Ontario hands out free bike helmets to kids

Ontario's Ministry of Health Promotion is distributing 8,000 free bike helmets to children across Ontario, including 800 in Ottawa.

About 70 of those helmets were fitted and handed out Thursday at Britannia Park in Ottawa's west end in an event held jointly by the Ontario government and Ottawa Public Health as part of a $500,000provincial injury prevention strategy.

The idea was first brought forward by a community safety group called Children First, said Ottawa West-Nepean MPP Jim Watson.

"They came to us and said, 'We want to be able to provide helmets for kids who might otherwise not be able to afford to go cycling,'" he recalled.

The initiative was announced during the 2007 Ontario election campaign, and the government is now working with Ottawa Public Health, Tommy and Lefevresporting goods storeand organizations such as the United Way and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Ottawa to distribute the helmets locally.

In other communities, the government is working with local public health units and community partners to hand out $25 vouchers that can go toward the purchase of a helmet.

Nadine Sicard, associate medical officer of health for Ottawa Public Health, said more and more children have been donning helmets while cycling in the past 10 or 15 years, but there are still some who don't wear them.

"Either access is a problem or they're not in fashion."

Sicardwarned parents not to buy helmets that are too big in the hopes that their children will grow into them, as that greatly diminishes their effectiveness in case of a crash.

Ottawa West-Nepean MPP Jim Watson saidThursday's eventwas also intended to raise awareness about a new provincial sales tax exemption for helmets and safety equipment as well as bicycles under $1,000, announced last fall.