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Forum
Started Dec 11 2012, 19:01
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Dec 11 2012, 19:01
Driven by belief, doctors lobbied for compulsory bicycle helmets without evidence of efficacy, and without evaluating side-effects. Pressured by doctors, politicians set up a committee with a predetermined objective to introduce compulsory helmets. Such complacency led to negligence. Government research warnings that bicycle helmets were not suitable for children and that soft-shell helmets can aggravate brain injury were ignored.
This research recommended to strengthen the helmet standard. Instead, the government weakened it to accommodate soft-shell helmets to facilitate compulsory helmet wearing. The narrow mission to impose helmets on cyclists was pursued stubbornly, even when it compromised safety. The government ignored the most comprehensive research available that concluded that “there is no evidence that hard shell helmets have reduced the head injury rate and that helmets were significantly correlated with a higher fatality rate”.
Despite being the first in the world to introduce such controversial legislation amid contradictory evidence, the government imposed an experimental helmet law nationwide, without a trial period and without plans to assess its effectiveness.
Australia now suffers the consequence of this negligence. Its cycling serious injury rate is 22 TIMES greater than in the Netherlands. The increase in the risk of death and serious injury after the helmet law has been ignored by bureaucrats and politicians who have committed taxpayers money to mislead the public about the effectiveness of polystyrene based “helmets”.
The hidden costs of this misguided policy are yet to be fully quantified. Cycling has declined sharply, resulting in a loss of health benefits likely to incur significant public health costs. Bike Share, a safe mode of transport that has provided significant benefits to many cities worldwide, cannot operate successfully under Australia’s helmet law. The costs of this policy are rising, while the government wastes more public funds trying to obfuscate its failure.
ID#43405
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