Bicycle Helmet Laws v The Paying Passenger

(Photos: Maureen Donnelly)(Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - a 'no-bicycle-helmet-law' land)

In Australia:

* Why don't paying passengers on bicycles have to wear helmets
* Why do non-paying passengers have to wear helmets?
* Why is it thought to be safer to pay a fare?
* Why is it thought to be more dangerous to not pay a fare?
* What is the government rationale?

I am completely mystified - any clues? anyone?

"Bicycle Helmet Laws" are the "Emperor's new clothes"

(Photos: Georige Abbott) (Essaouira, Morocco - a 'no-bicycle-helmet-law' land)

When will a 'little child' in an Australian crowd alert us to the reality that Australia's "Bicycle Helmet Laws" are nothing more than the 'Emperor's New Clothes', leaving us naked and ridiculous?

Bicycle helmet manufacturers are not unique in their aggressive pitch for market share - check out 'Big Pharma' - and it appears their intense commercial reality has dictated that any adverse data is discounted. We only have to glance at spin-based helmet promotion tactics, coupled with the frequent use of sensational quotes and unsubstantiated statistics from various medical opinion leaders, to appreciate that this is the case.

Notwithstanding, helmet spin is eagerly adopted by the Australian public media even though conclusive evidence pertaining to helmet safety is absent. It is a great shame that the Australian public media so willingly contributes to the advertising campaign for bicycle helmet manufacturers without the slightest 'investigative' thought:

*Why do the Australian public media so readily swallow the market research and press releases so generously distributed by bicycle helmet PR companies?
*Why don't the Australian public media take up the invitation to delve further into this issue?
*Why don't the Australian public media ponder for more than a glib one-liner as to why the majority of Europe so successfully cycles in their urban and rural areas, and in such large numbers, and so safely?

Upon reading James Hansen's excellent article "We are selling indulgences", it occurred to me that our bicycle helmet laws parallel proposed "cap & trade schemes" of energy companies, promising the notion of heaven on the whiff of a prayer, but paid for dearly by us. Not only have mandatory helmet laws notionally hoodwinked us, they have completely failed us in terms of cycling safety, traffic congestion and any 'street-cred' in negotiations for a global climate accord. Given that many countries are now facing the consequences of oil-saturated societies, and have been urgently required to discuss the issue of climate justice & access to climate justice, Australia urgently needs to comprehend that we have responsibilities that ought to include a new approach to cycling and a 're-visiting' of our mandatory helmet laws.

We cannot afford to miss these deadlines in our charter of global responsibilities - mandatory helmet laws must go.

To my 'booking sergeant': Greetings from Paris!

(Copy of photo-postcard sent to the booking sergeant today)

Dear Sergeant,

"Greetings from Paris"! (actually I'm back in Scone now but I was in Paris last week)

Following my earlier inquiry to you late last year concerning a copy of the in-car dvd recorded on the night of the 7th March 2009 when you booked me for riding a bicycle without wearing a helmet, I thought I would take this opportunity whilst preparing for my appeal in the District Court scheduled for Friday 5th March 2010, to make a further inquiry to see whether you have had an opportunity to procure the requested copy.

Look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely,
Sue Abbott (Scone)

D-day is nigh

Tomorrow my matter will be listed in District Court. It could be heard in full later on in the day or the next day or even next week or perhaps even the following week. But one thing I do know, if it's scheduled for 'post' Friday 19th February 2010, I will be my first client (and I know what they say about that - but I say 'c'est la vie!')

I love Paris in the "snow-time"

Ah voila le Vélib'! (procuring one required some determination)
Mon Vélib' en neige (note: they are extremely heavy - I promptly fell over with the bike as soon as I detached it from the docking station - oui! oui! je suis très stupide!)
...would have been easier to take this Citroën deux chevaux (very tempting!)
La Sorbonne en neige
Mon Vélib' sur le Pont Neuf
Voila la Notre Dame et moi
Maitenant le déjeuner, donc à bientôt, Vélib'!
Les Champs Elysees, could anything be more fun? (mais oui! cycling around the Arc de Triomphe!! - c'etait fantastique!)
Le Champ de Mars et la Tour Eiffel (c'etait uncroyable!)So in a nutshell after 6 weeks' cycling in Europe = we're a bunch of 'wimps' in Australia!

Une bicycliste à Genève

Tomorrow we leave Genève for Paris, and we plan to participate in the chic bicycle share programme, "Velibe" - bien sûr, we are going to do Paris en bicyclettes!!!!

Notwithstanding our six weeks in Europe, living and breathing bicycles every day, we still cannot cease wondering why Australia lamely allowed notions of bicycles to be hi-jacked, leaving the nation bereft of so many life options for close on two decades.

Soon we will have to exchange our current 'European cycling heaven' for the 'pumpkin reality' of Australia'! - and once more we ask ourselves, why is Australia so satisfied with our regressive state of affairs & when is our nation going to consider our requests for civil liberties and climate justice?

Les Bicyclettes au Chamonix und Zermatt

Bikes for skis
Bikes for letters
Bikes for interior design
Now we need bikes for the girls!!