BHSI Program for 2009
Summary: Our program this year continues to rely on our Web site for outreach but includes work on improving helmet standards and other activities as well.
1. The Web
BHSI will actively maintain this Web site with daily updates through the year. This is our 14th year on the Web. We expect to reach more than a million visitors in 2009, since we had nearly a million in 2008. You can see a recent weeks' count on our server statistics page. The Web is our most effective means of reaching consumers, researchers, the press, manufacturers and others. It enables us to serve as a clearinghouse for bicycle helmet information. It is the most rapid means of disseminating new developments in the helmet field. It revolutionized our work when we came on line in 1995. We continue to scan in new paper documents--if it is not on the Web, it does not exist. Our precious volunteer time is better spent on enhancing and maintaining the Web site than any other activity. For 2009 we are streamlining our pages. That means shorter, simpler sentences where possible. We want to reach the texting generation.
2. Consumer Representation on Bicycle Helmet Standards Committees
BHSI continues to be active on the ASTM F8.53 Headgear Subcommittee. We work on various task groups and participate actively in drafting and updating standards. BHSI sends a representative to all ASTM F-8 Committee meetings For 2009 that will include meetings in Vancouver and Atlanta. BHSI's Director currently is 1st Vice Chair of the ASTM F8.53 subcommittee and Membership Secretary of the F8 Committee.
BHSI also participates in periodic Consumer Product Safety Commission meetings to discuss the Federal bicycle helmet standard. We will send a representative to any CPSC meetings organized during the year. We will also continue to cover CPSC meetings on the lead and phthalate bans in the CPSCIA act in 2008.
3. The National Bicycle Safety Network
BHSI is a member of the National Bicycle Safety Network. BHSI attends meetings and assists where possible in the operation of the NBSN. It is chaired by the US Department of Transportation. It includes a broad coalition of other organizations involved in injury prevention and bicycle safety.
We participated actively in the steering committee that developed the National Strategies for Advancing Bicycle Safety. The campaign was planned by a bicycle safety conference in Washington, DC in July of 2000. It identifies every major impediment to bicycling in the US. BHSI has taken on implementation of one of the strategies: providing information to drafters and proponents of bicycle helmet legislation at the State and Local levels. We partner with Safe Kids USA for that strategy. The group continues to meet quarterly under the chairmanship of NHTSA staff. Its information exchange helps coordinate the bicycle safety activities of the various partners. In 2008 the League of American Bicyclists announced a National Bicycling Strategy that could also be a thorough across-the-board approach to improving bicycle safety.
4. Participation in Other Organizations
Our budget constraints will prevent us from attending most of this year's meetings of the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization (ICPHSO). We participate in the annual Bicycle Summit in Washington, DC every second year, and 2010 will be our next summit.
- Newsletter. The Web is our main publishing outlet, and BHSI will continue to send its email newsletter, The Helmet Update to over 700 helmet researchers, promoters, manufacturers, standards committee members, press, medical researchers and interested helmet users. We send new issues only when there is news, rather than working up filler to keep up a set publication schedule. We discontinued our paper newsletter in 2004. You can be on our email list by sending us an email request. We send about five or six newsletters per year.
- Pamphlets. BHSI will update the Buyer's Guide to Bicycle Helmets and A Bicycle Helmet for My Child at least twice during the year. We will also keep current our pamphlet on How to Fit a Bicycle Helmet and our pamphlet on Teaching Your Child to Ride a Bicycle. We send out paper duplicating masters of our pamphlets, but many users download the files and print them locally.
- Helmets for the Current Season. Each year BHSI researches and publishes a page on helmets on the market for the coming year. The annual article appears in late December.
- Helmet Standards Comparison. BHSI will publish on the Web at least one annual update of our technical standards study comparing eleven international bicycle helmet standards. This year we will add the ASTM standards for downhill mountain biking and BMX cycling.
- Frequently Asked Questions About Bicycle Helmets. BHSI will update this writeup explaining many aspects of helmet design and performance to reflect new developments.
- Materials for local helmet promotion campaigns. We update our Helmet Promotion Toolkit, a package of materials from numerous sources, frequently during the year. We add new materials as they become available and update content. The Toolkit is entirely available on the Web, but we still receive numerous requests for it on paper. It includes pamphlet duplicating masters and a CD with our entire Web site. We expect to send out about 600 free Toolkits during the year. We love to send them to teachers.
- Compendium of crash stories. BHSI updates this collection of stories frequently, primarily from email messages.
- List of Mandatory Helmet Laws. We keep our list of mandatory helmet laws current with frequent updates. There is no other list like it anywhere.
6. Briefings and background materials for the media
BHSI makes a special effort to provide materials to media people working on helmet articles or programs. Many researchers make use of our Web site, where we have a Press Room section and a Quote of the Day for those on tight deadlines. We respond promptly to press emails to info@helmets.org or phone calls to 703-486-0100 as well.
7. Communications
BHSI has two Internet domains: helmets.org and bhsi.org. Both point to the same physical files on the same physical server. Our local area network is connected to the Internet with a fiber optic broadband connection. Our Web server runs very reliably at Pair Networks, whose low rates reduced our Web costs from the old days of running our own server here. We monitor our Web server every three minutes 24x7 and find that Pair is very reliable. There is no charge to our users for any of our Web services, and we do not intend to add one. We do not buy, sell or exchange email addresses or contact lists with any other organization.
BHSI has standard telephone service with voicemail and fax available at 703-486-0100.
8. Budget
BHSI plans to operate this year on a budget of about $11,000, sustained primarily by volunteer staffing and donations from bicycle riders who believe in this work. We have posted our budget details. We do not accept funding from helmet manufacturers or any organization involved in the retail sale of helmets. That includes independent bicycle shops. Checks made out to the Washington Area Bicyclist Association are welcome from anyone else! WABA is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, so all donations are tax-deductible under IRS rules. To promote the fullest possible distribution we do not charge for our Toolkit for Helmet Promotion Programs and other materials. We can certainly put all donations to good use! We also have a page up with our current non-monetary needs.
10. Contact Information
BHSI is located at 4611 Seventh Street South, Arlington, VA 22204-1419. Our telephone number is 703-486-0100 for voice, voicemail or fax. Our email address is info@helmets.org. Our Web server is at www.helmets.org or can still be accessed at our original URL, www.bhsi.org
This page was last revised on: February 23, 2009.
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