Comment: Helmets Save Lives

The tragic death this past week of former El Cerrito High School student Tyler De Martini, who was hit by a car while riding a skateboard down Marin Avenue, raised a number of questions. One was whether the helmet requirement for minors should be enforcned. De Martini, who was not wearing a helmet, suffered a severe head injury and was removed from life support following a report that tests showed no brain activity.

Even though he was 18 and therefore exempt from the state law requiring helmets for minors, his death heightened fears about skateboarders of all ages. Our poll on whether police should enforce the seldom-enforced helmet requirement for minors drew a number of reader comments, including our Comment of the Week from "Kathy A.":

This is so heartbreaking. I am strongly in favor of helmets. To answer Sharon -- no, helmets will not always save someone's life. But they are very very good at saving people from both fatal and life-altering nonfatal brain injuries.

My husband rides bikes. He was once in a freak accident, and found unconscious at the side of a road nearby -- he had other injuries from the accident, but survived and recovered well BECAUSE HE WAS WEARING A HELMET. It would have destroyed my life and those of our then-young children if he had died or ended up permanently brain-injured. The helmet absorbed the worst of the shock. I have no doubt that without a helmet, he would have been in dire trouble.

My son, who is now grown, had a few accidents on bike and skateboard in his youth. When we went to the ER, the first question always was whether he was wearing a helmet. (Yes; that's why we were there about a possible broken arm, and extensive cuts another time, instead of something worse.)

I think ECPD is good about warnings and education, and understand the risk of alienation that might come from actual citations. But perhaps warnings should be recorded, so things can be stepped up if a minor continues to ride w/o helmet? A citation will not ruin any kid's future -- certainly not so much as a head injury.

• Editor's note: The "Comment of the Week" doesn't necessarily reflect the view of El Cerrito Patch. It's chosen according to what we believe will be of general reader interest. For other examples from our "Comment of the Week" series, please click here.