Sir, – Ciarán McPhillips (January 21st) believes that mandatory cycling helmets will make “roads safer for everyone”.
Suggesting that helmets are necessary for cyclists is scare-mongering – there is nothing inherently dangerous about cycling on Irish roads.
The danger is created by careless motorists. Rather than promoting helmets, which puts the onus on the victim, why don’t we promote considerate driving? Introduce a mandatory safe passing distance for overtaking for a start.
Mandatory helmet laws have caused cycling levels to collapse in other countries (Australia, Canada), which increases the danger to the individual remaining cyclists. With our rising levels of obesity, and bad track record when it comes to heart disease, we should be doing everything we can to encourage more people to cycle, not portraying cycling as a high-risk death-defying activity. – Yours, etc,