Howzat wrote:
Perceptions of danger aside, I'll pick up on this "personal choice" note.
Skipping the helmet can't be a purely personal choice - not as long others are picking up the bill for for health care, rehabilitation, compo, ambulance services, legal costs, hospitals, funerals, counsellors, loss of income, and everything that may accompany a serious accident. And those services are part of the country, communities, and families we've built.
So what others may find objectionable about the "personal choice" to ride without a lid is that that choice raises net costs, in the aggregate, for everyone else.
We don't wrap everyone in bubble wrap, but we do, as a country, expect people to wear a helmet when riding a bike. Why? We think this is a modest element of personal responsibility to reduce risk and control costs for everyone else.
So explain why we all should pay more because someone else makes a choice to not take personal responsibility?
Why stop there? Helmets at best might prevent between 0-15% of cycling injuries. Why not apply your logic to anyone who rides a bike. That is a choice they make which
might lead to an injury.
Someone who doesn't just dislike people cycling without helmets but actually dislikes people cycling altogether could apply your logic to say, "why should I pay for your
choice to ride a bike and possibly get injured".
Why should I pay for the injuries of someone who goes out bunch riding at high speed, clips the wheel of the bike in front and injures themselves? Or wears clip-in pedals and falls over and injures themself because they can't put their foot down to stop themselves. Another choice. Skinny tyres, lightweight bikes, the list goes on.
You define compulsory helmets as a "modest element of personal responsibility" simply because it suits your personal preference to wear a helmet, but in fact it is completely arbitrary.
I have no problem with people riding in any way they please even if it does entail some risk - they are best placed to determine their own safety. I do have a problem with cyclists who want me to wear a helmet because they have concluded that it's the best way to mitigate their risk of injury - even though for some it's virtually the only tiny concession they make to safety.