More kids hurt on bicycles in Rehovot than any other city

Overall, fewer children injured in road bicycle accidents in first half of 2011 than same period the previous year; Or Yarok slams helmet law.

By MICHAEL OMER-MAN
kids children bicycle yom kippur 224 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
kids children bicycle yom kippur 224
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
More children were wounded in bicycle accidents in Rehovot in 2011 than any other Israeli city, road safety organization Or Yarok reported Monday, based on figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).
According to the report, 32 children were injured nation-wide in bicycle accidents in the first half of 2011, eight of them seriously. Five of those injuries took place in Rehovot.
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However, compared to the same period in 2010, the number of children injured in bicycle accidents fell by 37 percent from 51 in the first half of 2010. Between 2003 to 2010, 818 children were injured in bicycle accidents on the roads. Fifteen were killed and 250 were seriously injured and 515 lightly injured.
Prior to 2011, Tel Aviv had the highest number of children injured in such accidents. Between 2003 and 2010, 98 children were injured in bicycle accidents on the city's roads and three were killed.
Addressing the need for children to wear bicycle helmets and their parents' influence on them, Or Yarok Director-General Shmuel Abuav said: "It has been shown that when it comes to children's safety, behavioral patterns are influenced by parents.”
Therefore, he criticized “the helmet law amendment, which recently passed in the Knesset, that removed the requirement for adults to wear helmets in urban areas,” saying it “may negatively affect the helmet-wearing habits of children in the future.”