A few years ago, Bonney Lake City Councilwoman Laurie Carter was riding a bicycle along the Foothills Trail with her husband and their middle school-aged daughter.

Suddenly, her daughter hit a rock and flew over the handle bars of her bicycle, breaking her arm and hitting her head.

Luckily, Carter said, her daughter was wearing a helmet, especially since the helmet she was wearing had two “huge scrape marks” where her head struck the ground.

“We were so thankful she was wearing a helmet,” Carter said.

More recently, her husband had a similar accident, striking his head on the ground as well. He too was wearing a helmet.

“There’s been a couple of times it’s been a real lifesaver,” Carter said.

But despite their potentially life-saving qualities, the city of Bonney Lake does not have a bicycle helmet law.

After receiving questions about helmets at the Senior Health Fair this summer, Carter began to look into the issue and this week, the City Council is expected to approve a new helmet law.

Councilman and Public Safety Committee Chairman Mark Hamilton said after learning the city had no helmet law it was the “prudent thing” to get a law on the books.

“It just didn’t make a lot of sense,” he said. “We looked at the statistics, at the count of injuries that occur to bicyclists who don’t wear a helmet and it’s pretty daunting.”

Carter and Hamilton said the law is similar to those in surrounding cities, all of which, as well as the county, have helmet laws. If approved, all bike riders within city limits will be required to wear helmets.

According to Police Chief Mike Mitchell, the law is a “very important new ordinance” that will help improve safety within the city.

“Each year people on bikes who are involved in some type of accident who are not wearing helmets sustain some kind of head injury,” he said.

Mitchell said this summer in Bonney Lake, a bicyclist was struck by a motorcycle. The bicyclist was not wearing a helmet and was transported to the hospital with a potential brain injury. Mitchell said police and firefighters on the scene did not expect the man to survive the accident, but he “was one of the lucky ones” and pulled through with a concussion.

Mitchell said the new ordinance would “help save lives.”

According to the East Pierce Fire and Rescue website, bicycle-related deaths number more than 900 nation-wide and emergency rooms treat more than 500,000 bicycle-related injuries every year.

More children, ages 5 to 14, visit the emergency room due to bike injuries than any other sport.

Hamilton said the only controversial measure in the new law would be that skateboarders will also be required to wear helmets. Helmets are already mandatory at the city’s skate park.

Hamilton said he did not expect the city to “hammer down” on violators right away and said he expects the city to pursue an education program to inform residents of the new law.