Surgeons credit helmet for saving life

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - If you're under the age of 14 you need to wear a bike helmet, it's the law.

But over the past few years it seems like fewer kids are actually wearing this potentially life-saving accessory.

It seems young bikers and parents trying to keep it safe, are peddling in an uphill struggle.

In their culture, it's not considered cool to wear a helmet, even though it could save their lives.

It's been state law since 1994, requiring bike riders under 14 to wear helmets, so why aren't these kids wearing them?

"What's really disturbing is, I see five and six-year-olds zipping down Hertel Avenue, not even looking at traffic and not even wearing helmets," said Virginia Clark of Xtreme Wheels Indoor Skate Park.

But all the kids at Xtreme Wheels Indoor Skate Park do wear helmets, including 12-year-old stunt rider, Barclay Torres.

Surgeons credit a helmet with saving Barclay's life as he was practicing a jump, and a midair mishap sent him plummeting, head first.

Clark said, "But that side of the ramp, right there, where his helmet hit this part here, that's where the helmet cam in and saved his life because that would have been his temple."

"And I tried to speak to him but he never, he wasn't answered you know... You see it happen to other kids but you never expect it when it happens to your own kid," said Rolando Torres, Barclay's dad.

What did the emergency room doctors tell Rolando about Barclay's helmet?

Rolando said, "They said without his helmet, he would have died, with the impact that he hit his head with."

"I always wore my helmet, like other people never had their helmets on. They thought it wasn't cool to wear a helmet," said Barclay.

Dawn Melancon has witnessed the heartbreak of young bikers with traumatic brain injuries, and stresses the importance of wearing a bike helmet correctly.

"The helmet should fit snugly," said Dawn Melancon, of Women and Children's Hospital.

A new state law took effect this summer, putting more teeth into the Bike Helmet Law.

Amherst Police Safety Education Officer Cathy Onions told News 4, it puts more responsibility on parents and she knows, from personal experience, how to drive that message home.

Her son was seriously hurt, biking without his helmet.

"He went out for a bike ride with his buddies and I thought he had his helmet on, he did not, he ended up falling off the bike and fracturing his skull. We're very fortunate that he recovered from it and he's fine but it was a very long year," said Ofc. Onions.

Ironically, the latest figures from Albany show fatalities from bicycle accidents are down substantially, as were all traffic deaths.

So the helmet issue just doesn't seem to be getting the traction it once did.

How are police enforcing the law?

That's another irony, by law, if an under age biker is caught without a helmet, the police officer can only ticket the child's parents if the parents are present.

So how do they make the law work?

Police and safety advocates are taking the education route to get young bikers in their helmets and there are a number of groups giving out free helmets, just to get the job done.