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Dear Melinda,
If I were in Australia I would be mentioning my latest helmet matter in Scone Court. So I'm sending "bicycle Love" to my lawyer (and you can have some too!)
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
Why do politicians have to make simple things so very difficult.
It couldn't be that hard to grant me an exemption to wearing a bicycle helmet effective immediately?!
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
My time in the UK has drawn to a close. Much is wrong here as you know but their doctors prevented helmet law using Australia as a case in point.
Repeal helmet law - it would improve roads considerably.
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
There are bicycles everywhere! In with the traffic, on super blue highways, dinking, with toddlers in seats, baguettes in baskets. We could have this.
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
Here in London going to the shops on a bicycle is not a mission like it is in Australia - you just hop on a bike. Get rid of helmet law.
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
Australia:
- no good at bicycles
- no good at climate change
- no good at giving asylum
- no good all round
We are a disgrace.
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
Modal share of bikes in London worse than The Netherlands but considerably better than Sydney.
Your govenment is holding us back with your backward transprot strategies.
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
Bicycles wil have their day again and no Australian government will be able to hold them back forever - a little like King Canute, the tide will come in.
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
The benefits of cycling outweigh the risks by 20:1 - please grant me an exemption.
At age 57, I can ill afford to be sedentary.
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
In The Netherlands the road system is designed for multiple use - no[t] so in Australia where it is designed purely for automobiles.
Please grant me an exemption for helmet wearing.
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
In The Netherlands roundabouts have a dedicated lane for bicycles, and drivers leaving roundabouts must give way to bikes that are continuing onwards. A lot more useful than helmet law.
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
In The Netherlands traffic lights are programmed for cycling speeds NOT car speeds. And at traffic lights, bikes get their own waiting area ahead of cars & often their own set of human-height lights to give cyclists a head start. More useful than helmet law.
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
In The Netherlands bicycle lanes are plentiful, and they seldom disappear just as roads get to tricky junctions - I mean in Australia our bike lanes disappear all the time as road engineers FAIL to do what ought to come next.
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
Essesntially our quest as a nation to make everyone wear helmets on bicycles isn't a public safety success story but a glaringly obvious policy failure.
Please give me an exemtpion.
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
You know and I know that cycling safety is more than wearing a styrofoam hat!
You know and I know that it's about infrastructure and your govenment's failure to invest in it. Helmets are "The Emperor's New Clothes"!
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
I am thrilled to learn today that I am no longer breaking the law by eating hemp seed!
One less criminal activity now that we don't have to pretend when we buy it that it's for cosmetic use!
Do the same for bicycle helmets & cycling - revoke R.256!
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
Giving up cycling has been very bad for me. My quads have weakened and as a result have caused my knnes to be unprotected and the meniscus in my 'Left' knee to tear. Cycling is so beneficial in so many ways. NSW Health can ill afford to create barriers to cycling.
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
For the sake of my knees, please give me an exemption from wearing a bicycle helmet. It is madness that a country would deliberately place the health of its citizens at risk through such ignorant regulation.
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
Why is it that other countries have not gone 'done' [sic]( corrected to 'down' before posting!) the pathway of compulsory bicycle helmet wearing? Do you think they have judged Australia to be a case in point for abject failure of such an initiative?
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
I puffed walking up the stairs today ... I can't believe it, I'm losing my incidental fitness crucial to well being as an older woman.
I miss cycling 17 kms a day as was my wont.
Help me!
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
Is this true? Somebody copied me into a tweet that inferred you were considering bicycle helmet choice?
Is this true? I can barely contain my joy!!!!
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
The pounds keep piling on and now my knees are giving out. It really would be much more cost efficient all round if you got rid of helmet law.
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
There is no air pollution attached to riding bicycles. Such a clean mode of transport yet your government seeks to penalise it & keep it to a bare minimum.
Repeal helmet law.
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
All types of cycling are lumped in together and yet driving a car is seen as a range of different activities. Hence standards for Grand Prix driving are not applied to driving to the shops ... why is this not the same for cycling?
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
Helmet law created the most unpleasant division of road users. Shouty strangers in cars became empowered to abuse anyone using a bicycle. Continuing with helmet [law] continues wilfully with this unnecessary abuse.
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
Here's a 'how-to' on creating cycling safety:
"Build a good road system that insulates cyclists from fast moving and unpredictable traffic."
... simple - just do it!
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
Today would be my father's 80th birthday only he died at 43 wearing a helmet as he ejected out of his RAF Jaguar. Didn't prevent him from drowning just like helmets don't prevent us from sustaining catastrophic injuries after we've been hit by automobiles.
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
Did you know that the most risk of severe injury while cycling is not actually intrinsic to the activity? No, well let me point out that it's motorists who impose the most risk on cyclists. Helmets won't help.
Best,
Sue Abbott
Dear Melinda,
The 3 factors you need to consider for cycling safety are:
(1) motorists
(2) road design and conditions
(3) cyclists
... yet only no.3 is ever stutdied or considered. Your UNSW academics fail us all.
Best,
Sue Abbott
