Helmets

Would you wear one if the law said they weren't compulsory? I've been debating this point in my head more recently. I know helmets reduce the risk of severe head injuries but lets face it, if a car (or worse) does clean you up then head injuries will be the least of your worries. There are valid arguements on both sides of the fence and even those that agree with wearing a helmet don't necessarily believe it should be compulsory. I'm actually thinking of researching this proplerly other than just throwing up a few random comments but for now I've asked Bicycle Victoria what their stance is on compulsory helmets.

Would Bike Boy wear a helmet if he didn't have to? In short, not all the time. Bike Boy would probably still wear a helmet on his daily commute. Every motorist on the road in Australia is too busy focussed on themselves and their little insulated world inside of their vehicle to consider any other motorist on the road. As such, it creates too many situations where a vehicle will ignore common sense and courtesy and almost cause an accident, be it ignoring a pedestrian crossing (Montague Street on-ramp) or trying to squeeze into the bicycle lane to turn left (happened this morning, and the boat head had the nerve to toot the cyclist in the cycle lane *shakes head*). Because of these situations it's crazy to not consider wearing as much protection as conditions will allow. On larger group rides such as Around The Bay or any other sponsored event I think it should be a must but even then it's more to do with the speeds reached down hills and the mix of experienced and novice riders.

As a motorcyclist Bike Boy would never consider going for a ride without a helmet and jacket, but then that has everything to do with being able to reach 100km/h in first gear more than protection from other motorists. Your average speed is that much higher when you aren't relying on pedal power and as such it is a lot more likely that you'll come off at higher speeds. Off road it's a different story, and more about protecting yourself from the environment and that's why full-face helmets are so prolific (along with body-armor and then some). No one likes a tree in the teeth no matter who they are or what type of bike they're riding.

In the end I guess it would be a case of common sense, education, and every road user being a little more patient with each other, but then that's why laws are introduced in the first place. Someone once told me that "laws are introduced when a societies ethos has failed." Perhaps that is a starting point, finding out why compulsory helmet laws were introduced in the first place. I'll keep you posted on further developments but please feel free to leave your own comments. For any BV members who want to read more on the discussion head on over to the forums here.

The Common Bike - Part 1

Reports this week over at The Age say Melbourne is trialing a public Bike Hire scheme based on a few already set-up in Europe. Both articles raise very valid points about the positive and negative sides of public bicycle hire schemes but in the end I think it's a winner. It will be interesteing to see what the State Government comes up with in its budget announcement later in the week (The Common Bike isn't part of the governments scheme as yet) and if they include a hire scheme similar to Paris'.
However, Australia will have a hassle with helmet laws in that we have compulsory helmet laws in the first place. Our cycling brothers and sisters over in Europe enjoy being able to cycle without a daggy helmet and Copenhagen in particular enjoys the title of safest cycling city in the world without a compulsory helmet law. Actually the more I think about it the more I want to research helmets. I know they can save you from severe head injuries but how safe are they?
Anyway, the public bike hire argument hinges on whether or not people use the bikes (or steal/vandalise them) and how often. If you're discouraged from hiring a bike because you don't want to carry a helmet around (or wear a hired helemt) then it will fall over in Melbourne. I would like to see more people cycling more often but I think there are better ways to encourage the people that already cycle along with getting new people involved. Bike Boy is certainly down with the Italian governments plan.