5/4/2010
Reed Hollinshead
ITD Communication
208-334-8881
reed.hollinshead@itd.idaho.gov
RE-SENDING WITH DATE CORRECTION: ITD, bicycle groups to distribute free helmets at Pocatello events
BOISE - The Idaho Transportation Department's Office of Highway Operations and Safety (OHOS) will join forces with the Portnuef Greenway Foundation and the Portnuef Bike to Work Committee to distribute free bicycle helmets to children that might not otherwise have the protection they need.
A number of free helmets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, beginning Saturday (May 8) at the Spring onto the Greenway event. Other free helmets will be distributed at the Portnuef Valley Bike to Work Bike Parade on May 21.
Spring onto the Greenway will be a fun and interactive family event to help people become more familiar with the Portnuef Greenway. Participants may visit a variety of locations around the greenway where there will be interactive presentations describing unique features of the greenway. Participants will be able to get a passport stamped at each location.
Stamped passports will qualify participants for a prize drawing. Registration will begin at 10 a.m. at Taysom Rotary Park; activities will continue until 4 p.m.
The Bike to Work Bike Parade takes place on National Bike to Work Day and is a low-speed group ride that is a fun, non-competitive way to show the community that bicycles are a valuable means of alternative transportation.
The group will begin gathering at the Old Town Pavilion at 5 p.m. on May 21. The police-escorted parade will leave for an easy loop ride through Pocatello at 6:15 p.m.
The ITD Office of Highway Operations and Safety will distribute free bicycle helmets to children to increase helmet usage and reduce injuries resulting from bicycle crashes.
In 2008, there were 352 reported bicycle crashes, and in 52 of these riders received fatal or serious injuries. Of the bicyclists-involved in crashes, 97 percent resulted in some kind of injury.
The economic cost of crashes involving bicyclists in Idaho was $46.6 million in 2008. Sixty percent of the bicycle crashes involved riders younger than 25, and only 9 percent of those riders were wearing helmets.
Increasing the use of helmets by young people will reduce injuries, which is one of the primary missions of the ITD and OHOS.