Pitane Image

This day was created to draw attention to the importance of wearing a bicycle helmet.

Extra attention to the safety of cyclists is necessary, because we are a real cycling country. There are also more and more cyclists. Wednesday 19 April is the second National Day of the Bicycle Helmet. This day was created to draw attention to the importance of wearing a bicycle helmet. Foundations, organizations and doctors work together for this. The Netherlands is the only country in the world where more people die in traffic on bicycles than in cars. There are all kinds of activities in various provinces to create awareness for wearing a bicycle helmet. For example, flyers are distributed at schools in Limburg and Nijmegen, explanations are given about the brain at a primary school in Bennekom and in a hospital in Ede. Discount vouchers for bicycle helmets are also distributed here. In Friesland bicycle helmets are even distributed that ANWB supplies to Stichting Leergeld.

In 2021, 73.500 cyclists visited the Emergency Department in the Netherlands, of which 48.300 cycling victims with serious injuries. The number of cycling victims with serious injuries has risen sharply in the past 10 years (29% in the period 2012-2021). About a quarter of them sustained brain injury during the accident. Research shows that helmet use reduces the risk of brain injury; the risk of brain injury was one third lower when victims wore a helmet during the cycling accident compared to victims who did not wear a helmet. The chance of a head injury was 62 percent lower (figures VeiligNL).

Read also  Safety concerns are shaking Babboe's market position in Flanders
(Text continues below the photo)
The number of cycling victims with serious injuries has risen sharply in the past 10 years (29% in the period 2012-2021).

Your brain is a fragile and special organ. They allow you to think, remember, move and feel. Protecting your head is therefore really important. As a cyclist you are very vulnerable in traffic in the event of a collision or fall. The bicycle helmet is simply an easy way to prevent serious injury, so a lot of suffering can be prevented. The mission of Veilig Verkeer Nederland (VVN) is 'Everyone safe on the street'. Every road user can contribute to safer traffic. It is important that we let small children who are learning to cycle get used to a helmet right away. By a bicycle helmet you protect yourself and you give others a good example by putting on a helmet. 

Related articles:
Tourism
Print Friendly, PDF & Email