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Speaking of Helmets…
Hot on the tail of more helmet discussion, I was talking with my mom about costume ideas for Halloween (trying to think of something that involves a bike…) when she said “I heard a report on NPR about how helmet laws discourage cycling.” I was very excited to hear the the word was spreading even to Midwestern American hairdressers in their 60′s!
A quick search led me to “Q with Jian Ghomeshi”, a CBC radio programme. This week’s debate is “Do bike helmet laws discourage cycling?”.
According to my mom, “They didn’t come up with any final decisions, but it was an interesting discussion”. The debate describes successes with Europe’s bike-sharing schemes in countries without mandatory helmet laws, and even mentions how helmet laws in NZ and Australia mean that cycling is less pervasive here.
Listen here:
Listen 26:14
About NicoleI learned how to ride a bike on the wide, straight, flat streets and bike lanes of Chicago, then honed my skills living in cycle-friendly places such as France, Montreal, Benin and Laos. I re-located to Wellington to do a PhD at Victoria University in 2010, and even the steep, twisty roads, constant horizonal rain, and 100 km gusts of wind could not deter me from riding my bike everywhere, decked out in a frock and high heels more often than not.
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Chris Glover Kapiti coast NZ
October 21, 2012 at 5:02 pm
WHERE’S YOUR HELMET! or silly hat.
The bicycle helmet law is possibly the most stupid law that has ever been made. It has put a lot of people off cycling particularly children; school bike stands and sheds were full now they are empty or have been removed .That’s more like a 90 percent reduction in cycling since the introduction of a mandatory helmet law in NZ on 1 January 1994. There was no proper research or public consultation. Reducing the number of people cycling is bad for public health and leads to less demand for better, safer conditions for cycling. It’s the chicken and egg effect.