Mary Fortunato-Habib of Paxton thought her fourth-grade daughter
was being melodramatic when she announced, "I almost died today."
Then she saw Nicolette's bike helmet -- cracked, dented and
chipped. "I realized she was serious," Fortunato-Habib said. "That could have
been her skull."
Nicolette, 10, said she was riding down her
driveway one day last fall, on her way to her friend's house across the street,
when she hit a small rock and flew over the handlebars. "I hit my head on some
stones," she said. "I landed on a stone about the size of your fist. My helmet
was pretty smashed up ... I was pretty fine, though. I just had some cuts and
scrapes."
Needless to say, Nicolette is one kid whose parents
don't have to nag her to wear her bike helmet (the hospital gave her a new one
after the crash). "It's just a habit," she said.
It's also the
law in Massachusetts for bicycle riders and passengers ages 12 and under, and
common sense at any age. Research shows that bike helmets reduce the risk of
death and injury by as much as 85 percent. The National Safe Kids Campaign says
the 26 percent nationwide drop in accidental childhood deaths in the past decade
is largely credited to bike helmets and seat belts.
Although
the lid might look goofy, Nicolette said, "If you think about it, what's more
important, saving your life or how you look?"
"All the times
I've been overcautious and drilled safety things into her, it really paid off,"
said her mother, director of patient services in the pediatric intensive care
unit at University of Massachusetts Hospital in Worcester.
Fortunato-Habib will be one of the UMass Memorial Health Care nurses working
Saturday at the Tatnuck Watershed Festival in Worcester, helping to fit new
helmets on bicyclists. The hospital has 500 children's and adult-sized helmets,
valued at $20 each, to sell at the event for $5 apiece, first come, first
served.
The festival, which runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the
public beach at Coes Reservoir on Mill Street with free admission, is subtitled
"Major Taylor Recognition Day" in honor of the 1899 world champion cyclist who
lived in Worcester. Mill Street, designated the Major Taylor Bikeway years ago,
will be rededicated in the famous athlete's name, and the road will be closed to
cars from Price Chopper to June Street so bicyclists can ride traffic-free.
Joe Cote, 75, of Townsend, will display an antique,
Fitchburg-made Iver Johnson bicycle identical to one that Marshall W. "Major" Taylor
rode at the height of his cycling career. Taylor was the second black world
champion in any sport, following bantamweight boxer George Dixon's 1890-91 title
fights.
Interest in Taylor's cycling feats has exploded as the
centennial of his world championship sprint in Montreal approaches. A local
group that wants to erect a statue of Taylor on Worcester Common formally
organized this spring as the Major Taylor Humanitarian Association and will
receive the money from Saturday's helmet sales.
Also, UMass
Memorial is taking its bike safety message to several Worcester elementary
schools this week, complete with an "EggHead" helmet experiment and a
presentation on Major Taylor.
Members of the Hartford-based
Octagon Cycling Club, whose African-American founders display a picture of their
hero, Taylor, on their bike jerseys, will help out at Saturday's bike events,
which include safety skills activities for youngsters.
The
Worcester chapter of MassBike, a
statewide bicycling advocacy group, will have a drawing for a $30 gift
certificate to Bicycle Alley. Anyone who joins MassBike during the festival is
eligible to win the prize.
The festival also will feature
canoeing and hiking, horse-drawn wagon rides, environmental exhibits, UMass
Memorial's Safe Summer Fun activities, and food prepared at Coes Cafe. The rain
date is next Sunday. For more information, call (508) 753-2924.
~~~
The New England Mountain Bike
Association is having a silent online auction for 12 prize packages that
include guest passes to a Volvo-Cannondale team party Aug. 18 in Bethel, Conn.
Winners also will get a tour of Cannondale's new plant, $200 to $300 worth of
bike merchandise, and an autograph session with the team -- including Olympic
silver medalist Alison Sydor and former national champion Tinker Juarez.
Credit-card bids (minimum $200) will be accepted until July 17
at http://www.nemba.org/ For more
information, call (800) 57-NEMBA.
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