... at The Ministry for Cycling:
Transport minister Norman Baker refused to back down today after sparking a safety row by saying cyclists may be safer not wearing helmets. He cited research that drivers may go closer to cyclists with helmets than those without, which could put them at greater risk.
Mr Baker, whose role includes responsibility for cycling, said: "If your head hits the pavement you may be better off with a helmet. On the other hand it may be that drivers drive closer to you and there is more risk of an incident. It's not a one-way street in terms of safety. The jury is out."
The minister stressed that he fully backed the Department for Transport's advice that children should wear a helmet because they are likely to have less road sense and have weaker skulls. But Mr Baker, a keen cyclist who does not wear a helmet, insisted it was up to adults to choose whether they do or not, adding: "I took a conscious decision when I became cycling minister that I would not change my habits after 45 years of cycling."
Roger Geffen, the Campaigns Director of CTC, the UK's national cyclists' organisation, says cyclists who wear helmets are 14 per cent more likely to have a collision per mile than those without.
But Katharine Hartley of road safety charity Brake said: "We have extensive evidence that helmets are effective in reducing the risk of serious head injury when cycling. Wearing a helmet is a really simple step that all cyclists can take. It's highly frustrating to see our minister with responsibility for cycling taking to his bike without a helmet."
Thursday, 28 April 2011
Outbreak Of Commonsense...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
VFTS, eating - probably Health, DEFRA, Environment, Education, DWP, Food Standards Agency, licensing, hygiene, Advertising Standards Authority, HM Revenue & Customs. I think we need a new quango to co-ordinate them all.
"14 per cent more likely to have a collision per mile".
I wonder what it is per kilometre or per 200 yards.
A personal bugbear of mine as a regular cyclist (no helmet today on the way to work). It is easy to demonstrate that helmets protect heads but that in itself does not make them an effective road safety tool. In the same way that knife crime is not best tackled by making all inner-city teenagers wear stab-proof vests despite the fact that stab-proof vests will clearly prevent from knife injuries. A helmet might be a sensible choice if you are riding the Tour de France but not if you are popping down to the shops if the *relative risks* are considered.
At this point I could additionally cite the fact that cyclists suffer proportionately fewer head injuries compared to pedestrians and drivers, or the evidence that cyclist injuries per km exposure are higher now than in the 1960's despite the fact that back then no-one wore cycle helmets and now ~30% do, but I leave it there....
Post a Comment