Better to be safe than sorry

You may find this hard to believe, but there is a school of thought that says making cycle helmets compulsory is a bad move for society.

CyclingUK is one organisation that maintains a helmet wearing law would discourage people from cycling and result in a more unhealthy people.

They may want to take a look at the photograph of 12-year-old Jude Percival in his hospital bed and reconsider their view. It’s a sobering sight. The youngster ended up in intensive care after flipping over his handlebars and cracking his head off the ground.

It was the kind of accident that could happen to any cyclist.

Unfortunately, in Jude’s case, he wasn’t wearing a helmet.

Whatever your views on the rights and wrongs of a law that insists all cyclists wear a protective helmet, in Jude’s case it would have made a difference. Had he been wearing a helmet, he would not be in hospital fighting a bleed on the brain.

His dad Dale is now backing calls to bring a cycle helmet law.

“You wouldn’t do a parachute jump without a parachute would you?,” he said, “so this should be happening to make people safer.”

Certainly there are statistics to back up his argument. But then, there are statistics available that back the arguments put forward by those opposed to the move.

For the time being, there is no law compelling people to wear helmets, and until there is, the decision is down to the individual.

We would however always maintain that it is better to be safe than sorry.

Wearing a helmet while not compulsory, is clearly more beneficial to your health.

Stay safe.