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Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Time spent on helmet laws expensive for all of us

Queen's Park on the way to Waverley Court

The magistrate was none too pleased to see me in front of him today (yesterday) nor to hear that I would be raising necessity at a future defended hearing.

Further he was none too pleased that I had raised necessity in front of him before and that after that hearing I had cycled away on my bicycle without wearing a helmet, and that I had then gone and got myself plastered all over the papers and the media across New South Wales.

He said that I seemed to be making a bit of a celebrity of myself but I pointed out that that was not the case; rather I was highlighting that bicycle helmet law is flawed.

He asked me if I was going to ride away from court on my bicycle without a helmet today (yesterday) and I said that I was not because unfortunately I had a flat tyre and so had had to walk (from Randwick). He then asked if I would be able to assure if that I would not ride away again without a helmet, and I said that I could for today (yesterday) as my bicycle was not with me.

He told me that my fines were mounting, and was I aware that the maximum fine was $2,200. Yes, I said that I was aware.

He then said was I aware of all the medical journal papers detailing brain injuries that helmets protect you from. I said that I was aware and that I was also aware of other ones detailing that bicycle helmet law has been a public health disaster for Australia.

He asked me if I had talked about this bicycle helmet law issue with politicians and I said that I had but to no avail.

He wanted to know if I was prepared to waste valuable police time in expecting them to come to court for a future defended hearing and I said that if it would assist the court  I was happy to read their statements beforehand and that if their facts were essentially that I was riding a bicycle without a helmet, that would be fine by me.

He then rather helpfully recused himself from my future defended hearing and set down a date.

So Friday 2nd November 2018 here we come!

9 comments:

  1. I admire your tenacity Sue. Anyone else would have given in.
    Keep fighting!

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  2. Haha...'waste valuable police time'. Then why does police waste their valuable time on chasing and robbing harmless people on bikes? And what about your time and money, Sue? The root of the problem is helmet law, not us bike riders. We just fight against THEIR injustice.

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  3. stressed out with cyclingAugust 15, 2018 at 1:37 PM

    Sue, you are tough. Really appreciate your fight, most aussies simply don't have this gusto and give up cycling.

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  4. Dear Sue,

    I wish you the best of luck for your oncoming court event. I am sad that luck is the only think I can wish you since I personally experienced that there is no justice and lawfulness in Australia. I think we all - who participated in the protest ride - should go and support you on court. I would be definitely going if I was still in Sydney. But after my arrest and assault I left NSW and moved to WA hoping that police brutality on harmless people is less severe here then in NSW. In my thought I will be with you.

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  5. Sue, have you seen this crap from Germany?

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/mar/24/german-bike-safety-ad-featuring-model-in-bra-and-helmet-sexist

    In my view helmet campaigns are sexist by nature as they promote a cyclist model who is male, young or "super-fit" middle-age and fail to understand that many women - and men - do not fit that model nor does their cycling have the same purpose.

    Adding insult to injury...

    ReplyDelete