As both a practicing family physician and as an environmentally-concerned citizen, I am disappointed to learn that the RCMP is directing some of its limited resources towards the enforcement of our unfortunate mandatory bicycle helmet law. I can appreciate the potential value of wearing a helmet for recreational riders on trails where the risk of head injury is relatively high. But unless our local police force has a fleet of electric mountain bikes at its disposal, I imagine that most of the victims of this witch hunt will be innocent people riding our local streets and roads, just trying to get from point A to point B, favouring a quiet, healthy, harmless and environmentally-friendly mode of transport.
A direct result of car culture’s windshield perspective of road safety, bicycle helmet law delivers a clear message to the public: “If you should choose to ride a bicycle without a helmet, YOU MIGHT SUFFER SERIOUS BRAIN DAMAGE OR DEATH.” Sounds like something you’d read on a pack of cigarettes. Confronted with this information, the reasonable person naturally chooses to forego utilitarian cycling altogether in favour of the perceived safety of our society’s default option: driving. Yet cycling is much healthier than smoking! In fact, despite a transportation system designed for cars rather than for human beings, cycling is actually healthier than DRIVING! Indeed, the average regular cyclist lives longer than the average motorist.
I have a question for authorities who wish to impose bike helmets on everyone, all the time: what ultimately is a more effective strategy to minimize brain injuries, protection or prevention?
If the answer is self-evident, then I wonder why politicians are so reluctant to implement and enforce measures to make cycling safer? The primary threat to cyclists and all other vulnerable road users is of course motorists. For every silly police ticket issued to a helmetless cyclist, that is one less ticket for dangerous motor traffic violations such as speeding, illegal overtakes, distracted driving and accelerating through yellow lights.
