Text of BBC story:
<url:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3563671.stm>
Cycle helmet ban faces opposition
=================================
[Cyclists don't want to be told to wear helmets]
Cycling groups have hit out at attempts to make helmet
wearing compulsory - claiming it could reduce cycle use and
the health benefits of the activity.
They claim making it illegal for under 16s to cycle without
a helmet is likely to exacerbate the problem of obesity.
Eric Martlew MP hopes his Protective Headgear for Young
Cyclists Bill will receive government backing.
The British Medical Association says it is in favour of
cycle helmets but is against compulsion for health reasons.
Car dependency
==============
The row over cycle helmets erupted after Labour MP Mr
Martlew promoted his bill at a press launch in Westminster
with the backing of Formula 1 ace David Coulthard.
[We are opposed to mandatory helmet wearing, which apart
from connotations of the nanny state, is quite unenforceable
Philip Darnton National Cycling Strategy Board]
The McLaren driver, a keen cyclist who has a company selling
cycle helmets, insisted he would not get on his bike without
wearing one.
Mr Martlew says he would like to see the use of helmets
become as common as wearing a hat for horse-riding.
But his plans have angered a number of cycling groups,
including CTC, the national cyclists' organisation, which
says making helmet use compulsory would discourage people
from taking to their bikes.
Roger Geffen, CTC's campaigns and policy manager, said:
"If passed, this Bill would almost certainly undermine the
efforts of government, local authorities, health
professionals and others to achieve a trebling of cycle
use by 2010.
"By reducing cycle use and exacerbating the trends towards
car-dependent sedentary lifestyles, this Bill would almost
certainly shorten thousands more lives than it could ever
hope to save."
Obesity
=======
The organisation questions claims by supporters of the bill
that head injuries account for more than 50% of all child
cycling injuries.
[Cycle helmets make a significant contribution to safety,
particularly in low speed impacts Dr Vivienne Nathanson BMA]
Mr Geffen says CTC analysis of Department of Health data
suggests that of child cyclists admitted to hospital in
England in 2002/3, 37.6% had head injuries.
This compared with an equivalent figure of 43.7% for
child pedestrians. Of all children's admissions to
hospital in that year
34.2% had head injuries.
CTC argues that 15% of children aged between six and 15 were
obese in 2001, numbers which are expected to rise to one
fifth of boys and a third of girls by 2020.
'Unenforceable'
===============
While obesity shortens life expectancy by about nine years,
cycling increases life expectancy by about two years, the
group claims.
Philip Darnton, acting chair of the National Cycling
Strategy Board, said the group was not anti-helmet wearing.
"We are opposed to mandatory helmet wearing, which apart
from connotations of the nanny state, is quite
unenforceable," he said.
"It would dramatically reduce the number of cyclists and be
the worst possible step to take when we are also concerned
about the desperate health problems arising from obesity."
Aerobic exercise
================
Dr Vivienne Nathanson, head of science and ethics at the
BMA, said it was "very much in favour of encouraging people
to wear cycle helmets".
But the association was opposed to compulsory use at the
moment because of fears it could "undermine" the aerobic and
cardiac benefits" of cycling, she said.
"There is no doubt in our minds that cycle helmets make a
significant contribution to safety, particularly in low
speed impacts," she told BBC News Online.
But the BMA argues that compulsion could mean people
abandoning cycling and exercise in general because of the
cost of new equipment and other issues.
'Funky' designs
===============
Dr Nathanson said advertising and education was needed to
"make people understand" why they should wear helmets.
She urged designers to make helmets "look fun and funky" to
encourage children to wear them, while including clear
instructions on how to wear them properly.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (Rospa)
says it advocates the use of cycle helmets, but would only
support compulsion if enough people were already wearing
them to make the law enforceable.
Spokesman Roger Vincent said: "We need to persuade people of
the benefits of wearing a helmet, with designs that are more
attractive for children to wear."
The bill is backed by Dr Andrew Curran, a leading child
neurologist at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool, who
says wearing a cycle helmet reduces the risk of brain
injury by 80%.
--
Guy
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May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after
posting. chapmancentral.co.ukchapmancentral.co.ukOpen ↗
88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at
Washington University
