Cyclists Reject Safety Council's Helmet Claims and Proposals

galway | rights, freedoms and repression | press release

Friday May 14, 2004 12:00

by Shane Foran - Galway Cycling Campaign

galwaycylist at yahoo dot co dot uk

c/o Galway One World Centre, the Halls, Quay St., Galway.

087 9935993

The Galway Cycling Campaign has rejected the National Safety Council's recent call for compulsory cycle-helmets for children and has dismissed the National Safety Council's claims regarding helmets as false and untenable.

Cyclists Reject Safety Council's Helmet Claims and Proposals

The Galway Cycling Campaign has rejected the National Safety Council's recent call for compulsory cycle-helmets for children and has dismissed the National Safety Council's claims regarding helmets as false and untenable. Irish Cycle Campaign groups have previously called for the National Safety Council to be scrapped on the grounds that it effectively functions as a front for the car lobby and motor insurers. The latest NSC proposal is viewed as a thinly disguised attack on cycling, designed to allow the Irish Motor Insurance Industry to argue for reduced damages in respect to any children injured by their customers. In support of their claims, the National Safety Council have referred to the much criticised and discredited "Towner report" published on behalf of the UK Department of Transport in 2002. The numerous criticisms that have been raised regarding the Towner report include.

* No reference to traffic casualty trends, hospital admission data, or large population evidence. No reference to any cost-benefit analysis.
* Report includes serious misrepresentation of Australian data
* Based on "research" described as "scientifically untenable"
* Selective use of evidence in favour of helmets with little reference to studies showing negative effects.
* Exaggeration of dangers of cycling - figures for UK cycling accidents are overestimated by a factor of ten (x10)

The main effect of such helmet laws elsewhere has been discourage cycling without showing any improvement in the rates of death and injury among cyclists. Indeed in some countries such as the Australia, the US and UK cycling has been shown become more dangerous with increased helmet use. Cycling is already known to be the safest form of transport. The British Medical Association has found that all things considered, the health benefits of regular cycling significantly outweigh any increased risk of injury. In Denmark it has been found that regular adult cycle commuters show a 40% lower mortality than their non-cycling peers. Ireland has among the highest levels of heart disease and obesity in the EU and is facing a public health crisis as about 13,000 Irish citizens die of heart disease and related conditions annually. According to recent reports, Irish teenagers are among the most obese in the European Union. In this context, any measure that would criminalise children for engaging in healthy exercise such as cycling would be a public health disaster. The European Cyclists Federation, the British Medical Association and The Royal College of Physicians have all rejected compulsory cycle helmet use.

Shane Foran 087 9935993
Galway Cycling Campaign -Feachtas Rothaiochta na Gaillimhe
c/o Galway One World Centre, the Halls, Quay St., Galway.

More information on cycle helmets available at:
http://www.cyclehelmets.org

Reviews of Towner report:
http://www.cyclehelmets.org/1067.html
http://www.cyclehelmets.org/papers/c2002.pdf
http://www.cyclehelmets.org/papers/c2004.pdf

Galway Cycling Campaign Letter to Irish Medical Organisation on Cycling Helmets
http://www.eirbyte.com/gcc/submission/imo_helmets.html