News

Bike & helmet contest a hit

Winnipeg Health Region
Wave Magazine, Summer 2010

A family that recently immigrated to Winnipeg from Nigeria is the big winner in the Winnipeg Health Region's Ride-to-Win contest.

The grand prize winner, Fathi Oladesi, won a new mountain bike, helmet and lock combo for himself and one for his father, Kabir. The contest was part of a larger effort to help promote the use of bike helmets to young riders, their parents and teachers. In conjunction with the contest, the Region launched a new interactive website - www.ride2win.ca - which offers information about safe cycling, including how to correctly wear a bike helmet.

Fathi won the contest by going online to answer three questions about the 2-V-1 rule which helps people to correctly fit their bike helmets. (A properly fitted helmet should have 2 fingers width between the eyebrows and the helmet, the straps should form a V around the ears and there should be room for one finger between the chin strap and the chin.)

"This year we offered a contest and a website with loads of activities to promote safe cycling in a fun way," says Shawn Feely, who headed up the website project for IMPACT, the Region's injury prevention program.

A recent observational study conducted by IMPACT underscores the need to raise awareness about bike helmets. The study concluded that nearly 60 per cent of Winnipeg cyclists do not wear a helmet and estimated that only 15 per cent of kids between the ages of 16 and 19 wear a helmet when cycling. The rate was slightly higher - 25 per cent - for children between the ages of 12 and 15. About two children are treated for bicycle-related injuries every day during summer months. On average, about one child dies each year as a result of a bike-related injury.

The provincial government has also been working to encourage young riders to use bike helmets. Since 2006, its low-cost helmet program has provided more than 62,000 helmets to families at a cost of $10 to $13 each. The program, in partnership with Kidsport, a national charity administered locally by Sport Manitoba, has also provided 5,000 free helmets to children of low-income families.

	About Wave Wave is published six times a year by the Winnipeg Health Region in cooperation with the Winnipeg Free Press. It is available at newsstands, hospitals and clinics throughout Winnipeg, as well as McNally Robinson Books. Read the Summer 2010 issue of Wave