On 16th March, the CTC’s Roger Geffen joined forces with CTC volunteers and Sustrans staff in Londonderry to present evidence to the Environment Committee of the Assembly which is considering whether to make it illegal to ride a bike in Northern Ireland without wearing a helmet.
CTC and Sustrans oppose The Cyclists (Protective Headgear) Bill on the grounds that it would lead to a sharp reduction in the number of people choosing to cycle. Their evidence was supported by local businessmen and comments submitted to an online petition against the bill.
The bill will not be discussed again before the forthcoming Assembly elections in May. Serious questions remain regarding the costs and implementation proposed in the current draft.
The full CTC press release is here, with further information on their opposition to the bill here. If you’d like to add your voice to the petition against the bill, feel free.
I’m all for people wearing helmets and wouldn’t venture out for a ride without one, but that’s not a strong enough basis on which to base a law that will affect large numbers of people and quite probably have undesirable as well as counter-productive side effects.
Careful consideration, as well as better evidence, is needed before the Assembly take a decision that could adversely affect cycling in Northern Ireland for years – if not generations – to come.
I don’t think it will have an adverse effect on cycling as such, but it would definitely be a retrograde step in terms of law, freedom and responsibility and is not based on any solid evidence of a beneficial effect on health.
In Spain, the first country to introduce compulsory helmet laws, long term studies have shown that helmet wearing induces a false sense of safety both among cyclists and other road users with the resulting lack of care from both sides thus leading to a paradoxically higher rate of accidents.
Also most fatalities in cycling connected accidents are from head injuries, but this is not improved by helmet wearing as such injuries are the result of serious accidents in which the wearing of a lightweight cycling style helmet is of no consequence.
The best thing government can do to improve cycling, make it more attractive and make the roads safer is to introduce a proper proficiency scheme both in schools and for the wider community. Sorry for long comment but this is a subject close to my heart. And I am fully aware of the value of helmets having been in accidents and had my scone saved by them.