Lansing - Seven-year-old Rahjae Flowers-Taylor was excited to try on his first bicycle helmet on Saturday.

"If I fall, I won't hurt my head," he said.

His mother, Nicole Flowers, 33, brought Rahjae and his two siblings to the Helmet Safety Campaign at Pleasant View Elementary School in Lansing, where the children were outfitted in free helmets.

"I've been wanting to get them (a helmet), but I couldn't get them one because I didn't have the money," Flowers, of Lansing, said. "This is good."

The Michigan Trial Lawyers Association, along with other Heads Up for Safety coalition members, hosted the sixth annual Helmet Safety Campaign at Pleasant View. Five hundred helmets were fitted and distributed at no cost to kids ages 14 and under in an effort to promote helmet safety awareness and injury prevention.

Jesse Green, a lawyer and spokesman for the lawyers' group, said nationwide, about 300,000 children are killed or injured each year in accidents in which helmets could have made a difference.

"We would much rather be involved in preventing tragedies with children rather than being involved with the aftermath," Green said.

Each volunteer underwent a training session to learn how to properly fit helmets to the children's heads because a helmet that doesn't fit properly can be just as dangerous as wearing no helmet at all, Green said.

The event also included a bike rodeo, in which kids rode around a flagged course, complete with imitation stop signs and vehicles. The course was created to teach kids traffic safety.

"We're teaching kids hand signals and safety on the road so that they can prevent becoming a victim or a casualty number," said L. Page Graves, a lawyer at Sinas Dramis Law Firm.

Instructors from the Kids Repair Program, located inside the Impression 5 Science Center in Lansing, were at the event fixing bikes and teaching kids bicycle maintenance and repair, said Dan Lewis, an instructor for the repair program.

The Helmet Safety Campaign is held to teach children the importance of protecting their heads, said George Sinas, a lawyer with the Sinas Dramis Law Firm.

"We are very committed to doing everything we can as a coalition and as a law firm to encourage children to develop a safety conscience early in life," Sinas said. "In our business, we see the consequences of children who are in bike accidents who do not have helmets on, and the results can be absolutely devastating."

Eric Hannah from Origami Brain Injury Rehab Center said even though their organization focuses on the after effects of brain trauma, they wouldn't want to see an increase in head injuries.

"It's important to us to try and limit the number of head injuries out there and to promote education in the community," Hannah said.

Sen. Virg Bernero, D-Lansing, presented a tribute to the campaign, signed by himself and Gov. Jennifer Granholm, thanking the volunteers and sponsors of Heads Up for Safety day.

"I think kids today are on wheels a lot more than we ever were," Bernero said. "Kids today, if they're not on a skateboard, they're on roller blades or a bike, and we just want to have the kids be safe and play safe."

The lawyers' association will be hosting another event on June 11 at Grand River Elementary, 1107 E. Grand River Ave. in Lansing, where at least 100 helmets are expected to be given away.