News
Government puts brake on MP's helmet compulsion campaign
Carlton Reid Oct 23 2007, 10:45am
Minister says helmet compulsion unlikely because it leads to decreased cycle use
Peter Bone, the Tory MP for Wellingborough and Secretary of the All-Party Road Traffic Group, wants all under 14 year olds to be forced to wear helmets when cycling. In a 10 Minute Bill on October 16th he argued his case and has subsequently raised the matter again in Parliament.
However, Jim Fitzpatrick, a Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for Transport, said:
"We have no proposals to bring forward legislation on compulsory cycle helmet wearing...A 2002 review commissioned by the DfT concluded that, overall there is evidence that bicycle helmets can be effective at reducing the incidence and severity of head, brain and upper facial injuries... However, the report also concluded that, making cycle helmet wearing compulsory may in some cases discourage some people from cycling, leading to decreased bicycle use."
Fitzpatrick stressed that at the current levels of helmet use, enforcement would be a problem. Teenage boys, in particular, are eschewing helmets and forcing this group to wear helmets would make many turn away from cycling. Such a result would be a net loss to the health of the nation because the amount of lives saved by helmet compulsion would be dwarfed by the loss of life caused by sedentary lifestyles.
"Our regular surveys of helmet wearing rates show that cycle helmets were worn by 28 per cent of all cyclists on major roads in built up areas in 2004; this compares to 16 per cent in 1994." said Fitzpatrick.
"The corresponding figures for child cyclists are 14 per cent in 2004 compared to 18 per cent in 1994. The wearing rate for teenage boys has decreased from 16 per cent to 11 per cent. The 2006 helmet wearing rate survey will be published later this year.
"While compulsion remains an option that we will review from time to time, it has been our view that, at current helmet wearing rates, making helmets compulsory would cause enforcement difficulties and without greater public acceptance could have an effect on levels of cycling."
Roger Geffen, CTC's Campaigns and Policy Manager, said:
"Peter Bone’s wish to ‘do his bit’ for safer cycling is no doubt sincere, but totally misguided. He has blinded himself to the mass of data showing that helmet laws drastically reduce cycle use and that a cull of cyclists only makes things worse for those who remain. With new evidence just out showing that the obesity crisis is far worse than we had previously realised, it is clear that Bone’s proposals would shorten thousands more lives than they could possibly hope to save.”
Source: Hansard
