Hi John here is some food for thought for you. I was very surprised that few cyclist were wearing helmets. Here in the Aussie state of New South Wales . All cycle riders are required to wear helmets by law. It has greatly reduced accident injuries. Another law is for motor vehicle minimum distance from cyclist when overtaking. For 60km per hour and under area, 1 metre clearance. Over 60 km per hour area, 1.5 metre clearance. This means there is cyclist protection when no cyclist paths are provided.
The helmet situation is not so clear cut. There is evidence to suggest that drivers afford helmeted cyclists less passing space than those without, making a collision more likely - news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/5334208.stm Then there's also a decline in cycle participation noted in Australia between 2011-2019 which some have suggested has been contributed to by the mandatory helmet law: www.cyclinguk.org/sites/default/files/document/2020/01/helmets-evidence_cuk_brf_0.pdf People should absolutely wear helmets if they want to, but making them mandatory is not a replacement for measures that make a real difference to safety (both real and perceived). Enforcing personal protective equipment implies that cycling is dangerous when its benefits outweigh the risks; it adds a barrier to being able to quickly and easily use the bike for local journeys; it's a barrier to urban cycle hire schemes. The passing distance rule is sensible though, and we have that now in the UK with the latest revision to our Highway Code. That sets a distance of 1.5m for passing at speeds of up to 30mph/48kph, more space at higher speeds.
Thanks for that Paul. In European cities, such as Amsterdam in Holland, the city cyclists have excellent, separated, cycleways, and virtually nobody wears a cycle helmet. Here in the UK, where we don’t have the same standard of cycleways, it is highly advisable to wear a helmet but not everybody does, and it might be quite difficult to enforce the law to make everybody wear one. Our laws that well behind the progress made in the production of electric bikes, electric motorbikes and electric scooters, and it would almost be impossible to enforce laws, or even catch illegal use of these machines. Recent laws, making motorists past cycles with 1.5 m clearance have been established and there have been police checks to make sure this happens and prosecutions when motorists have failed to do so. Recent details in the laws also allow cycles to occupying the whole lane if necessary, but I haven’t heard of any cases coming to court where this has been an issue. It is interesting to note that many cyclists like myself, are also motorists, but of course the reverse is not true. So it is not just a matter of cyclist versus motorist, which tends to polarised the issue.
Your lucky you got some cycle lanes we in lincolnshire have the worst roads ever you have to ride on paths so you dont get knock of by lorrys passing and big pot hole everywere our roads have not been resurfaced for over 10 years our lincolnshire cc are worst in the whole of uk never spend a penny on our roads or paths no cycle paths just massive pot holes.
