Interview with Officer Debbie Fishman
Highland Park, IL Police Department

Q. What is the leading cause of bicycle accidents?
A. The leading cause of bicycle accidents is a collision with a motor vehicle. Children under the age of ten are more at risk and more likely to suffer serious injury. A child's behavior often puts him or her at risk.

Q. What injuries happen after a fall?
A. A head injury is the leading cause of death in bike crashes.

Q. What protective gear well help prevent a serious injury?
A. Wearing a helmet is the single most effective way to reduce head injury during serious crashes.

Q. What are some of the laws for riding a bike?
A. They're are some laws that you have to follow. Bike riders have the same laws as a person in a motor vehicle if they are traveling on the road way. Bike riders have to obey all signs and signals at intersections.

Q. Are bikers safer than people in a car?
A. Accidents can happen at any time day or night. Bikers must also be extra careful when riding because often times bike riders can be careless and "assume" that a car will stop for them.

Q. What is the leading injury after an accidents?
A. A injury can occur to anybody. Many times bike riders break bones, crack heads but also just end up getting scrapes and scratches. 

Q. How do helmets protect you from an injury?
A. A helmet is a hard plastic shell covering over Styrofoam. Think of your head as an eggshell. It doesn't take much to crack an eggshell. The helmet is a covering so that even if a biker does fall. the helmet well absorb that impact of the fall instead of the head/skull. Often times if a biker falls, the helmet is cracked or damaged and the biker's head is fine.

Q. Are biking laws different in a suburb than a city?
A. Highland Park does have a helmet law. This law states that any person who is under the age of 16 years old must wear a protective helmet for biking, skateboarding, scootering and rollerblading.

Photos on this page by the
"Kids Making Healthy Choices" ThinkQuest team.