Andrew McDonald, Specialist Serious Injuries Solicitor at Thompsons Solicitors, has been involved in a local school project to help educate students as to the dangers of riding bikes without wearing a helmet.

Andrew is a Trustee and Committee Member at Headway Teesside, a charity which seeks to promote local awareness of the dangers of head injury, and which also provides support to survivors of head injuries, their families and their carers.

Together with the charity’s Patron, Middlesbrough Mayor Ray Mallon, Andrew presented students at Acklam Grange School, Middlesbrough, with cycle helmets. The presentation followed an earlier session at the school at which the dangers of cycling without a helmet were discussed.

Research undertaken in 2009 shows that up to 16% of fatalities could have been prevented had a cyclist been wearing a helmet, and earlier research demonstrates that cycle helmets reduce the risk of head injury by 85%, brain injury by 88% and severe brain injury by 75%.

Speaking after the presentation Andrew said: “This scheme from Headway Teesside gives our young people the means to protect themselves when they are riding their bikes around the area. Too many lives are being lost or ruined by injuries which could be prevented by the wearing of a simple helmet”