Cyclists should be made wear helmets by law

IT’S good to see the current focus on the need for both motorists and cyclists to take due care.

That said, why is it not compulsory for cyclists to wear helmets? It would be interesting to see how many lives would have been saved. I live in a large urban area and I have lost count of the number of cyclists who don’t wear helmets. At night, being highly visible doesn’t seem to be a priority.

For some, having lights on a bicycle seems to be optional.

Unfortunately, I was witness to a cyclist whose brakes failed coming down a steep hill. He had no helmet on and he was killed outright when his head hit a pole. The paramedics said there was a reasonable chance he would have survived if his head had been protected.

The compulsory use of helmets is a no-brainer in more ways than one. JOHN FINN, Ballincollig, Co. Cork.

The Eighth debate

AS the date to vote in the referendum on the abortion Eighth Amendment is fast approaching, the debate between Yes and No, between pro-choice and pro-life, has reached fever pitch.

It is interesting, though, how on both radio and TV, the mantra you hear from pro-life campaigners is still the same.

They seem to have coined their own language and definitions. Have you noticed how they have erased the word ‘foetus’ from their dictionary and systematically replaced it with ‘little baby’? Have you noticed their claim that a Yes majority in the referendum will mean ‘abortion on demand’?

Now, coming from pro-life campaigning women, this statement is demeaning to their own gender in the first place, as it suggests that a woman can get an abortion by going to a shop, as it were, and saying to the assistant: ‘I will have one of those on the top shelf, please.’ Any reasonable human being will agree that ANY woman will think more than twice before deciding to have an abortion, as it is not a willy-nilly decision.

Besides, there is chink in the armour of the whole abortion debate. Nobody has yet impugned before the International Court of Justice the fundamental human right of a woman to do what she pleases with her own body. The sooner someone will, the better!

CONCETTO LA MALFA, D4. ...AS a medical female doctor, I am shocked and saddened at the lack of respect, dignity and compassion towards the unborn.

With the advance of scientific knowledge and technology, we undoubtedly can see the humanity of the unborn baby in 3D and 4D scans like never before. To deny this is flying in the face of scientific, evidence-based medicine.

At three weeks after conception, the baby’s heart is beating. At four weeks the facial features are present as well as developing arms and legs. The brain and the nervous system are laid down at seven weeks so the baby can feel pain.

In medicine, we as Irish doctors have always treated the woman and her unborn baby as two patients – always delivering the baby early if the woman’s life is in danger.

Never has medicine in Ireland shown favouritism of the baby’s life over the mother’s, if her life is at risk. DR CLIODHNA DONNELLY,

Salthill, Galway.