Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by stephen on July 11, 2011 at 23:55

It is true we don't know all the facts but it is human nature that people who feel safer take greater risks. Obviously if bike helmets are really only designed for minor falls as Mark pointed out then having a law and group of people claiming otherwise even emphasizing that they can save you life and that it should be law to wear them - well that can distort the decision process.

People have died believing that they were safe - in one case parents thinking their kid is safe cause they just put on a helmet then - moments later they rode onto the road and it's another sad story.

The mandatory bike helmet law detracts from real safety measures like using common sense, it denies people the right to make their own decisions and it is a form of discrimination against bicycle transport users.

Having a helmet law does not make us safer at all and leads to many thousands of people being harassed and fined by police for no good reason (other than revenue raising ) but claiming that what they are doing saves lives that is insensitive. If I am insensitive it's a result of the Mandatory Helmet Laws blatant discrimination against me and many others.

 

Permalink Reply by stephen on July 31, 2011 at 23:50

Australia serves as an example to other countries of why not to have a helmet law. Other country's can benefit in hindsight from this failed experiment which has sidelined many would be bicycle using Australians while failing to make the remaining ones any safer.

British medical journal reader survey

Failure of the helmet law in Austrailia has helped a healthy result to this survey 68% voted NO.

 

Permalink Reply by stephen on August 1, 2011 at 1:51

Well apparently there are no net benefit to wearing a helmet according to this study.

I myself can relate to the neck injury effect - i would be dead if i had been wearing one on one occasion in the past.

Yes they may treat me as a criminal for it but i am still alive because i use common sense.

Link Below.

Study downgrades protective effect of cycle helmets

 

Permalink Reply by GlenM on August 1, 2011 at 11:41

Apparently we shouldn't sit down and we should take up smoking because according to this study sitting down is more dangerous to your health than smoking.

Permalink Reply by stephen on September 18, 2011 at 21:27

Show your support to help repeal the mandatory helmet law by voting on this Getup! suggestion.

 

http://suggest.getup.org.au/forums/60819-getup-campaign-suggestions...

 

Permalink Reply by stephen on September 27, 2011 at 1:34

http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=303664

quoting from the above.

"a 15-year-old Aboriginal girl was strip-searched and spent a night in a detention centre for not paying a fine. Her crime was not wearing a bicycle helmet. In another case a 12-year-old boy, faces three months in the Darwin detention centre for failing to pay $2,000 (£444) in fines - also for not wearing a bicycle helmet."

 

The article is from some time back yet the law is still in place ! and people continue to get fines. Proponents of the mandatory helmet law are endorsing police brutality and violation of peoples rights to enforce it even when data show's this law has is a costly mistake to society.

http://cyclehelmets.org/1018.html

If companies or helmet advocates want to promote the sales or usage of bicycle helmets it should be by peaceful means such as advertising and not violence or the threat of violence against anyone especially children.

 

Please help repeal this unfair law instituted by the Labor party. - Perhaps the "Labor Party" should call themselves the "Labor Camp Party" since they seem to want to treat people like inmates in a concentration camp. Their racist northern territory intervention strategy is their latest attack on civil rights, and lets just hope the "Malaysian" solution never happens.

http://suggest.getup.org.au/forums/60819-getup-campaign-suggestions...

 

Here is a how to vote against helmet laws guide.

http://bicycleaustralia.org/fight.php

 

Permalink Reply by stephen on November 3, 2011 at 0:52

Maybe Queensland will be next to repeal their helmet laws -their bike hire scheme is turning out to be a white elephant as result of these ridiculous and discriminatory laws but someone is doing something about it.

 

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/national/bid-to-axe-cycle-helmet...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2ZNLb_SBbuA

Permalink Reply by stephen on November 19, 2011 at 15:50

This is a great parody of "the downfall" adapted very appropriately to the bike share schemes in other states recently.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADoy7GgnF_s&feature=youtu.be

Classic line 
"Such police state behavior would frighten even Starlin" 

If Adelaide had a scheme with helmet exemption for users it would prove the matter once and for all that the helmet requirement has turned the other states schemes into a loss making white elephants costing taxpayers millions.

But the government helmet law zealots are afraid of being shown up and so far no such exemption has been given - if they are sure it does not damage usage rates as they claim why do our schemes fail while other countries without the laws succeed ?

Permalink Reply by stephen on December 6, 2011 at 23:32

Geoff McLeod appeared on channel 10's "The Project" today discussing the Chris Rissels study finding that One in five people say they would ride more without helmets (mandatory helmet laws are implicated here). 

If you don't currently ride much or at all is it because bike helmet laws make it awkward inconvenient or even create the perception that riding is somehow highly dangerous. Please consider how this unwanted government interference has had dire consequences to the behavior of many millions of people.

This study supports the finding that helmet laws have damaged cycling in Australia and certainly have not made it any safer either.

Permalink Reply by stephen on December 19, 2011 at 22:18

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Health/Pedalling-a-healthier-lifestyle/2...

This article is about a safety study by Dr Dorothy Robinson

"She has just published a study in the Health Promotion Journal of Australia that is likely to send shock waves through Australian cycling communities with its claim that mandatory bicycle helmet laws increase rather than decrease the likelihood of injuries to cyclists."

And yet we still have this counterproductive law with reduces the number of people who ride and sees thousands of people unfairly harassed by the police every year.

The mandatory helmet law has to be put to an end. Respect bicycle users civil rights and return to us the freedom that almost every other bicycle user in the world enjoys.

Permalink Reply by stephen on March 25, 2012 at 1:42

Great result for the QLD LNP recently.
Will they have the guts to repeal the mandatory bike helmet laws that the Labor government had been using to discourage bike usage. Here are some reasons why this law needs to be repealed.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17032-bicycle-helmet-laws-cou...
As for the previous Labor government's misleading "helmets save lives" propaganda it's was a lie.
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Home/Cycle-helmets-useless-in-serio...
In fact by deflating this boys bike tyres police ensured he was more likely to be killed since statistically travelling the same distance on foot is more dangerous than riding it. !
http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/story/2010/11/08/boy-left-by-c...
Who in their right of mind would suggest that a bike helmet could have saved these 2 yet the Labor party have mislead themselves and others to think so.
http://www.news.com.au/national/two-teenager-hitchhikers-killed-by-...
Had the Labor party not discouraged use of bikes by mandating uncomfortable helmets and tasking police to persecute people who did not wear them maybe these 2 would have been riding and not been hit at all !. Labor seemed to lack the ability to understand opportunity cost analysis or recognise civil rights i hope the LNP will do better in both respects.

LNP can fix the main problem with the QLD bike hire scheme which is failing as result of this stupid legislation.
Campbell Newman is already aware of the issue I hope he will act and end the discriminatory helmet laws so people can use the bikes and so police are free to do real work instead of chasing kids and letting bike tyres down.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/helmet-giveaway-for-bike...
http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cycling/blogs/cycling-tips/change-of...

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