BLAINE, Minn. – (April 16, 2015) – Head injuries cause two thirds of bicycle related deaths each year. The Blaine Police Department and SBM Fire department are doing their part to reduce those statistics in our community. They got together again for the 13th bike helmet fitting and sale.
Andrea Hunt of the Blaine Police Department said. It started out of a need and grew into a tradition.
“Several years ago, we realized there was a definite need for helmets in our community unfortunately as a result of some crashes and things we were seeing and responding to as a police and fire department,” Hunt said.
The helmets are sold for ten dollars a piece. They’re top notch quality and exactly what you would find in any department store for about half the price.
“There’s no profit made whatsoever, we just turn around and pay for the helmets, so it actually cost us to put on the event because of staff, time, and the time it takes to organize it but we’re not in it to make money at all, its truly just to keep people safe,” Hunt explained.
In fact, Hunt said it isn’t so much about the price families turn out for. It’s more about the service.
“We started in our first year just asking, ‘what brings you here, what brings you here,’ and they were here to learn how to do it. So helmets are fit by the circumference of the your head not your age and often they’re sold and manufactured or marketed by age and often people are getting the wrong size they’re uncomfortable, too big, too small, so our goal is not just to get the helmet on there head but to teach them how to wear it properly and to get it fit properly for them.”
That service of fitting helmets to heads isn’t as simple as you may think. Officers were trained on how to properly fit the helmets. Hunt said there’s an entire science behind it.
“We want to make sure that it fits level on your head, so covering the front over foreheads. Also, two fingers above your eyebrow, a lot of people wear them like a baseball hat tipped back on their head; we want it to be leveled to the ground. We also want to make sure that it’s snug on your head when you turn your head, your helmet should go with you versus your helmet staying one in place.”
Although the main focus for the event is helmet safety, Hunt said the community gets more than officers simply fitting helmets.
“I think it’s also really important for these kids to see us in a different aspects of our career. Often kids have a different opinion about police and fire because of different situations they’ve been in so to see someone in a uniform in a different light I think is really important and to see some of those looks that we get, at first there’s fear and then the next thing you know they’re sitting on their lap so that’s a lot of the fun of it and just to see them so excited about their helmet that often they’re wearing them out the door, so it’s a lot of fun.”
On average, that event sells about 700 helmets.
There will be a second bike helmet fitting in just a few weeks. It will be held on May 5, from 4-7 p.m. at Blaine City Hall.
