Summer arrived Sunday.

I hope yours has been good so far. Safe as well.

Summer, as a season, presents many safety challenges which can get lost in the fun of longer days, warm nights, picnics and barbecues, fireworks, bike rides, baseball games, outdoor concerts, time at the beach, lake or in the mountains, camping trips, cooling dips in the pool, boat rides and the list goes on.

For example, according to the Centers for Disease Control, in research compiled in April drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional death, bested only by motor vehicle crashes, for children ages 1 to 14 in the United States. For kids 1 to 4 years old, most drownings happen in home swimming pools, according to researchers.

Another sobering statistic finds more than half of fatal and nonfatal drownings for those 15 years and older happen in lakes, rivers and oceans.

Roads also are challenging arenas for summer leisure pursuits.

According to the National Safety Council, citing mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics, 712 of the 1,089 bicyclists deaths in 2019 were in crashes with motor vehicles. Preventable bicycle deaths were highest in the months of June, July and August.

“Bicycle-related deaths peak in the summer months, starting in June and they remain high through September. In 2019, the most deaths occurred in August (125) and the fewest in January (63),” according to the website NSC.org.

Fireworks, especially when used by the amateur enthusiast, can bring their share of tragedy.

In its 2019 annual report on fireworks the Consumer Product Safety Commission found “fireworks were involved with an estimated 10,000 injuries treated in U.S. hospital emergency departments during calendar year 2019” with children younger than 15 accounting for about 36 percent of firework-related injuries.

Injuries included damage to hands, fingers, eyes, heads, faces, ears and arms.

As in many things, the defense in many summer fun situations may be a good offense.

Barriers such as fencing can help keep little ones from getting too near a swimming pool without supervision, according to researchers.

In 2001, researchers estimated wearing a bike helmet reduced the risk of head injury by about 60 percent and brain injury by 58 percent.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, cyclists under the age of 12 must wear a helmet. The statement “PennDOT strongly recommends that all bicyclists wear helmets whenever they ride” appears on the agency website penndot.gov.

Readers may remember a Lower Milford Township man who died in an explosion near his residence in June 2020. News accounts at the time described the man as allegedly having fireworks on the property.

Caution with fireworks is particularly worth noting as Fourth of July celebrations loom and fireworks catalogs arrive by mail announcing spectacular displays with titles like “X-Bomb,” “Infinity Blast,” “Colossus” and “The Big Bang.”

In other words, lock the pool fence gate, protect your head and remember the frequent shout uttered in so many military movies of Hollywood’s Golden Age - “fire in the hole!”

Whatever you choose to do this summer, take care, be safe and, of course, have fun.

In a paraphrase of a lyric by Pennsylvania native Will Smith in his days as Fresh Prince, an air of love and of happiness should exist in summertime.

April Peterson

editorial assistant

East Penn Press

Salisbury Press