Beyond Helmets: Summer Riding Safety with Dr. Reece & Jennifer Rubner, CPNP

Summer brings outdoor fun—and serious risks for young riders. Pediatrician Dr. Elizabeth Reece and pediatric nurse practitioner Jennifer Rubner from MedLink share essential safety tips to help families avoid ER visits.

They go beyond basic helmet advice, explaining why fit matters, hand-me-downs don’t cut it, and why even short rides need protection. The episode also tackles ATV and dirt bike safety, emphasizing that these are powerful vehicles—not toys—and should never be operated by kids under 16.

Lawn mower safety, often overlooked, gets special attention. Learn why children should never ride as passengers, when kids are old enough to mow, and how to prevent accidents caused by noise and flying debris.

Whether your child is biking, riding, or helping with yard work, this episode offers practical, expert-backed safety guidance. Subscribe to MedLink Health Connections and visit medlinkga.org for more family health resources.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Today we're joined with Dr Elizabeth Reese, a
pediatrician, and JenniferRubner, a certified pediatric
nurse practitioner, both fromour Banks and Danielsville
offices.
Together they'll be sharingvaluable insights involving
things with wheels.
Stay tuned for our expertadvice.
So during the summer, we'retalking about summer safety.
Mostly During the summer,you're gonna be outside.

(00:29):
Obviously, some things that youmight do outside you might
rollerblade, you might ride yourbike, you might cut the grass,
you might have a four-wheeler orATV, you might have a four
wheeler or a TV, we might have adirt bike.
All of these things are fun todo, even in not even just in

(00:49):
summer, even then the winter.
Some of these things.
What are your best advice onsafety for these various?

Speaker 2 (00:57):
things always wear a helmet and not just any helmet
that you grabbed that youthought was your brother's ones.
It needs to be a well-fittinghelmet that's not been in an
accident before, so you can'tcrash it and then still use the
same helmet.
You need a new one, but thathelmet needs to fit your child

(01:17):
well.
Hand-me-downs are not great interms for helmet.
They're not safe.
So you want a well-fittinghelmet that's for your kid age.
Appropriate every time, all thetime, no exceptions.
That's the rule.
If you are riding on somethingthat you can crash into,
anything you're riding your bike, you can fall down on your
roller skates, your dirt bike,atv.

(01:39):
You need to protect the mostimportant part of your body,
which is your brain.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
And so you need a helmet.
They recommend that it covers,that it sits level on your head
and covers your forehead.
It's not tipped forward orbackward and two fingers fit
underneath, fit between the chinand the chin strap.
Make sure it's the right sizefor your child.
And if you do have a question,you can.
You can bring it in and we canhelp you to make sure that it

(02:05):
looks like it fits.
But yeah, the same way that youdon't want to buy a bike that's
two sizes too big, thinkingthat they're going to grow into
it you don't want to buy ahelmet.
That's two sizes too big,thinking that they'll grow into
it I would say probably.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
I'm not a doctor or a provider, but if you know, if
you have to buy a helmet a weeklater, I think it's safe to say
that's.

Speaker 3 (02:27):
Important and then really like it some.
Some of the accidents canhappen in your driveway or just
on your sidewalk Down the street, so unfortunately it doesn't
mean you had to take a very longyou know Three mile bike ride
to have an accident.
So having it on all the time isreally important.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
Oh yeah, my have an accident, so having it on all
the time is really important.
Oh yeah, my.
On my property alone, my kidcan tumble down any sort of
number of hills on her bike.
Um and their.
Her first instinct is notnecessarily to put her hands out
to catch herself, so helmetevery time now on atvs.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
um, we really recommend that children under 16
should not drive atVs.
It's just the having to be soaware of all the surroundings
and what's going on around themthat makes it something that
more an older child would beable to do.
That not riding double.
When you're on an ATV, there'sa much higher frequency of

(03:23):
instability of the ATV andtherefore accidents.
And then making sure that theydo wear helmets, eye protectors,
closed shoes how Jen was saying, crocs aren't the best shoe for
riding either, because thatdoesn't stay on if you happen to
get in an accident and they'regoing to have more damage to
their feet.
Making sure you're using flagsand reflectors and lights to

(03:44):
make your ATV more visible sothat you don't run into another
ATV or into another person ornobody's in your path when
you're driving.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
I think the big thing with ATVs, and sometimes dirt
bikes too, is people think ofthem as purely recreational toys
and they're really a vehiclewith a motor, and so you're
putting a child in a vehiclewith a motor and it can be very
dangerous and we don't think ofthem as being very dangerous.

(04:13):
But they are very dangerous.
Atvs are very unstable,especially when they're going
faster on unstable terrain, andflipping an ATV is actually very
, very dangerous in terms ofinjury for children, and so it's
just not something that a lotof people think of as a
dangerous item.
They think of it more of arecreational toy.

(04:34):
But we really should bethinking of a dirt bike and an
ATV as a dangerous.
You know it is a dangerousvehicle and there should be
supervision.
There should be some teachinginvolved with even the teenagers
that are riding them, you know,on safety, on how to ride them,
how to ride them properly, notto go too fast.
You know what could causecrashes.

(04:56):
There is a lot more injuriesinvolving these, you know, atvs
and dirt bikes than peoplereally think that there are.

Speaker 3 (05:04):
And really any wheeled vehicle, because
sometimes even golf carts.
You can get those to speed.
If you're on an uneven terrainit's easy to flip and then when
those land on kids, I've seeninjuries that can occur with
those as well.
But yeah, it's just being awareand watching how they ride and
not letting them use them sortof as an extension of I'm going

(05:27):
to go as fast and far as I can.
They sometimes try to outdoeach other when they're all on
riding them.
So just being there and havingthem take care with the riding.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
And if they are riding, if they're an older
teenager and they're out ridingyou know because I know where a
lot of us live you know they'reout on open land or roads and so
you know.
Let somebody know that you'reout riding.
Make sure that you know, evenif you're 16, 17, 18 years old
and I know that you feel veryresponsible tell somebody that

(06:01):
you're taking the ATV out andthat you should be back around
such and such time so that, ifyou're not, that they can come
find you and you're not justlying under an ATV with a tree
and looking at the owl at youwaiting for someone to realize
that you took the ATV out.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
You know another wheeled vehicle that you
mentioned was lawnmowers, andthe same way that we say with
safety is just age-wise.
Just make sure if you're, youknow teaching your kids
responsibility, which is great,and teaching them maybe how to
mow the lawn.
Maybe they're gonna earn someof their money from that and

(06:35):
that's wonderful.
Do you have some, you know,some safety instruction?
Because again it's got a motorand that gets hot so that can
cause burns, and then it'sobviously got a blade that's
cutting the grass.
That can be a big source ofdanger if we're not careful with
that.
So the recommendations arereally even from the safety
instructions with the peoplethat make the lawnmowers is that

(06:56):
no one under age 12 operates awalk-behind push mower and that
you'd be at least 16 years ofage to operate a riding mower.
If you're out mowing, werecommend that kids do not sit
on your lap or as passengers.
It's in a bumpy terrain it'seasy for a child to slip off and

(07:17):
if your weight is still on thatand the blade's engaged, if you
cannot turn that on fast enough, obviously that can be a big
hazard that that could run overa small child.
So you know, encouraging themnot to do that or to turn that
on when you're not there and inkeeping them inside or a safe
distance away from the mower,because I I would think everyone

(07:38):
maybe who's ever done a pushmower or even or a riding mower
has had the experience where yourun over a rock or something
that you didn't see when youwere and you hear that horrible
sound and it throws it out ofthe you know, out of where the
blade is um, and if that hitssomebody when it's going out,
that could be really dangerousto any um smaller child as well

(07:59):
also with small children.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
um, you know, never assume that the person on the
riding mower can hear that child, so they may be running up you
know, daddy, daddy, mommy, mommy, whoever's mowing the lawn and
that person on that lawnmower,they cannot hear that child
running up to them.
So keeping that safe distance isvery important, because that

(08:22):
person on that lawnmower has noidea they're even there.
Um, so you know, if you'recoming home and you know one of
the parents is mowing the lawn,you know, no, we'll go talk to
them when they're done, when themower's off, they can hear you.
Um, you know, and and go aheadand make an assumption that they
cannot hear your, you or yourchild over the mo the the roar
of that motor and if it is a youknow an older kid, a 16, 17, 18

(08:44):
year old, that is doing thelawn, or maybe doing someone
else's lawn or getting paid.
They need to be free ofdistractions.
You know this is not the timeto be.
You know multitasking because,once again, you never know when.
You know some little kid fromdown the street is going to run
over.
You know the dog that youdidn't know got loose is going

(09:05):
to run by.
You know, once again, it is avery dangerous vehicle with a
motor and a blade, and so youshouldn't be on your phone with
your music and mowing a lawn.
You need to be paying attentionto the task at hand.

Speaker 1 (09:22):
Thank you for tuning in to the Medlink Health
Connections podcast.
We hope you found today'sepisode informative and
inspiring.
If you enjoyed the show, pleasesubscribe, rate and leave a
review on your favorite podcastplatform.
Remember the information sharedin this podcast is for
educational purposes only andshould not replace professional
medical advice.

(09:42):
Always consult with yourhealthcare provider for any
medical advice.
Always consult with yourhealthcare provider for any
medical concerns.
Stay connected with us onsocial media and visit our
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Until next time, stay healthyand take care.