Young bike riders need helmets

I was happy to receive your paper today (Oct. 5) and see a boy on his BMX bike, wearing his helmet while "executing" a jump at Freedom Park. Contrary to this photo, was a photo that appeared in your Sept. 21 edition which showed several boys at the Pleasant Valley Skate Park riding bikes without helmets.

It would be one thing to print the photo with a subtitle saying the boys are not only in violation of the law, but are risking serious injury. Instead, the Sept. 21 article glamorizes their actions. Signage at the Skate Park clearly states that helmets are required.

According to the NHSTA web site, 784 bicyclists died on U.S. roads in 2005. Two-thirds of the deaths here are from traumatic brain injury.

California Law states that a person under 18 years of age shall not operate a bicycle, a non-motorized scooter, or a skateboard, nor shall they wear inline or roller skates, nor ride upon a bicycle, a nonmotorized scooter, or a skateboard as a passenger, upon a street, bikeway, or any other public bicycle path or trail unless that person is wearing a properly fitted and fastened bicycle helmet that meets the standard.

I would like to encourage all publications to refrain from printing photos of "law breakers" and if they do, point out that laws are being violated performing the act. Parents must also require their children to wear helmets while on bikes, skateboards and scooters. The simple act of wearing a helmet can prevent a lifetime of sorrow. Mark Bridges Camarillo