Hans Voerknecht has been to a Velo-City conference in Vancover to explain why mandatory helmet laws are not such a great idea. One of his statistics is that In the Netherlands, where cycling is ubiquitous, 13.3 per cent of the cyclists admitted to hospitals with injuries wore helmets — even though just 0.5 per cent cent of Dutch cyclists wear helmets. Maybe tourists from Anglo Saxon nations wearing helmets are disproportionately represented in the hospital statistics. Maybe also those with helmets are perceived by motorists or perceive themselves to be less vulnerable. The debate will go on.
Meanwhile I am reminded that earlier this year a Metropolitan Police Officer stated to me, during the course of the same conversation in which he explained that his officers were under a high workload so it was difficult to deal with law breaking motorists, that he would like to see helmet compulsion here. He did not seem to think there would be any problem with the Metropolitan Police finding the resources to enforce any such law and I bet he would be right. Where there is a will, there is a way.