Six months after campaigners saw off plans by the Northern Ireland Assembly to enact a mandatory Cycle Helmet Bill, pro-choice campaigners in Australia are using social media to fight the country’s strict helmet law.
Geoff McLeod, a Brisbane film-maker who has posted his pro-choice advertisement on Youtube and has applied to have it broadcast on television in a bid to change laws requiring all cyclists to wear helmets when riding.
Describing his film, Geoff McLeod said: “Australia is almost the only country on earth to impose mandatory helmet laws for all ages. While our nation’s obesity rate has more than doubled, cycling has become unpopular. In fact, riding for everyday needs has totally disappeared and public shared bike schemes have failed.”
“We need helmet laws brought into line with the rest of the developed world. We could solve so many issues if we did more to make riding more popular. Sadly, bike riding in Australia is now only for Lycra-clad racers out for a fast ride on Sunday mornings. Normal utility riding has ceased because of short-sighted mandatory helmet laws.”
A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said: “The frustration felt by campaigners in Australia is understandable. In Britain, of the 400 people a year who drown, 80 fall in, but a law requiring everyone in and around water to wear a life jacket would not be considered reasonable.”
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