The 2013 Manhattan Helmet Fair was held in the Anthony Middle School Parking Lot Saturday morning. A variety of sponsors including the City of Manhattan, State Farm, Safe Kids Riley County, and more were on-hand to encourage/educate the community about bicycle safety. Over 100 Kids ages five to fifteen received a free bike helmet, with custom fitting. Big Poppi Bicycle Co. and the Pathfinder also provided free bike maintenance for kids who brought their bikes.
“It’s very important to have a helmet on. Just recently I helped out at a bicycle event where a guy had raced and crashed with two other bicyclists, and he said if he didn’t have his helmet on, I don’t know if he’d been here. It cracked his helmet, and it saved his life,” said Diane Novak, Manhattan Bicycle Advisory Committee member.
Safe Kids Riley County passed out educational materials regarding the Kansas Booster Seat Law. “We want kiddos that are 4-feet-8-inches or 80 pounds, if they’re below any of those criteria they should be in a booster seat, that’s the Kansas Law. What we’re doing here is we’re helping parents to measure their child and then we have a scale as well, so we can kinda show them where they are as far as what kind of seat they should be in. We’re also just providing education on how the seat belt should fit. We want the seat belt to hit the weight-bearing or the bony parts of the child’s body, so we want it to hit right on their hip bone and right on their shoulder bone, and that will help them to be safe in a crash,” Kristin Cottam, Community Education Specialist for Mercy Regional Health Center.
Additionally, Safe Kids Riley County offers weekly car seat checks to parents, caregivers, and childcare providers. Checks are free of charge and available every Tuesday from 11:00 AM-1:00 PM at the Manhattan Fire Department. No appointment is necessary.
To learn about future bicycling events in Manhattan, visit www.bikemanhattan.info; and for more information about booster seat safety, visit safekids.org.
