Legislation requiring children under 12 to wear a helmet when riding a bike is one step away from final passage. The Senate Health and Welfare Committee approved the measure Monday.
Williamsburg Representative Regina Huff said the safety provision provides both a health benefit but could also lower medical costs. “This can be very economically friendly because the one injury, if we save one, we can save quite a bit of funding as well,” said Huff.
The Senate panel heard from Heather Floyd whose 16 year old son T.J. suffered a traumatic head injury in 2010. She said brain injured people may deal with many issues including challenges with memory, speech, migraine headaches, and difficulty with physical movement. She says extreme sports participants are helmet wearers. “We just feel this kind of falls in line because concussions are brain injury and the more you have, the more it’s harder to come back from. So, if we can prevent this before our youth have a brain injury, then that’s kind of what our family is about. It’s just advocating for safety when your child is out having fun.”
Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer said previously he didn’t think the helmet bill would pass the 38 member chamber.
