No need for a Heelys panic

The tragic story of a young boy who was run over while wearing Heelys has produced a predictable response. Wearing shoes that turn into roller skates is dangerous, we are told. I predict that within days the news will be full of Heelys accidents.

The Times quotes the Singapore Medical Journal which recorded 37 accidents involving Heelys. But is this a lot or a little?

And more important still, did the total number of accidents involving children go up or down during the period of the study?

Wearing Heelys might be a substitute for walking safely across the road. Alternatively, it might be a substitute for, say, full scale roller skating which could be more dangerous.

In his excellent book Risk, John Adams explains the concept of risk compensation. We all (children included) set the level of risk we are content with and if we are banned from one risky activity we simply choose a substitute.

Lord preserve us from a "Heelys scare"

Comments

[peter townsend]

unfortunate accident, but totally unrelated to the footwear of the boy. He could have been wearing frogmans flippers or ballet pumps, the car would still have hit him. Rollerskates, skateboards and for that matter bicycles have been around for years, and yes, people do occasionally break something when practising these "dark arts". Maybe we should all just stay in, watch TV and eat more...oh no I forgot, that's not safe either!

[Steve]

Thanks for the reference to John Adam's book. I have been explaining the principle for years after reading research on cycling helmets and received black, disbelieving looks for my trouble. It explains so many things and renders many restrictions completely pointless. It is rather reasuring to know that I am not alone

[Cheap Heelys]

Growing up skate boarding it was the same issue. Let the parents decide and the kids will rebel. Just promote safety and we'll all be better off.

[Sebastiam]

Heelys have been out for 7 years. 37 recorded accidents for 7 years is pretty good. research has also shown that heelys are safer then skateboards and bicycles. In the accidents case im sorry the boy was run over but if they banned heelys on a ccount of one accident then why are cars still around? In another updated article of the accident you'd see that the shoes were not to blame for the accident.

I LOVE HEELYS I JUST HAVE A RUF TIME TO LET MY GO ANNY WAY IM GETING THE HANG OF IT!*

[alyssa]

i love heelys they onlly been out for tow years