Are bike helmet laws doing more harm than good?
Posted May 22, 2012 7:16 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A former city councillor feels that Vancouver bike helmet laws are doing more harm than good.
In an article written for Business in Vancouver, Peter Ladner says the laws may be preventing Vancouver from starting a bike share program.
“You look at the public bike share type of bikes, they’re very big, clunky, slow, upright bikes and they don’t go very fast. In other cities, safety is not an issue.”
Ladner says safety comes more from separated bike lanes complete with dividers.
“We should focus on safety based on protecting cycle lanes for cyclists rather than making people wear helmets and therefore not ride.”
He argues that there are only two cities in the world where public bike sharing isn’t working, and that’s Brisbane and Melbourne, which have helmet laws similar to Vancouver’s.
Ladner is calling for a helmet law exemption.
We will know more about a potential bike share program towards the end of June.
