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The Letters Editor
Guardian
In the midst of the debate on the compulsory wearing of cycle helmets, I am reminded of an incident in the early 1960's as a young Barnsley Probation Officer.
Heading into the office for the start of a day, I encountered a colleague leaping onto the bus heading for Cundy Cross. Apparently a single mother with an errant kid had telephoned in hysterics with some incomprehensible message. Given the family background, immediate intervention demanded. A couple of hours later my colleague trudged back to the office in time for his coffee break. Colleagues gathered in anticipation of the latest unfolding drama. Tension mounted as he took his time. The crisis? Jimmy wouldn't eat his egg for breakfast.
In a world of social problems quite beyond the imagination of us innocents of the 60s, with all its teenage pregnancies, drug taking, and obesity etc, are we now to have our desperately overstretched social workers dealing with dysfunctional families confronted with the cry, '...and by the way, Miss, he won't wear his cycle helmet' ?
Let's face it, much of the demand for cycle helmet compulsion takes no account of the massive resource implication of enforcement. But is more to do with wiping the satisfied smirks off those irritants on two wheels constantly riding to the front of traffic queues.
Roy Spilsbury
2, Lark Hill,
Fernbrook Road,
Penmaenmawr
LL34 6EG
01492 623 293
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