...I would have known that helmets were obviously the wrong solution to the safety problem - 'Blind Freddie' could have seen through the 'oodles' of helmet' spin at large, but not our pollies!!!
So I would have intitiated some REAL BIKE SAFETY initiatives like:
* educating motorists in an attempt to prevent cyclists from getting hit in first place
* implementing at least a 'one metre passing rule for motor vehicles passing cyclists
* banning cars from parking in bike lanes
* creating more bike lanes
* providing bike safety training into schools
* providing free bike safety classes to the general public
* holding at-fault motorists fully accountable when they injure or kill cyclists
Helmet laws have successfully singled out cyclists out for regulation yet we all know that considerably more motorists die from head injuries than cyclists. So if we really believed that helmets save lives, we'd make motorists wear helmets too.
But we know, that they know, that we are starting to know, that the helmet laws debacle is a neatly folded little pile of 'emperor's new clothes'!
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Again the same problem here in the UK. Around 80% of accidents involving cyclists and motorised vehicles are entirely the driver's fault (as you would expect). In the rest of Europe, the law puts responsibility on those who are in charge of the lethal weapon (ie drivers) - not here in the UK though. Despite a recent campaign to get the law changed here, the government was vehemently opposed as were the car obsessed press (no suprise there).
ReplyDeleteit's scary how entrenched the 'oil' industry is!
ReplyDeleteHere is an excellent piece of research that a transport minister ought to read.
ReplyDeleteIt describes the successful policies that have increased bicycle safety and encourage cycling in Europe.
Well worth a read.
Making Cycling Irresistible: Lessons from The Netherlands, Denmark and Germany
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all?content=10.1080/01441640701806612
Cheers,