Hey all,
We at Raptorsource.com have noticed a horrible trend lately with regards to kids not wearing helmets while ATVing. I have personally talked to many parents while on the trail about this, and have received many excuses ranging from "Well, there not going that fast..." to "I want my kids to wear helmets, but they out grow them so fast that it gets very expensive".
The first excuse is ridiculous since an average kid can achieve 10mph on a bicycle, and can manage to hurt themselves terribly, plus the fact that an accident can happen on an ATV that has nothing to do with a riders speed (IE a kid gets crashed into by another rider/vehicle).
The second excuse is more tangible to me. Money is finite in most households, especially with kids. Parents can have the best of intentions of teaching their kids the value of a helmet, and enforcing a strict policy on the kids of wearing the helmet while riding. But, as kids grow, helmets don't fit anymore, families want to ride, but chose not to bear the expense of a new helmet.
Even though this excuse is more valid to the realities we live in, our kids safety comes first......always!!!
I don't personally believe either of these excuses or any in between is valid, since if you were to ask a parent of a child not wearing a helmet, that was seriously injured/killed while atving, they would tell you that no expense would have been too much to secure the safety of our kids.
Well, what can we do about it We cannot save everyone, nor will everyone listen to reason about this topic, because unfortunately for some it will be a non-issue until it's too late
However, we can help those who want to make the right choice and educate their kids. I submit that we "RaptorSource", on behalf of our great members donate youth helmets to ATV groups that provide safety instruction. We would execute this plan by all of us (Members, Admins, VIPs) contacting our local ATV groups and identify the clubs that provide safety courses.
When we have gathered information and contact info for the clubs identified we start sending out prepaid Helmet gift certificates from one of our fine sponsors. (I would love to be able to send a helmet out directly, but without proper fitting, etc a helmet won't be as safe as possible, so we'll send out the certificate and let the parents decide the correct size/style).
So, how do we pay for this T-shirts, sticker revenues, (plus any donations) will now be fully applied to the "Lids for Kids" program (Minus the actual costs of the shirts/stickers). We have never been a "For Profit" site, our intent has always been to take what we earn and pour back into the site. Well...........Now we're going above and beyond that. We are going to do something positive for the ATV community as a whole.
How do we know the certificates make it to the kids Well, I say we ask the clubs to take a picture of the lucky recipient with the certificate and send them to us to post. Plus, perhaps we could send a message along to the parents that we would love to see pictures of their kids riding with their new helmet.
Most likely we will have a "Lids for Kids" section created especially for parents to log on and post pictures and stories about there kids ATVing experiences. Who knows?? Perhaps we'll gain some more great members to our site, and you (Our members) can see and take credit for keeping more kids safe while enjoying our sport.
Aaron