Use your head
Page 2
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
On Christmas morning my daughter will be getting her first bicycle — and she can't wait. But she'll also be getting a Peppa Pig cycle helmet. I know she doesn't really need a helmet for cycling around the park — but that's not the point. The reason why she'll be getting one is because if I drum in the importance of wearing a helmet now, perhaps when she's older and cycling on the road she'll continue to have the good sense to wear one. But hopefully by then wearing cycle helmets will be mandatory.
Making cycle helmets a legal requirement seems like a no-brainer to me. When you drive you have to wear a seatbelt, so why on earth aren't cyclists forced to wear helmets? And unlike mandatory training for cyclists — which is something that the bulk of our operator panel are in favour of (p20-21) — this would be relatively easy to enforce. A policeman sees a cyclist without a helmet and issues them with an on-the-spot fine. This is how it works in Australia, for example, where helmets have been a legal requirement since the early 90s.
There might be some reasons why making cycle helmets mandatory is a bad idea (and if you know of any, then please let me know), but I can't think of one.
I suppose you could argue that it might force some commuters (who don't want to ruin their hair) to quit cycling altogether and travel by public transport instead. But like I say, I can't think of a single drawback!
That just leaves me to wish all of our readers a very merry Christmas. Will Shiers