YOUNGSTERS from the region have become the first in the country to receive free cycle helmets thanks to a pioneering project.
Funding from the Teesside Health Action Zone allowed Mike Hall, road safety officer for Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, to hand out the helmets as part of its pedestrian and cycle training programme.
Yesterday, youngsters from Riverdale Primary School, in Redcar, became the first pupils to benefit from the helmets as they began their training this week.
The £4,000 grant will buy 400 helmets in a deal with Guisborough cycle shop Bikescene.
The school course involves four two-hour sessions, covering roadside pedestrian training and cycle training. A test at the end of the course gives the children a certificate, badge and the helmets while stocks last.
Mr Hall, who says more than 2,700 borough children have received cycle or pedestrian training during the past year, said: "Wearing a helmet reduces head injuries by 85 per cent, and a child is twice as likely to fall off a bicycle than an adult."
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