Helmet laws a distraction

Wearing a bike helmet while riding has now been compulsory in New Zealand for 24 years. This means a generation of people who have been brought up with the habit of wearing a helmet. Yet calls to scrap the law are still being made.

There appears to be a considerable body of research which shows that making cycle helmets compulsory has heightened the perception that it is a dangerous activity and reduced the numbers who ride.

The proportion of journeys taken by bike has fallen from about 4 per cent in 1989 to 1 per cent in 2006.

Unfortunately, having fewer cyclists on the road means not only are fewer of us reaping the health benefits of regular riding, the roads become more dangerous for those who do cycle as motorists become less accustomed to seeing and accommodating cyclists.

A 2012 article in the NZ Medical Journal evaluating the impact of NZ’s bicycle helmet law concluded that the overall injury rate per for cyclists increased 20 per cent, while the average hours cycled per person fell 50 per cent. It concluded that helmet law had failed ‘‘in aspects of promoting cycling, safety, health….’’.

Similarly, data compiled by an Australian journalist Chris Gillham concluded that the number of cyclists approximately halved post-1994, while the injury rate approximately doubled.

In the UK the debate continues to rage about whether to make helmets compulsory with the finger pointed at the negative impacts seen in countries such as NZ.

Cycling UK also points out that helmets may only be useful in certain situations, able to withstand the impact if a rider fell from their bike but not an impact with a fast moving car.

But in New Zealand this argument feels an irrelevant distraction.

Population impacts aside, there is no doubt that for individual cyclist there is a real benefit to wearing a helmet in many situations and scrapping the law now is unlikely to reverse the impact it has had in portraying it as a less than safe mode of transport.

Suggestions that helmets should be optional for cycle trail riders ignore the fact not all trails are as risk-free as a rail trail. Any cyclist venturing onto the Port Hills would be wise to wear a helmet.

Instead, the focus for NZ ought to be on improving roading infrastructure to make cycling safer. This will have the dual effect of encouraging more people to use bikes and by sheer dint of numbers make all roads safer for cyclists.

The Christchurch City Council is to be commended for committing to 13 new cycleways, many physically separating cyclists from cars.

But it must not delay completion of this $252m project until 2025-26, as proposed in its long term plan.

This leaves another cohort of kids missing out on safe cycling routes to school, and many more two-wheeled commuters injured on unsafe roads. A report released this month found more than 600 cyclists were injured in Christchurch in the last five years, accounting for 16 per cent of all injury crashes in our city.

We must not delay this essential project.

Once we have a truly safe city for cycling, as Amsterdam has achieved, then we can reconsider the worth of our helmet laws.