PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — As careful as you might be on a bicycle, danger can be unpredictable.

“A dog ran out in front of him, he swerved to miss the dog, the bike slid out under some gravel; all of these things he would have had no control over, and he suffered a serious head injury,” says Chris Vitale, injury prevention manager at Children’s Hospital Pittsburgh.

Helmets save lives and brains.

“Head injuries are the kind of thing you sometimes don’t recover from. You aren’t the same person you were before the injury,” Vitale says.

Because Children’s Hospital wants to keep the brains of children safe, they’re sponsoring free helmets for kids.

“Having a helmet on your child’s head is going to reduce the chance of a head injury by 85 to 90 percent,” she adds.

This summer, at various places throughout the area, you can have your child fitted and get a free helmet.

A good fitting helmet should come down to just above the eyes. The straps should make a “v” around the ears. And the chin strap should be snug.

They bring 250 helmets to each fitting, and your child has to be present to get one.

“We have a lot of kids who leave the helmet fitting and they want to leave their helmets on,” she says.

The first fitting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 13, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Kohl’s in Robinson.

Click here for the full Hard Head Helmet Fitting Schedule!

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