On Mon, 03 May 2004 18:11:11 +0100, Colin McKenzie
<[email hidden]> wrote (more or less):
Quoted message said:Jon Senior said:Credit where credit's due. He replied. ... The Transport
Research Laboratory measure bicycle helmet wearing rates
periodically. The latest survey we have, which is for
2002, shows that cyclists are increasingly likely to
choose to wear helmets. The proportion of all cyclists
wearing helmets on major built up roads rose from 16% in
1994 to 25% in 2002. However, this was not true for
teenage boys, only 12% of whom wore helmets in 2002
compared with 16% in 1994.
Does anyone else share my suspicion that the correct
interpretation of the above figures is: we didn't measure
teenage boys separately in 1994, so we assumed the average
figure. When we did measure them, they wore helmets less
than average.
I've been away for the weekend, and Blueyonder's news server
no longer has Jon's post to which Colin is replying, but
from what colin quotes, it looks very like the reply I
received on Friday, dated 30th April.
<quote from Alistair Darling>
"The DfT commissioned an independent review of the issue of
compulsory bicycle helmet wearing, which was published in
Nov 2002 as Road Safety Research Report no. 30. If you are
interested, this report can be found on the DfT's website
at www.roads.dft.gov.uk). [sic for the '😉'] The review
concludes that overall there is evidence that bicycle
helmets can reduce the incidence and severity of head,
brain and upper facial injuries and that they can be
effective for users of all ages, though particularly for
children. The Department therefore promotes the use of
cycle helmets. On the other hand, the report also concludes
that compulsion may discourage some cyclists leading to
decreased bicycle use.
The Transport Research Laboratory measure bicycle helmet
wearing rates periodically. The latest survey we have, which
is for 2002, shows that cyclists are increasingly likely to
chose to wear helmets. The proportion of all cyclists
wearing helmets on major built up roads rose from 16% in
1994 to 25% in 2002. However this was not true for teenage
boys, only 12% of whom wore helmets in 2002 compared with
16% in 1994.
As you know, Eric Martlew MP has introduced has introduced a
Private Member's Bill into Parliament, the purpose of which
is to make wearing helmets by children compulsory. It will
be up for debate by the House of Commons on 18 June
following the second reading debate on 23 April. The
Governemnet is concerned that, at a time when we are seeking
to encourage people to take up cycling for health,
environmental and other reasons, such compulsion could have
th eparadoxical result of discouraging it. There could also
be real difficulties for the police in enforcing compulsion
when such a low proportion of children currently choose to
wear helmets voluntarily.
I hope this explains the position but if you have any
questions then please let me know."
</quote from Alistair Darling>
It sounds suspiciously to me like 'We're in favour of
compulsion once helmet use increases to the point
where compulsion makes little difference to the helmet-
use stats'...
But the final para. does make it sound like he'll oppose
Martlew, although doesn't actually go as far as to say that.
Cheers, Euan Gawnsoft: gawnsoft.co.srgawnsoft.co.srOpen ↗
Symbian/Epoc wiki: html.dnsalias.nethtml.dnsalias.netOpen ↗ Smalltalk
links (harvested from comp.lang.smalltalk)
html.dnsalias.netsmalltalkOpen ↗
