Every year, about 35 children under 12 years of age die as a result of bicycle accidents in the Netherlands.
Volvo Cars Nederland and the Dutch traffic safety association Veilig Verkeer Nederland are cooperating in a campaign to draw attention to the importance of wearing a bicycle helmet.
Nearly 700 children in the Netherlands are admitted to hospital every year following bicycle accidents. Better prevention can help avoid many of these injuries.
Therefore all children in the het Palet primary school in Amstelveen received a special safe bicycle helmet the other week. The helmets were developed in cooperation between Volvo Cars Nederland and the Swedish brand POC.
A presentation was given by paediatric trauma physician and surgeon Dr. William Kramer at Wilhelmina Children's Hospital (UMC Utrecht), Volvo Cars' advisor on children's safety in traffic and Veilig Verkeer Nederland.
Volvo is safety
Volvo Cars applauds the idea of children wearing bicycle helmets.
"Safety is in Volvo's DNA," explains Huib de Vries, Marketing Director Volvo Cars Nederland.
The Volvo Car Corporation demonstrates this once again with the introduction of the new Volvo S60, which can be ordered with the new pedestrian safety detection system. It is a feature that automatically stops the car if the driver for some reason does not react when approaching a pedestrian.
"And this year, Volvo Cars is becoming involved in various partnerships that promote safety for children in traffic situations. One of these is the official partnership with Veilig Verkeer Nederland, and another is the cooperation with the Swedish brand POC," says Huib de Vries.
More and more helmets
In some EU countries it is compulsory to wear a bicycle helmet when riding a bike. And the use of helmets for young children is increasing. Wearing a helmet can save lives and prevent many tragedies.
"Cyclists wearing helmets reduce their risk of permanent brain damage by 85 per cent," adds Dr. William Kramer.
Young children often land on their head when they fall. According to Dr. Kramer, this is due to the relatively large size of a young child's head, which can weigh up to one quarter of the child's body weight. The physician advocates the compulsory use of bicycle helmets for children in primary and secondary school.
The POCito Volvo. For Life bicycle helmet is different from other helmets already on the market. POC has gone further than just complying with the requirement that a bicycle helmet must be in accordance with the CE standards.
It is important for the helmet to also withstand an accident caused by a third party, as such accidents are usually linked with high speeds and extreme impact situations. This is a crucial breakthrough in the current thinking about bicycle helmets.
The helmet was developed for children from when they start riding a bicycle until about the age of ten. As prevention is always better than cure, it is important for children on bicycles to stand out and be highly visible. For this reason, the helmet is only available in bright orange.
