Article: Helmet law makes nonsense of bike hire scheme

[ozbob]

From the Melbourne Age click here!

Helmet law makes nonsense of bike hire scheme

Helmet law makes nonsense of bike hire scheme
CLAY LUCAS
July 23, 2010

MELBOURNE'S $5.5 million bike share scheme isn't attracting many users, and Mike Rubbo reckons he knows why: the helmets.

Fewer than 70 trips are being made a day on Melbourne's 600-bike system, a tiny number of journeys compared with the take-up rate seen in bigger schemes introduced in 135 cities around the world.

Mr Rubbo, a Sydney filmmaker and bicycle blogger, will try to underscore his argument on Saturday morning by leading a protest ride from Melbourne University without a helmet, risking a fine of $146. He wants Roads Minister Tim Pallas to follow Mexico City's lead and waive compulsory helmet laws for the bike-share scheme.

Melbourne is the only city in the world to have introduced a bike-share scheme and retain its compulsory helmet laws.

''It should never have been started without this being sorted out,'' Mr Rubbo said. ''But now that it has, when it fails it will be a real missed chance.''

He said only a handful of cities and regions around the world had made bicycle helmets compulsory - and all but a few were in Australia.

''Are helmets really justified? How do all these other countries not value the heads of their citizens as much as we do?''

Mr Rubbo said the same bikes as in Melbourne's scheme were also in use in Montreal, where they were a raging success. The bike scheme was launched there last year, he said, and the local government increased the number of bikes available from 2000 to 5000.

London will launch its bicycle share scheme this month, with 6000 bikes on the streets at 400 docking stations.

Mr Rubbo's comments were echoed by Danish urban planner Mikael Colville-Andersen, who will talk tomorrow at the Melbourne Cycling Forum, at Federation Square.

He said Melbourne had to move from a bicycle culture focused on ''the Lycra set'' to making cycling part of people's daily transport.

And compulsory helmet laws had not been picked up by other countries after Australia introduced it in the 1990s, he said. ''Good ideas tend to travel and this idea, that you simply must wear a helmet when you cycle, has not. What does that tell you?

''You are the fattest country in the world, you should be encouraging cycling, not convincing people it's dangerous.''

Mr Pallas rejected the idea of changing the helmet laws.

''Bicycle helmets save lives and lower the severity of injuries,'' his spokesman said. ''In line with Victorian road laws, helmets are compulsory for people using Melbourne Bike Share.''

He said the government was confident the scheme would become popular. ''We are pleased with the numbers and expect they will continue to grow with the progressive rollout of the scheme and with warmer Melbourne weather.''

[O_128]

I agree this MUST be sorted out before it is launched in Brisbane. Maybe still make it compulsory for road bikes and mountain bikes?

[#Metro]

Why can't they just BYO?
Is it that hard to carry one around?

Put helmets in the newsagents and at the information kiosks at King George Square, Central and Queen St Mall.
Put a vending machine or use a swap system where people can rent one.

People must wear helmets. Nobody likes to be hit by a bus or car and end up with brain damage.

[ButFli]

I agree that a helmet exemption must be allowed for CityCycle riders. Requiring helmets to be worn will see the scheme be used only for joyrides around central Brisbane and not as a serious transport solution. Not that there is anything wrong with joyrides that these are already provided for by the bike hire scheme in City Gardens. I assume these poor people have to close once the publicly subsidised CityCycle commences operation.

A helmet makes it all too hard. There is a CityCycle station being built right outside my home, one right outside my work and there will be a number of stations at Uni. Sounds perfect, doesn't it? But what happens to the helmet when I am not riding? Obviously I have a place to store it at home and I am lucky enough to have a locker at work to throw it in, but what about Uni? Am I supposed carry a helmet around Uni all day? I already have about 5kg of books to contend with! Ridiculous. Also, what if I take the bus to work of a morning but finish early and decide it might be nice to ride home? Whoops, I can't because I didn't bring my helmet today. I'll have to buy one at a newsagent or more likely just catch the bus home again.

What about helmet hair? It's OK for a man with a short haircut but how many girls are going to spend time on their hair and makeup only to put a helmet on over it? It ain't going to happen and that's half the population back on the bus. It just isn't right.