute has collected from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National SafeKids Campaign, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Bicycle Manufacturers Association, the American Automobile Association, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and other interested groups. RESULTS
Four bicycle rodeos were held in 1993 as a pilot study. The first draft of the manual was generated from the lessons learned at these sites. The program achieved instant popularity, and in 1994, 114 bicycle rodeos were presented in the 6 New England states and 2 in Colorado, almost all sponsored by local Kiwanis clubs. In 1995 there were 134 rodeos, 124 of which were in New England, 8 in other states, and 2 overseas, and the program continues grow. Sponsors have included children's hospitals, police departments, Cub Scout troops, hospital emergency departments, other service organizations, fire departments, bicycle stores, schools, town recreation departments, and many others. The average cost to an organizing committee was $350 in cash and many hundreds of hours in volunteer time. In the past 6 years 60,000 children have been taught how to ride their bicycle safely and how
45
to wear a bicycle helmet. In addition, 36,000 helmets have been distributed and over 1 million pieces of printed information given to children and parents. DISCUSSION
An estimated 80 million Americans ride a bicycle, and more than 80% of American children own a bicycle at some time in their life. 3,4 The number of reported accidents has been constant at one half million a year. 5 Sixty-six percent of the injured are between the ages of 5 and 14 years, and accidents are most common during the summer months.4 Most bicycle crashes are caused when the cyclist loses control of the bicycle. Loss of control is most often the result of hitting a curb or bump in the road, particularly when traveling at high speed downhill, or becoming confused in traffic or riding a bicycle of the wrong size. 7 Mechanical factors include poor maintenance, particularly involving the brakes. Injuries from bicycle crashes result in severe and potentially fatal injuries, particularly when a motor vehicle is involved. The usual injuries sustained are abrasions, lacerations, and fractures. Approximately 35% of the injuries involve the head. Collision with motor vehicles, although not a common mechanism, frequently results in the most severe injury and accounts for 90% of the fatalities. 8 Many injured cyclists are beginning riders, and in most incidences the cyclists contribute to the cause of the crash. 6•7 In a major review of trauma deaths in children, Rivara 2 estimated that 29% of the nearly 12,000 deaths from traumatic injuries occurring annually in children in the United States could be prevented. After a 6-year experience with bicycle safety rodeos, our original premise has not changed: a community's children are the responsibility of every member of the community. Grassroots programs that benefit children can be created successfully and sponsored by local community organizations. An effective program must be simple, provide an organizational template for the local sponsor, use readily available supplies, bring the community together, and produce results that are easy to recognize. In teaching accident prevention it is necessary to recognize that a new group of bicycle riders become at risk each year, and, therefore, education in bicycle safety is a continuous, never-ending process. The bicycle rodeos described here are a grassroots program devised for presentation by local organizations to sponsor in their own communities. It has been refined into a turn-key project in which the community group supplies the labor and follows the manual. Kiwanis Family Safety Day is a program that can be used in every community.
46
CORINNE A. FRANCIS
REFERENCES 1. Bicycle Safety Rodeo Manual. Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute, Boston, 1994 (and subsequent editions) 2. Rivara FP: Traumatic deaths of children in the United States. Pediatrics 75:456-462, 1989 3. Ernster J, Gross RH: Reducing the accident toll among young bicyclists. Oklahoma Med J 12:397-402, 1982
4. Waller JA: Bicycle ownership, use and injury patterns among elementary school children. Pediatrics 47:1042-1050, 1991 5. Flora JD, Abbott RD: National trends in bicycle accidents. J Safety Res 40:20-27, 1989 6. Gonski L, Southcombe W: Bicycle accidents in childhood. Med J Australia 2:270-271, 1979 7. Accident Facts. Washington, National Safety Council, 1990