While the Canada Day long weekend was largely safe without any reports of serious incidents, the Sundre RCMP detachment’s corporal wants to remind parents to ensure children are donning helmets before going for bike rides.
“This year, I’ve seen a lot more kids riding around without their helmets,” said Cpl. Joe Mandel.
According to provincial regulations, “no person who is less than 18 years old shall operate or ride as a passenger on a bicycle unless that person is properly wearing a safety helmet.”
Additionally, parents or guardians of a child under the age of 18 are not to allow or knowingly permit the youth to ride without a helmet and “no person shall operate a bicycle on which a passenger who is less than 18 years old is riding unless the passenger is properly wearing a safety helmet.”
Parents or guardians can be fined $93 for infractions, the corporal said.
The most troubling instances are when parents, grandparents or guardians are riding their bikes right behind the child without wearing a helmet either, he said.
So the officer urges parents to set the example for their children by making sure to wear a helmet whenever they’re riding a bike.
“It doesn’t take much for a kid to fall off and hit their head and suffer a serious brain injury.”
The corporal said he has been looking into provincial grant funding and hopes to eventually implement a positive ticketing campaign, whereby members of the RCMP who observe children wearing helmets “ticket” them with a reward to recognize their effort to be safe.
