Angela Lee - Jun 26 2003

A letter by Angela Lee setting out her store.

From the Reading Chronicle, June 26 2003 I THINK it will be helpful if I summarise my work and that of the Bicycle Helmet Initiative Trust in encouraging young people to wear cycle helmets.

In doing so, I hope it may stop adult cyclists with their own agendas giving one of the most vulnerable group of cyclists further ill-thought-through excuses not to wear one.

It is a pity such people and organisations are prepared to place their agendas above the lives of young people.

Based on projections from the results of our campaigns (in Reading and other sites), if all young cyclists were to wear helmets, it would reduce the number of head injuries from a cycling accident by up to 80%.

In real terms, it equates to 20,000 young people being spared such tragedies each year.

The savings in healthcare costs alone would approximate to £2,000,000,000 annually.

You cannot quantify discomfort and suffering, or the reaches of such human feelings particularly among family and friends.

These are very real results which can be achieved and which we have proven from our extensive knowledge of the UK and other countries.

There is no long-term disadvantage in making it compulsory to wear cycle helmets with the under 16s or across the board.

This is borne out by countries that have compulsory helmet laws.

Indeed, it is possible the most effective way of curbing peer pressure and the need to look trendy among the young.

The fact will always remain that it is not wrong to wear a helmet. The evidence shows it is beneficial.

We have legalised seat belts (front and rear), helmets for motorcyclists, the mandatory use of child seats - none of these laws have reduced the use of motorised transport.

The above highlights why we are not opposed to the legalisation of helmets for the under-16s.

In the UK, less than 2% of the injuries sustained by young people are from accidents, but also knowledge of safe cycling, proper cycle maintenance and training.

Children, like some adults, will only hear what they want to hear, and they will use any excuse to defend their position.

A fundamental distinction between children and adults is their powers of reasoning are being developed and they need to take the lead from adults in the assessment of risks.

It is for this reason it is of value for organisations such as the Union Cycliste Internationale, otherwise called the International Cycling Union, to make this mandatory and other high profile cyclists to endorse and be seen to endorse helmet use.

Indeed, it would be of enormous value if the Cycling Touring Club was to follow suit, although I am pleased to note the majority of its members wear helmets.

The wearing of a helmet does not stop cycling being a healthy pursuit, if anything it is the reverse - it provides protection in an accident to an important organ.

We do not suggest cycling is dangerous, nor does the wearing of a helmet imply that.

Over the years, we have been successful in changing attitudes and as a result have saved a great many young lives.

ANGELA LEE