No Helmet, Please! Sue Abbott goes to court

Sue Abbott, living in rural NSW, Australia, decided to fight a helmet fine.

Australia is one if the few countries where helmets are mandatory for adults. I went to meet her and made the first movie, Sue Heads for Court, and now here is what happened on the day of her trial.

Now, Sue is wondering whether to appeal. What do you thinK? I fell she should only do os if she can get the Aust. media to take up her story.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• bicycle helmets
• mandatory helmets
• mike rubbo
• sue abbott
• bill curnow
• scone
• bicycle safety
• helmet laws
• amsterdam
• copenhagen cycle chic
• violeta brana-lafourcade
• lizards
• helmet
• bicycle
• safety
• freedom
• government
• law
• bike
• libertarian
• civil liberty
• controversy
• laws
• mandatory

[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

[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 If the law was repealed tomorrow I'd keep wearing one.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if the law was repealed tomorrow, I'd be weaqring one too, most of the time

[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.

[fudgesauce]

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

[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.

[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 ....

[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.

[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.

[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...