MEDIA RELEASE: Adelaide Helmet Optional Ride

MEDIA RELEASE 4 July 2015

“Helmet Optional Ride”
(helmets, a matter of choice … yours!)

Remember Velo-City Global last year? That great big bicycle conference with over 500 delegates? It was a first for Australia, and what, we may well ask, has been its legacy?

- The proposed digging up of Frome Street cycleway?
- Continued criminalisation of the non-helmet wearers?

After the successful Helmet Optional Ride organised by the Melbourne based Freestyle Cyclists last year as a counter event to Velo-City14, Sundance Bilson-Thompson has organised another one for this Sunday.

Sundance is keen to build upon the rest of the world’s familiar tradition of strong cycling credentials, and welcomes this coming Sunday’s opportunity to showcase Australians’ logistical ability to make a choice about riding a bicycle without the necessity of laws to that effect too.

“I attended last year’s Helmet Optional ride and now I want to make helmet optional rides a regular feature in Adelaide.”

Sundance has already given a talk at the Adelaide Bike Kitchen on the failure of helmet laws and he is building support in Adelaide for some reforms primarily for Northern Territory style reforms to allow helmet optional cycling on ‘off-road’ cycling lanes.

Permission from the Adelaide Police and the Minister for Transport has been sought to hold the ride, and Sundance is hoping to involve some of the State MPs in this event too.

Kathy Francis and Nik Dow from Freestyle Cyclists are travelling to Adelaide to be part of the ride as is Sue Abbott who is due in the Local Adelaide court next Tuesday to defend her ‘lack-of-a-helmet’crime incurred last year at the Adelaide Velo-City conference.

“We categorically oppose laws requiring adults to wear helmets … bicycle helmets present a significant barrier to everyday cycling,” says Kathy Francis.

“Cycling must become the easy choice,” says Kathy Francis. “This needs changes to legislation, enforcement and community attitudes, and it needs changes to the way roads are designed.”


Media Contact - for more information, images or interviews please contact:

Sundance Bilson-Thompson, Helmet Optional Rider organiser, 0412 254 511
Kathy Francis, Secretary, Freestyle Cyclists, 0481 372 956
Nik Dow, Treasurer, Freestyle Cyclists, 0412 703 483, or nik@cbdweb.net

Media Images: contact Sundance Bilson-Thompson or Nik Dow

What: Helmet Optional Protest Ride
When: Sunday, 5th July 2015
Where: Elder Park, just behind the Adelaide Convention Centre, riverbank
Time: 2.30pm start

Further Info: Visit the Adelaide Helmet Optional Ride facebook page for more information