Sorry. I'll admit that my other posts here were done when I was tired and grumpy and didn't really think when I posted (which I have done in other places throughout BNA
) so let's have a good discussion.
Q.1 Say that repealing MHL will actually encourage more people to cycle. If MHL was repealed right now, do you think there will be a sudden increase in cyclist or it will change over time?
For me if MHL was repealed another time I think there might be an increase in cyclist BUT if it was repealed now I think that the effect will be a lot less or not at all. If you look at other countries where cycling numbers are high (other than MHL) there is also one big thing in common. It is that they have a bicycle network. I know in the Netherlands they have a huge and sophisticated network (of course) as does many other countries. For example my friend who came back from Japan said that sooo many people cycle there. You see massive groups of children riding together to school, people riding to work etc. but no one wears a helmet...... And no one rides on the road. Same in NT where MHL is relaxed and (as I have heard) many people just ride on the footpath and you don't really have to ride on the road to get from A to B. Now in Sydney you have to ride on the road. To others/those who don't cycle, this can be seen as dangerous. This idea is furthered by things you hear on the news, videos you see on YouTube etc. In a survey which I quoted in one of my other posts, of 1000 people surveyed the biggest reason for people not riding was because they felt they were not safe riding amongst cars/traffic. If we can change this then the MHL barrier, rather than being a smaller lesser thing compared to other reasons, will suddenly become the deciding factor in getting people to start cycling. This is when I believe that repealing MHL will have the greatest effect. If it was repealed now I think that most of the people who don't ride and don't like helmets will still not ride because they still think that the roads are unsafe to ride on. When we get to the stage where these other reasons for not cycling become a lot smaller, then I think is the only time when repealing MHL will encourage more people to cycle. Do you know what I mean?
Another thing to consider: a lot of you are saying that the current helmets don't offer much protection. Would you support MHL if the aus helmet standards were a lot higher and people had to wear better helmets that offer more protection? What if they changed the law and we all had to wear better helmets and there was actually evidence to suggest that with better helmets there was less people getting head injuries from cycling?