Summary: Here are the best videos we know of, with sources. The ones at the top of the list are free and we can send you some of them.

• Ride Smart - It's Time to Start
  One of the best free videos anybody has produced for "tweens" from about 8 to 12. Preaching, but all done by kids. Damaged helmets, jello and egg smashes, good fitting instructions and brief rules of the road. Eight minutes if you ignore the end credits. Online as a WMV file.

• Bike Safe - Bike Smart. This one covers bicycle safety. Hosted by Celine Yeager. Covers bike types, helmet and fit, lights, bright clothing, bike check, regulations, extensive rules of the road and riding techniques including night riding tips. Reviews rules at the end. All kids, diverse cast. Online as a WMV file. Seven minutes.

• Bicycle Safety Tips for Adults Covers choosing the right bike, safety equipment, pre-ride safety checks and rules of the road. Eight minutes. Online as a WMV file.

• Fitting a Bike Helmet. Has a crash scene, brief bad advice on old standards, and good step by step instructions on fit. Four minutes. Online as a WMV file. Also on line in Spanish.

Jello in a Jar For tweens. The actors are all young teens, and seem fairly natural. There is of course a drop-jello-brain sequence, and an interview with a head-injured boy, who can't ride yet and has to leave because his father has come to pick him up, while the others ride away. We send it with the videos above.

I Will Wear It and Live
We have not seen it, but designed for the tweens group (8 to 12 years). Footage of the actual rehabilitation of an 11-year-old girl struck by a car while riding her bicycle without a helmet. A series of individual children and tweens make a personal pledge to wear their helmets every time they ride their bikes. 5 minutes. Comes with a leader's discussion guide. $20 including shipping from Linda Schillinger or call 616-242-0360 or send a check payable to "Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital" to Linda Schillinger, Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, 235 Wealthy SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503.

How to Fit a Helmet
A very well done helmet fitting video. Suitable for training a parent to fit a child's helmet or for training helmet fitters for a program. Seven well-edited minutes covering all the essentials of helmet fit. An adult demonstrates fitting a number of children. Trainers should probably see it twice. From:

Pierce County Safe Kids Coalition
Michelle Nunez
Coordinator, Safe Kids Pierce County
Mary Bridge Children's Hospital
Center for Childhood Safety
P.O. Box 5299 M/S 11125-1-CS
Tacoma, WA 98415-0299

253-403-7911

michelle.nunez@multicare.org

Cost is $15, with checks made payable to "Pierce County Safe Kids Coalition."

The Perfect Fit
Another excellent video on fitting helmets. Features Susan DeMattei and other racers instructing a group of kids on how to fit their helmets, interspersed with a few mountain biking scenes. Text whizzes by too fast, but the advice is sound. Six minutes. Teletech Video, 33816 Robles Dr, Unit B, Dana Point, CA 92629, tel 949-388-7780 email: lyadao@cox.net or on the Web: www.teletechvideo.com (The Web site requires Macromedia Flash to view, so we have not seen it.) $10 includes shipping.

Helmets are Cool We have not seen this one yet, but the description from the Texas Medical Association says: "Proper helmet fit, the key to safe cycling, is stressed in this five-minute DVD. Texas Medical Association physician Thomas Coopwood, MD, demonstrates the correct way to wear a bike helmet. As a surgeon, Dr. Coopwood has seen first hand what can happen when people don’t use a helmet. He also discusses the importance of wearing a helmet when participating in any sport on wheels, such as riding a scooter or in-line skating." $11.80 with shipping.

Bike Safety with Bill Nye the Science Guy
Hosted by The Science Guy, who pounds in the message. A Disney video with very high production values, abrupt transitions accompanied by great sound effects. Simulated crashes using miniature figures should keep the kids' attention. Covers each safety rule briefly, but repeats the helmet message throughout. Has kids, cops, racers, a messenger and a melon drop. They call it 22 minutes, but our copy ran in 16. Accompanied by a Teacher's Guide. Closed-captioned. Available from Disney Educational Productions, 105 Terry Drive, STE 120, Newtown, PA 18940-1425 or call 800-295-5010. $79+$5 shipping = $84. (Eighty-four dollars. Would be further up the list except for that price!)

There's No One Like You!
A reasonable video for middle school kids from Headstrong of Denver. Features teens riding and doing stunts, then a coach with an inspirational message that misses the mark. A Denver newscaster goes over a brain model and shows how brain injuries occur, then how a helmet works. Next comes a boy who suffered a brain injury, and clearly is still slightly impaired, and others who crashed with a helmet. Nine minutes. From the Denver Osteopathic Foundation - 303-996-1140. $30.

A Kid's Eye View
A fine video for parents to help them understand the mistakes kids make on the street, and the safety rules to teach them. Comes with a pamphlet for follow up. Has most of the elements of the How Kids See Traffic pamphlet, also done by the City of Madison, Wisconsin, as well as some of our own pamphlet on Teaching your Child to Ride a Bicycle. We don't know if Madison is still distributing the video or not.

Before the Fall
For adults. Why your child should wear a helmet. Well done, heavy, with a parade of experts scaring you interspersed with shots of cyclists riding. Don Reed, Cherry Capital Cycling Club, 4765 Ludlow Rd. SW, So. Boardman, MI 49680, tel 616-369-2294 (home). Also available from the Snell Foundation for $7.

Putting Safety on Top
A video to convince Oregon police officers to enforce the state's helmet law. Head-injured kid, interviews with the Governor, his wife and police officials. 13 minutes, Oregon-specific. Available from the Oregon Health Division, or from the Bicycle Helmet Program, Oregon Department of Human Resources, 800 N. Oregon St, #825, Portland, OR 97232, phone (503) 731-4399. Also available to borrow from the Transportation Safety Section, 555 13th St. NE, Salem, OR 97310 Phone 503-986-4190.

Testing Video Clips The Consumer Product Safety Commission has done a video clip of their lab testing. We have info on the video clip. There is also a YouTube video put up by Limar showing their lab testing on both the European style "basket rig" and a US-style monorail. And the Snell Memorial Foundation has produced Snell: Kidz Vidz (5 min). It explains Snell's testing to kids up to age 10. We don't know what donation they suggest for the video.

General Bicycle Safety Videos

Here is our page of videos and PSA's you can download from the Web.

If you want ideas for full-length bike films, here is the MassBike page with many many movies.

This page was last revised on: July 1, 2010.

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