Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Bicycle stunts, Skateboards and other adolescent activities

[Laura Fitch, A.I.A. (lfitch]

Our community recently made a decision that all children and adults are 
required to wear helmets on anything with wheels (except tricycles in 
the courtyard).  I played a big part in this decision - as soon as I 
listed the following, everyone agreed:
- my best friend died from head tauma when hit by a car on her bike 
when I was in 6th grade.  I can remember my father telling me on day 2 
when she was still alive that it would probably be best if she died 
because she was brain dead.
- my former boss lost her niece to a head injury in a bike accident - it 
was instant - hit by a police officer - completely the girls faulty road 
skills.
- my cousin is completely transformed in a bad way from head injury
- my brother in law is completely transformed in a bad way from a 
construction head injury
- my sister in law worked as a social worker on the head trauma ward at 
a Boston Hospital and would be glad to give everyone ten thousand 
reasons for wearing a helmet
- Of course we as a community are well aware that the boy down the 
street was in a coma for two months after hitting a tree on his sled. 
(He was already a little odd - so his mild but permenant damage may 
have improved his behavior!)

I'd say do it.  If you let the older kids parade around without their 
helmets, not only are you endangering their lives, but you are setting a 
precident for the younger ones.  And yes, I believe that if you have an 
attractive nusance like a skate board park you are setting yourself up 
for law suit.  Not only would I insist on the helmet rule, I would have 
it very prominently posted for all visiting children / parents to see.

Laura
-

Fred H. Olson wrote:

> DocArtemis [at] aol.com is the author of the message below.
> It was posted by Fred the Cohousing-L list manager 
> <fholson [at] cohousing.org>
> because the message included HTML ;      PLEASE do not post HTML, see
>  http://csf.colorado.edu/cohousing/2001/msg01672.html
> --------------------  FORWARDED MESSAGE FOLLOWS --------------------
>
> We have a strong group of adolescent boys here at Bellingham cohousing 
> who
> have been enterprising enough to emulate a skatepark and various ramps 
> for
> mountain bike stunts.
> We are trying to devise a policy regarding the use of helmets.  Some 
> members
> feel very strongly that all children should wear helmets to prevent 
> serious
> injuries - especially head trauma.
> Other people, particularly the parents, feel that their teens would 
> not wear
> them and then opt to do their skateboarding away from our site.  They 
> would
> prefer that their kids feel welcome here or that they feel that their 
> kids
> are skilled enough that it wouldn't be worth fighting "this battle."
> We are also interested if anyone knows about the issue of liability.
> Thanks for any insight
> Liz Bernstein
> Bellingham Cohousing
> "True Peace is not the absence of tension, it's the presence of justice"
> Martin Luther King
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--
Laura Fitch, A.I.A.
Principal Architect

KRAUS-FITCH ARCHITECTS, INC.
110 Pulpit Hill Rd.
Amherst, MA  01002
413-549-5799
413-549-7918 (fax)

lfitch [at] krausfitch.com




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