Stop Headway - Helmet compulsion in Northern Ireland

[meic]

It looks to me as if this would apply to children who are in a trailer, where a helmet would increase their chance of injury. Not that that should worry them as the law is based on prejudice not logic.

I guess it is not a crime because then you would have a right to a trial. Fixed penalties are much easier to deal out.

I like the idea of being on a "Helmet Offenders' Register".

[snibgo]

“open space” has the meaning given by section 20 of the Open Spaces Act 1906 (c. 25);

I wonder what "reasonable excuse" means. Perhaps: "I believe a helmet would increase the probability of being squished by traffic."

[meic]

I suppose reasonable excuse may be that you cant physically wear one, in a trailer, over your head bandages etc etc.

It doesnt mention exemption for Sikhs or is that just an E&W thing?

[[XAP]Bob]

The site exists, and is running. I can take email addresses for a mailing list to: contact (at) the relevant domain

Try visiting: http://www.wrongheaded.org.uk

[StopHeadway]

Just a quick note to say that those who contacted me to help should now have PM, to get sorted out on the site discussion email list.

If anyone else is interested in helping out, please don't hesitate to get in touch and I'll fill you in.

Bob is right - we need to get our thinking caps on!

[Steady rider]

Stop headway previous discussion, page 22, Steady rider » Tue Sep 28, 2010 7:28 pm

I provided details of information disputig the claims made, leaflet given to Headway at their national conference. They did not contact me to either dispute of dscuss the claims.

All the information is correct and can be quoted, letters to the press or media.

[StopHeadway]

Thanks - I haven't bothered to read the 20-odd pages of that topic as it's just too painful to wade through!

For reference, you can link directly to a post by copying the link which is the title of that post (i.e. for mine it says "Re: Stop Headway (linking posts)"). For my own future ref, the above reference is here.

[Steady rider]

Copying the statement.
----------------------
Stop ‘Headway’ misleading the public

Concerns have arisen due to misleading statements by Headway regarding cycle helmets.

The Government issued a response to Headway's call for a new law to make it compulsory for children to wear helmets while cycling, rejecting the proposal because "there is some evidence that compulsory helmet wearing may discourage some people from cycling, leading to decreased bicycle use". Headway responded 26 Aug 2009, by saying "Cycle helmet laws have been introduced in a number of states across the USA and no trend has ever been recorded showing a reduction in the number of cyclists on the roads."

The US National Sporting Goods Association provides survey details showing a 29.9% reduction in cycling for the 7-11 age group from 1998 to 2007. In 2004, a USA report by Grant and Rutner referred to a 21% reduction in bicycle use associated with a 12% reduction in fatalities. Carpenter and Stehr (May 2009) reported of reduced cycling in the USA because of helmet legislation.

Headway chose to refer to the USA where enforcement may not always occur.
Survey details from Australia show cycling was reduced following helmet legislation.

Victoria, 297 extra wearing helmets and 1110 fewer cycling.
New South Wales, 569 extra wearing helmets and 2658 fewer cycling.
Combined, more than 4 stopped cycling for each extra one wearing a helmet, 866 extra wearing helmets compared with 3768 fewer cycling.

Robinson 1996 report, Table 2 shows data for children in NSW. The equivalent number of injuries for pre law level of number of cyclists increased from 1310 (384 head + 926 other injuries) in 1991 to 2083 (488 head + 1595 other injuries) in 1993. For NSW the helmet laws reduced children’s safety. The increased injury rate were 59%, from 1310 to 2083.

Erke and Elvik (Norwegian researchers) 2007 stated: "There is evidence of increased accident risk per cycling-km for cyclists wearing a helmet. In Australia and New Zealand, the increase is estimated to be around 14 per cent."

In practice, the main effect of the laws was to reduce cycling rather than improving safety.

The UK's National Children's Bureau (NCB) provided a detailed review of cycling and helmets in 2005, stating that the case for helmets is far from sound and the benefits of helmets need further investigation before even a policy supporting promotion can be unequivocally supported.

In accident compensation cases, the legal requirement to wear a helmet may tend to reduce compensation for a non-helmeted cyclist compared to helmeted ones or indeed motor vehicle occupants who sustain head injuries.

The charity Headway is promoting bicycle helmet laws in Jersey, Northern Ireland and the UK and are collecting funds based on misleading information.

Robinson DL; Head injuries and bicycle helmet laws; Accid Anal Prev, 28, 4: p 463-475, 1996 http://www.cycle-helmets.com/robinson-head-injuries.pdf
Erke A, Elvik R, Making Vision Zero real: Preventing Pedestrian Accidents And Making Them Less Severe, 2007. p 28
http://www.toi.no/getfile.php/Publikasj ... 7-nett.pdf
Robinson DL,No clear evidence from countries that have enforced the wearing of helmets
BMJ 2006; 332 : 722 doi: 10.1136/bmj.332.7543.722-a (Published 23 March 2006) http://www.bmj.com/content/332/7543/722.2.full
Gill T, Cycling and Children and Young People, A review, National Children's Bureau, 2005. http://www.cycle-helmets.com/cyclingreport_timgill.pdf

[coshgirl]

I'm happy to help. Not a member of CTC but can offer copywriting skills. We need to move fast on this though

[[XAP]Bob]

CTC membership not required...

Copy writing skills very useful!
I'm tied down for a while, but StopHeadway now has admin rights for the mailing list, FTP access to the site, and (from a previous site I've seen) a good eye.

John

[irc]

I can't offer any useful skills for the campaign. If cash is needed for any costs I'm happy to throw £20 in as a contribution. Could be by Paypal if that suits. If needed PM me with the e-mail address to send it to.

[[XAP]Bob]

donate (at) Relevant domain should be up and running for paypal receipts...

http://www.wrongheaded.org.uk

[irc]

I'm not seeing the donate area. Using Firefox when I click the link I get the screen below. Is this right? Sorry if I am missing the obvious.

[StopHeadway]

I think Bob means that you can use Paypal to donate to the address he describes in his post, not that there's a donate button on the site.

I'm going to knock up a simple placeholder image for the frontpage anyway, to tide us over while we do the initial work.

[[XAP]Bob]

I think Bob means that you can use Paypal to donate to the address he describes in his post, not that there's a donate button on the site.

Indeed I do.
A Paypal link can't be hard to add, but I'll leave that for StopHeadway for the moment.