Letter sent to Christine Russell today

 

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Dear Ms Russell

I am writing on behalf of the 100 members of Chester Cycling Campaign to ask you to oppose the above bill when it is presented for a second reading on April 23rd.

We believe that this bill, which makes it an offence to allow a child under 16 to ride a bicycle on the road or in a public park without a helmet is misguided, ignores much of the evidence against helmets, and that its net effect will be detrimental to society.

We recognise that this is an emotive subject, but its important to see the whole picture and not to just focus on head impacts with and without helmets. In particular, we would like to draw your attention to the following points:
· Helmet promotion deters cycling and leads to overall poorer health (e.g. rising levels of child obesity). Following the introduction of legislation in Western Australia, child cycle usage fell by 30-50%. Cycling by secondary school children in Sydney fell by 91%
· The British Medical Association (from research in 1997) opposes legislation, arguing that the overall health benefits of cycling far outweigh the negatives associated with injury risk.
· The benefits of helmets in accidents are greatly overstated because the make neck and rotational brain injuries more likely.
· Children are much more likely to suffer head injury as pedestrians than when cycling (O'Rourke et al. Medical Journal of Australia, 1987).

In conclusion, we welcome the government paying attention to cycling safety, but would recommend that initiatives such as educating drivers in how to react to cycles, more cycling infrastructure and more cycle-friendly road design would have a greater impact.

 

Yours sincerely
Sam Marshall
Chester Cycling Campaign