No Helmet, Please! Sue Abbott goes to court

[ptuku]

Serious.. Flipping over with tons of space left to go? Maybe the type of bikes are lethal to certain people xD

[Jeanette8456]

beautiful video :)

i've been travelling round australia with my bicycle recently and i have to say there's no better way to explore a new city. a bicycle takes you at the perfect speed, i reckon. not too fast and not too slow.

[1IIIIIIIIII1]

YOU HAVE TO START A BIKE RIDING ORGANIZATION AND ALL THE MEMBERS SAY SCREW THE LAWS. CLOG UP THE COURTS WITH SUITS AND SO ON THEN MAYBE THE GOVMENT TURDS WILL DROP THE STUPID LAW.

[jurrien75]

I wear a helmet on my motorcycle. Not on my bike. I never will!!

[Darr1066]

Don't like wearing a cycle helmet myself, but I do so because its good to have at least something there just in case. Same with riding horses, wear the helmet or die if thrown etc.

Easy choice to make really. And wouldn't it be interesting if she dies due to an accident on her bike and she would have survived with a helmet on?

But hey, its the law in Australia, and not the law here in the UK, but you still see a lot of kids with their helmets on because it has become something normal to do.

[2200bronx]

In Copenhagen they built almost all there infastructure for the bikes(over a 30-40 year periode) and not the cars! That reduced accident on bikes and make it more safe to ride your bike. As i know it there are over 300.000 people riding there bike every day in Copenhagen and the street with most bikes has around 30.000 cyclist a day.. And it workes(not whitout accidents, but rarely any serious:o)

And obesity cost more in the long run than head injury, if the roads are made safe for the cyclist!

[cafemum]

yes, our govt is just bonkers, we are the most governed nation on the planet, how on earth can we call ourselves free-thinkers?

not a lot of hat wearing in Europe I notice either. Wonder when our govt will enforce mandatory hat wearing for adults too, in the name of reducing skin cancer...

[cafemum]

She has the right to a choice.

Australia led the world in mandatory bike helmet wearing... and the world didn't follow!!

[luisrobertosc]

beatiful women in Mexico can´t think about riding a bike in the city because they have to wear a special gear to do it, and feel treathen by cars of course, men, fell the same. A crucial issue tha't I've learned from Sue, is more than freedom of choice (wich I applaude), is about reverting the car polution effect in the world, and really create a context (roads and facilities for city biking) for the people to return or to discover to the best ever invented way of transportation: bikes. GO SUE!

[luisrobertosc]

I believe this is a great stand, I believe there´s a direct relation between the use-a-helmet-on-bikes, or use-a-special-gear-to-ride thing and not riding a bike. Here in Mexico, we have one of the mayor cities in the world (25 million), the bike use is an urgent matter, we are a poluted city and comes from the cars incresing numbers (3,5 million only in this metro area), people, to move less than 4 km, "need" a car, or public transportation.

[bondi5000]

Great video!!

This is Nanny State Australia in full effect.

The whole issue is about freedom of choice. Allowing government to enforce something like bike helmets is just a green light for further encroachment of civil liberties... Look around you and Australian streets are packed with "DO THIS", "DON'T DO THAT" signs of all descriptions. This only leads to the wider general public becoming zombies who don't question authority enough and take no responsibility for their own safety and actions.

[mccluskey]

the "arguments" prove this is in part a party politicking process with the usual buzzwords and nonsense. Extensive bike helmet studies are now available online and they refute the half truths and misrepresentations of the mass mob rubbish

[phryas]

All other arguments aside......Don't want to wear a helmet? Just make sure you have a donor card so some use can be made of what's left if there is an accident.

[delbified]

it's nice to argue that adults should be able to choose whether to wear a helmet or not, but who pays for the cost of your decision? medical treatment and rehab can run into the $millions. despite outlandish claims to the contrary using dubious logic, it is a widely agreed fact that helmets substantially reduce the risk of injury.

[MikeRubbo]

@delbified Helmets do little to cut medical costs. The stats. are clear, the less helmets worn in a country, the safer it is to ride a bike. This in the main is because the less helmet pressure, the more people are apt to ride, and the more more pressure on the Pollies to build bike ways separated paths which really do keep riders safer. The helmet may make the individual rider feel safer in a hostile road envt. but the bigger picture, the collective situation is all the other way . Mike

[dukeljk]

@delbified No they don't they limit your vision, so fuck off fag rat.

[sydneysmooth21]

@delbified OH MY GOD How thick can you be? Well Delbified how about this: The deaths caused by zero excercise and obesity rank in the thousands yearly, the deaths from cycling are less than 50 a year! Cycling promotes excercise. Should we just say to obese people, u get no treatment because your fat! Look at the bigger issue here! Cycling promotes healthy living, resulting in far less deaths per year than cycling fatalities.

[delbified]

@sydneysmooth21 there's no reason why you can't enjoy the benefits of cyling while wearing a helmet. the argument that helmet laws turn people away from cycling is fanciful bullshit made up by people who don't like wearing them. it's like religions that say it's good to be rich or seize land from others - it's just bullshit made up by people to justify their underlying motives.

[peterf1]

This is a classic case of unintended consequences. Helmet laws do decrease ridership. The decreased ridership in turn, lessems driver's awareness and sensitivity to mixed cycling traffic. The end result is less safety for cyclists as a whole. That alone is argument enough for its repeal.

The final point made in the film says it all, since there are more drownings every year, why aren't live jackets required? Is it because "normal" people swim, and only silly people ride bikes? Hmmm.

[OmegaWolf747]

Isn't there any way that liberty-minded Aussies could get this law overturned, or recall the politicians who enforce it?

[HenryBogtrotter]

Good on you for standing up in court- shame there was no justice for you this time. Try unicycling- it gets around not only the helmet laws, but also vehicle laws in NZ as vehicles are defined as having "wheels". I've had two unicycling red light tickets dismissed (after being issued infringements for safely riding through red lights while nothing else was coming).

[andrew097]

Good film . I have three kids I cycle every day I'm trying to encourage my kids to realise that a bicycle is a liberation from car dependency of their parents. My rule is this if they use a safety bike ie shoulder hip heel is in line verticle. No helmet. If they use their mountain bikes, helmet.

Question Why in the countries where bikes are used most do they cycle old fashioned granny or safety bikes? Is it they are just better bikes for getting around ? No drama.

[silver7931]

Nice video. Good to see someone fighting this ridiculous law, which discourage cycling and put more people on cars.

[schamook]

very nice documentary about a good cause... for all cities to be a little more european ;-)

[innerwestie]

What a shame! A small-town creaky magistrate with his head up his own arse. (Not that Im saying thered be any better chance of being heard in the city.

I hope this ISNT the end of the road GO SUE.

Meanwhile, I see more breaches, and breachers every day in Sydney, and I am very often one of them, preferred headwear yesterday? A shady hat.

[innerwestie]

What a shame. Typical. A small-town creaky magistrate with his hed up his own arse...(Not that I'm saying a big city magistrate would necessarily be more open. I hope this is not the end of the road... GO SUE!

Good film, Mike. Meanwhile I see more and more 'helmet breaches' and *breachers* riding in Sydney every day, and I am very often one of them...

[downfader2]

Fantastic video again and nice to see an update on the good lady. I think it is a shame common sense has not prevailed here, after all - even the helmet manufacturers often put labels on their helmets stating "not garanteed incase of impact with motorvehicle"

I do hope something comes of this. A future generation is being denied the oportunity to ride in many places because of mythology sadly. Helmets having the greatest mythology it seems

[MielJournal]

Good on you Sue! We all should have the right to decide whether or not to wear a helmet when riding a bicycle. I will wear one and my children will too but I do want to be able to choose. Dedicated cycleways are a must and that is what we all should be pushing for in the political arena. Go, Sue you are very brave!

[egregiouslycrass]

5:18

[reedospeedo127]

separate bike ways are cute and all but impractical for anyone that can actual move faster than 8 miles an hour. bikes must be treated as equals on the roadways.

[MikeRubbo]

I wonder how you'd achieve that? It does sound like the cheap way to go. But then why have the Dutch built 29,000 kms. of separate bike paths?

If they were not necessary or working well, they surely would have saved their money.

As it is, they use bikes for transport probably more than any country in the world. Would you deny a link Reedospeedo?

Or are we talking about to diff. sorts of cycling, high speed racing around for fun and fitness, and using a bike as practical transport?

[fudgesauce]

One can never be too safe about riding a bicycle. When riding I always wear both a helmet and a condom.

[edelman11]

OH for Christ's sake... you're argument is totally off.

Around the world, helmet use withers in comparison to what creating an atmosphere of respect for cyclists accomplishes.

In America people are killed all the time helmet or not because drivers don't give a f%^k about a person riding a bike. In Paris and Amsterdam people respect the rights of cyclists and vice versa. People feel free to wear helmets or not because there is much less danger associated with riding down the street.

[MikeRubbo]

Sue is not allowed to use those arguments court, even if they are good ones. You can't argue against the sense of a law, only that you were forced to break it though necessity. The bigger fight has to take place in the political arena.

[greytabbysfriend]

Brains belong inside the skull. A helmet may not provide complete protection, but I'd rather have my head bouncing on the pavement with one than without.

[MikeRubbo]

Of course, but no one is saying you should not wear a helmet, only that you should have the right to choose if you are an adult.

People to have the right to do things which can kill them like smoking. Also approx. a third of injuries in car accidents are head injuries, do you think you should be made to wear a helmet in a car?

Car helmets would save a lot more lives than helmets on cyclists because there are so many more car crashes than bike accidents.

[lemmiwinksau]

Thirdly, separated cycleways are NOT the answer. Bicycles are traffic and should be respected as such. The problem stems from the fact that nobody is prepared to share the road, even motorists with other motorists!

I ride a motorcycle as well and there's plenty of car drivers who feel the same way about motorcycles as they do about bicycles, i.e "Get off the road." so a bicycle registration scheme isn't the answer either (roads are funded out of consolidated revenue, not vehicle rego anyway!)

[MikeRubbo]

In countries like Denmark and Holland, where there are bikes in huge numbers, motorists are always looking out for them.

Drivers respect people on bikes because almost every driver is also a cyclist.

So the thing to do, is to get bike numbers up, and the way to do that is give cyclists safe paths as well as asking them to use roads.

So, separated cycleways are part of the answer. 

In Holland if you hit a cyclist, the driver is always in thewrong

[tregeagle]

@MikeRubbo Exactly.

We should be allowed to make our own decisions. Repealing the law just lets us have a choice and surely it is better to live in freedom than oppression.

Personally I would probably wear my helmet, most of the time. On a lovely sunny day on a swooping quiet road, it's off law or no law.

[lemmiwinksau]

Secondly, if a bicycle helmet is what's preventing you from cycling then you're not really that keen anyway are you? I was a kid riding to school when the law was introduced and I resented it immensely. Kept cycling to school though.

Modern helmets (purchased from a bike shop, not the rubbish you find at Kmart etc) are light and comfortable. If the law was repealed tomorrow I'd keep wearing one.

[MikeRubbo]

You are wrong about Sue. She is very keen. You went along with the new law when you were a kid, Lemmiwinkasau, but she's an adult who spent most of her life riding in countries where they treat you like an adult on this matter, letting you decide yourself .

if the law was repealed tomorrow, I'd be weaqring one too, most of the time

[helbyr1]

@lemmiwinksau .. that's your choice and you're entitled to it ..... My choice is to not wear one and I SHOULD be entitled to it ....

[lemmiwinksau]

Congratulations Mike, you're on BikeSnobNYC and hence famous!

A few points. Sue was never, ever going to win her court case. Magistrates courts are for determining if there was a breech of the law, there was, so she lost. As she points out, it was the wrong forum to try to overturn the mandatory helmet laws. It's a shame it cost her $2500 to figure this out, she could have saved a lot of time and money.

[sharkboots]

I understand that major helmet manufacturers were very well represented on the think tanks that came to the conclusion that mandatory helmets would be A Good Thing.

[amazer08f]

Beautifully made video-- New South Wales sure looks beautiful. I can empathize with Sue's feeling that wearing a helmet is a personal decision.

I always wear one when riding here in New Hampshire ), but agree that government should not mandate this type of thing. It is awfully nannyish -- I didn't know that any country had such a law.

I'm curious as to how this law got passed. What a cryin' shame that bike use has dwindled, especially since we all need to cut fuel consumption.

Well done!

[MikeRubbo]

A few others do. New Zealand. Some parts of Canada. Some places in the US too, and I think, Israel.

The law seemed sensible at the time. it was also cheap for the Govt. The real road to safety was to educate drivers and build bike paths, but they did not want to spend the money,

So, the put responsibility for safety on the head of the rider not under the wheels  where it mostly is.

[tallard666]

Dear Mike, here's another angle on helmet-saves-lives/heads-mantr­a that fearmongerers use. There are less accidents involving the head and less concussions in Australian Football than American NFL, helmets encourage recklessness and concussion & permanent brain injuries are through the roof.

[tallard666]

For some reason when I post the New York Times Link, the comment posting fails, so you need to Google this. New York Times time to retire the football helmet.

[swingsensation]

Just like you Mike, always hit the nail on the head.

On Ya! Count me in for the battle of the Helmet On Bikes-Recommended But Your Choice!

Jiri

[MikeRubbo]

Thanks, Jiri . See you tomorrow for the ride of the Lizards to the sea. Mike

[paulisgrim]

can you imagine what sort of world we would live in if people like sue hadnt stood up for things they believed in ?

[Colin6316]

In the UK the Human Rights Act 1998 allows for personal beliefs to be considered by a suitable court. Australia does not have this high degree of protection for people to make their case fairly.

[lennhart]

Another great video Mike...and I also love the 'atmospheric' use of music. I also support anyone who had the guts to challenge official wisdom.

[kalahariuk]

Just love the closing statement about lifejackets !

[VioletaLafourcade]

loved this video Mike, especially the melancholy atmosphere you created with the music and dawn. glad you could use the amsterdam footage for the sue court case story, it creates a nice contrast between the lazy happy people on bikes in holland and the armed group in sydney.

[timwelch]

Stupid law here in New Zealand too.