THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 30, 1995 TAG: 9508300562
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
The City Council stopped just short of making bare-headed biking a crime Tuesday but launched a drive for safe cycling with a project that will give at least 1,000 free helmets to poor children.
The council decided Tuesday that a law mandating fines for those under 14 riding without a helmet would be too difficult for police to enforce.
``What are you going to do with a 10-year-old?'' said Councilman G. Conoly Phillips, who has worked for more than a year on the project. ``Arrest him? Throw him in the back of the police car? Track down his parents?''
Instead, the council settled on a helmet campaign that begins at 10 a.m. today at ``Safety City'' - a mock community set up in the parking lot at Military Circle behind Leggett department store where driver safety is usually taught.
Children will be called upon to demonstrate bicycle safety, and some of the 1,000 helmets will be given away, city officials said.
To stress the value of bike helmets, the city plans to distribute fliers with utility bills, write letters to civic leagues, and have police and school officials talk with residents.
Police bike patrol officers may help find deserving children for the free helmets, Phillips said. The helmets cost about $10 each, and charities may be asked to contribute to buy them, Phillips said.
``We hope that civic organizations will join this effort and make helmets available to those who really need them,'' said George C. Crawley, assistant city manager.
Phillips has been working to find ways to encourage children to wear helmets. At first, the councilman focused on legal penalties. No law prohibits adults from riding without helmets, but Phillips believed children deserved extra protection.
The Norfolk council pressured the General Assembly to pass a law enabling cities to prohibit children from riding without helmets.
The Virginia Beach City Council, earlier this year, took advantage of the new law and established a $25 fine for bicycling without a helmet there. The fine is suspended for first-time offenders, and those caught a second time can have it waived by proving they have bought an approved helmet.
The Norfolk police said such a law would be almost impossible to enforce, Phillips said.
Statistics provided by the city showed that, nationwide, approximately 600,000 bicyclists a year go to the emergency room or hospital with injuries, and more than 900 people are killed annually in accidents. About 85 percent of the injuries could have been avoided if riders had worn helmets, according to the city's fact sheet. by CNB