Helmets 'may be deterring cyclists'

chris laming infers from Harry Duynhoven's comments that there is a proposal to ban helmets altogether. People like chris are hard to debate with when they come to such erroneous conclusions. have another think about this one chris1

The poor driver standards you write of are a direct reflection of the absence of any formal training to gain a licence. There is no standardised training required for a car licence, or for that matter a 40 tonne Truck and trailer licence; an applicant simply has to prove they can operate the vehicle - go read the fact sheets at Transport NZ.

My point is George, the weight of both medical and transport research supports the view that helmets are not critical to surviving a car V cycle crash. Countries with high counts of cycle journeys 1. Have 18 as minimum age for driving. 2. require drivers to attend a driving school to gain a licence. 3. seperate cycle lanes from car traffic with car parking, or a curb, on main artieral roads. 4. don't mandate the wearing of helmets. I would never cry nanny state if a NZ government implemented a Unit Standard based driver training regime with professional driver training. Yes you can get turbo cars in less then 2 ltr engines, we have one, and young thrusters who demonstrate poor driving behaviours couldn't afford them - certainly won't be able to after the up-coming economic turmoils.

If you want safe drivers you have to structure the licence system to deliver that. Our system does not deliver safe drivers. Harry Duyenhoven has been on National Radio saying that if were up to him he would ban cellphone use in cars by drivers; well if its not up to him who does own that decision. He and other senior Labour ministers have publicly stated that the research on the dangers of drivers using cell-phones is inconclusive - meanwhile most of the rest of the developed world have banned their use by drivers. This labour Government owns these problems.

We get what the government legislates for; they can move fast and furious when they want to - micro chipping dogs - pointless but done with such sincerity. This circular debate on helmets is a distraction. All the answers are known and solutions available right now.

You say we need to change the driving culture - I say you are wrong. Driver behaviour must be changed, and that means better skills and knowledge. In Denmark it costs NZ$3200 to get a car licence. Lots of cycling happening there. And if National had been in for 9 years and not fixed this and the cell phone thing I'd write the same blog about them. NZ gets the politicians they deserve and if you keep protecting them from legitimate challenges they'll be worse next time round.

We are over regulated as it is. A hell of a lot more people drown every year so should we all wear life jackets when we go in the sea? Let's have some personal responsibility here or do we have a guy with a red flag walking in front of us again, just to be safe?

You want to make it safer, raise the drinking age and the driving age. Simple. That would save lives.

Raise the age people can have air guns. Sensible laws.

What? Helmet law is still compulsory? You would have a hard time thinking that by the way the police are not inforcing this law! A quick survey this morning on Cameron Road in Tauranga, in the space of 60mins, more than 70% of cyclists were not wearing a helmet. Mostly younger people on way to school. As to the comments on cars causing most incidents, of the cyclists I saw, most were not helping the issue & putting themselfs in harms way. Schools who allow children to cycle to school, should be enforcing the helmet law, & ensuring road rules are taught. Blaming government and/or local councils is just passing the buck. Everyone has to take responsibilty for their own actions. But improving driver training is a must do. Limit horsepower (information readily available)& modifications of cars for younger drivers. Instant impoundment for infringers.

There was a typo on the URL. Should have been:

http://www.cyclehelmets.org

If citizens want to ride bareheaded on a bicycle, let them. Helmets are not the safety panacea many politicians and bureaucrats think they are. Source: http//:www.cyclehelmets.org

It's sad that grieving mother Rebecca Oaten would restrict the freedom of others because of guilt over her son. Is this kind of nanny-state interference in people's lives the reason NZ troops fought for in WWII? I always thought NZ was the land of individualism and freedom. I guess I was wrong.

Leave your anti-Labour bias at the keyboard and re-read the story carefully.

Some people refuse to wear helmets because A) they don't make the rider look cool B) not compulsory in other countries C) why should government dictate what they can and can not wear for their own safety.

Yes, they're idiots - especially with the poor driving standards on our roads.

However, I'm sure you'd be the first to cry "nanny-state" if Labour brought in much more stringent driving standards, made new drivers attend 20+ hours of professional driving tuition, banned family members teaching other family members, and made everyone sit both a theoritcal and practical driving test every 10 years when renewing their drivers licence.

Everyone thinks everyone else is a bad driver. And everyone thinks it's young drivers that cause all the accidents. Guess what - experienced drivers also have accidents because they've become complacent and over-confident.

So to improve driving standards, you have to change the driving culture - and after many years of anti-drink driving campaigns, that's a difficult task seeing as alcohol figures too highly in injury and death accidents.

Finally, limiting novices drivers to cars with engine sizes under 2 liters is too simplistic - you can buy factory-built cars with turbocharged engines under 2 liters that will out-perform a 3 liter medium sized car. Any car, regardless of engine size is going to kill or injure a cyclist in an accident.

"So is it really worth increasing cyclist numbers if it means taking away their only form of protection?" -Not having helmets be compulsory is hardly taking them away. I don't think it was intended that it would become compulsory to NOT wear a helmet.

Its not the wearing of helmets that puts me off cycling, its the dangerous drivers who just don't look for cyclists on the roads and the lack of knowledge of the road rules by these drivers that is the biggest deterent. Ask any cyclist about their daily near-miss by inconsiderate drivers.

This is junk electioneering; posing stupid questions. Most seriously injured cyclists are in that state because they were hit by a vehicle, not because they were or weren't wearing a helmet. Most countries don't require helmets

Classic Labour distraction politics - 'isn't this interesting...'. Too raise the number of cycle journeys - Raise driving age, require licences to be issued after attendance at a driving school, driver pays. NZQA have fantastic unit standards already to go. Get teenagers out of cars with more than 2 ltr engines. Put cycle lanes next to footpath with cars parked outside that - same road space used but 100 times safer. Good god how hard is that.

Emulate the countries with high percentage of cycle journeys. Grow up New Zealand. For a country with the most travelled population and therefore the most exposed to better things, we put up with too much rubbish like this from people like Harry Duynhoven. Drivers, and Central and local government officials are the problem, not cyclists.