If Oak Bay police catch you riding your bike without a helmet, the ticket you get might be worth money.

Cyclists who don’t own a helmet can avoid paying the $29 fine by promising to buy one — and can use their ticket to get a discount on their purchase, as part of a new Oak Bay program that begins today.

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Operation Headstart allows offending cyclists to present their tickets to either of two stores on Oak Bay Avenue — Oak Bay Bicycles and Oak Bay Home Hardware — for a 10 per cent discount on a new bike helmet, the police department announced Monday.

If, within two weeks of buying the helmet, ticketed bike riders take a proof of purchase to the police department, the fine will be waived.

In B.C., cyclists are required by law to wear a helmet.

“We all survived our childhood without a helmet, but I think it makes a ton of sense,” said Craig Sharp, the owner of Oak Bay Home Hardware.

He said helmets at his store range in price from $25 to $35.

Ticketed cyclists need to present their ticket at the till when buying a helmet to receive the discount.

The plan is the brainchild of Const. Rick Anthony, who joined the department 11 months ago after serving for 25 years with the Victoria Police Department.

After seeing the same three people repeatedly riding with no helmets, and ticketing them, he offered to waive their tickets if they bought a helmet and showed him proof.

Anthony said they all took him up on his offer.

“It’s about readjusting attitudes and changing behaviours. That’s something we don’t often get to do in this job. We’re usually mopping up after accidents happen,” he said.

Anthony, who describes himself as a casual cyclist, was also responsible for the creation of the Victoria Police Department’s first mountain bike unit back in the early 1990s.

He said it will take about three months before Oak Bay police can judge the success of Operation Headstart.

nwells@timescolonist.com