Why aren't helmets for drivers mandatory?

Why aren't helmets for drivers mandatory?

If it saves just one life....

Ever since Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas told the Times that bike helmets should be compulsory (after admitting that he travels in London by taxi and has only raced bikes there) the talk about mandatory bike helmets has been incessant.

Chris Boardman, another yellow jersey wearer, responded by noting that wherever bike helmet laws are imposed, then the rate of cycling drops significantly. He is quoted:

In the UK 1 in 6 deaths - nearly 90,000 per year - is as a result of physical inactivity-related disease including diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Clearly, any measure proven beyond doubt to reduce peoples likelihood to travel by bike, will almost certainly kill more people than it saves.

I have thought that for many who demand mandatory bike helmets, the fact that it reduces the number of cyclists is a feature, not a bug. They want bikes off their roads. They don’t want infrastructure like bike lanes, that would really save lives, taking away driving and parking from them.

Whether or not a person on a bike is wearing a helmet is also turning into a “get out of jail free” card for drivers who squish them “he wasn’t wearing a helmet” shifts a bit of the blame from driver of the giant SUV or garbage truck.

Rebel Metropolis/via

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