Doctor Tells Parents Helmet Use is Irrelevant for Kids on ATVs

Filed in archive ATV Safety , ATV Statistics , News , Rants on November 28, 2007

I was researching all the different ways news outlets like CBS and US News were reporting on a study about ATVs, when I found a certain MD essentially informing parents that the use of helmets by kids does no good as far as helping prevent injuries in an ATV accident.

Not to take it out of context, here's how it went :

Shah says that when parents ask him if using a helmet might reduce the risks, he replies that's like asking if your kid should be smoking low nicotine or high-nicotine cigarettes. "They should not be smoking at all," he says.

Think about that for a minute...

Chetan C. Shah, MD, a radiologist at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, tells parents it doesn't matter if kids don't use helmets. That sends a clear signal to those parents who might still allow their kids to ride that helmets don't do any good.

I suppose when parents ask if they should have their kids wear a helmet while riding a bicycle, he'll reply "That's like asking if your kid should be drinking Rum with a straw or with a sippy cup."

Simply pathetic that a person, let alone a Doctor, would do that.