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Bone and Joint Decade 2008 Road Safety EventHelmet Giveaway
BJD Puts Road Safety on Top with Free Helmets
 At this year's network conference BJD international delegates took to the streets of Pune on December 1st to hand out 1000 safety
helmets freely to motorcycle and moped riders on the city’s busy roads,
and to encourage safe riding practices. This simple act of advocating helmet use will mean that fewer young people will be injured or killed on the roads of India this year. “This message is literally a matter of life or death in a country where  countless motorcyclists share the road with cars, trucks and buses in a chaotic traffic stream,” said Dr Wahid Al-Kharusi, member of the United Nations Road Safety Commission and BJD ISC member. Numerous studies have shown that the simple act of wearing a helmet lowers a motorcycle rider's risk of fatal injury by 30% and reduces the risk of traumatic brain injury by 70%.
To watch highlights of the event, please click here. The Public Walk on the streets of Pune was open to the public and 1000 helmets were given away to riders who needed them. As an outreach programme, it was designed to create awareness of the importance of helmet-wearing and to stimulate behaviour change in road users. The event is part the BJD’s Trauma Reduction programme.  According to Dr Arvind Chopra, BJD India Coordinator and head of the Centre for Rheumatic Diseases in Pune, a key aim of the action is to open up dialogue with local political authorities on the importance of facilitating the use of helmets amongst road users through awareness campaigns, positive actions, helmet purchase, and the enforcement of helmet legislation.
A Matter of Life and DeathWearing a helmet is a single most effective way of reducing head injuries and fatalities resulting from a crash (helmets can reduce the risk and severity of head injuries by 70%) while riding a motorcycle or mopeds, yet young road users are the least likely to wear helmets. A study in Malaysia found that only 54% used helmets properly, 21% used them improperly. And 25% did not wear them at all. “This is likely due to many reasons, including financial cost, availability of not safe and endorsed helmets and lack of knowledge of the importance of helmet wearing,” said Dr Marcos Musafir Trauma Expert at the World Health Organization in Geneva.Harsh Realities 1. In high-income countries, motorcycle fatalities typically comprises around 5%-15% of overall traffic fatalities. By contrast in low- and middle-income countries, percentage of traffic fatalities which involve motorcycle riders is nearly 30% in India, 60% in Malaysia and a shocking 70-90% in Thailand.2. In China ownership of two-wheelers between1987 – 2001 grew from 23% to 63% with corresponding increase in the proportion of road fatalities sustained by motorcyclists rising from 7.5% to 19% over the same period.3. Head and neck injuries are the main cause of death, severe injury and disability among motorcycle users. The Simple Act of Wearing a Safety Helmet...-Decreases the risk of sustaining a head injury and severity of injuries by around 72%-Decreases the likelihood of dying from a head injury by up to 39% -Decreases the cost of care and time spent in the hospital associated with crashes -Protects the well-being of the family socio-economicallyRoad traffic injuries are a major global public health and developmental problem. Their magnitude is expected to rise considerably in the years ahead. They are preventable but we must all do our part. International cooperation is crucial to strengthening national road safety efforts.
Last year the Bone and Joint Decade published a report on the man-made disaster of Road Traffic Injury Around the World. The report is a call to arms, indicating the current state of the problem, as well as proven measures which governments can take to improve the situation in their countries. For more information on the Road Safety Initiative see the WHO http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/road_traffic/en/ and the UN http://www.unece.org/trans/globalroadsafetyweek/rsun1rs.html
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