Updated: Northern Ireland Assembly backs compulsory helmet law by two votes

Look on the bright side..... it's somewhere to clip your head camera

I favour covering cars with two or three centimetres of polystyrene and a thin layer poly carbonate. That should provide complete protection to my whole body and not just my head. After all a bit of polystyrene is obviously all that is required to overcome the physics of a two ton body colliding with a 75kg body?

… yes, we'd been looking at that too

Just wondering if Mr Ramsey has taken a look at his website lately Seems like the general public has other ideas...

Will it be against the law to not wear a helmet when on cycle tracks or in forest parks or just the roads? Bearing in mind that most off-road cyclists will wear full face helmets; sportives and clubs require the wearing of helmets to take part. All this legislation will do is put off the casual cyclist whose only interest is to pedal a couple of miles a week or drags their machine out for the summer holiday and do not want to go to the expense of buying a bit of polystyrene to perch on their bonce

In all fairness, as I was nearly sucked under the wheels of a huge articulated lorry last night I was comforted by the fact my wife would have a decent chance to identify my pulped remains because my poorly rated, barely tested polystyrene hat *might* save enough of my head to be recognisable.

Anyone can vote on the SDLP website, the vote at the moment appears to be heading for a public "no".

Morons.

Aye - except that dictatorship didn't push through a ridiculous law like this!! If successful this will only detrimental to cycling in the province obviously research has not taken into account that our more cycling friendly nations do not use this unneessary and draconian approach towards cyclists! And realistically - is a helmet going to save a life if hit by a speeding vehicle? More effort should be put into dealing with dangerous drivers!!

so would people have to wear any helmet or a helmet that has been approved by a specific body (money making opportunity for someone). Will it be ascertained if said helmet fits correctly, or is fastened and adjusted correctly or does not carry any prior damage?

Unworkable, farcical, have the police been consulted on this?

Put it this way, in the well-documented case of the competition cyclist killed by a poor driver, the victim would not have survived whether or not he had been wearing a helmet.

Of all the legislation they could put forward to improve road safety.... I'm very disappointed. Are there really no other measures they could implement to save lives apart from forcing cyclists to wear a polystyrene hat?

Do these people actually live in the real world? Do they not consider examples in other countries, view the evidence or look for relevant views? It appears that they don't cycle themselves and see cyclists as an easy target for the 'blame the victim' mentality.

This kind of thing is another step on the road to contributory negligence: "You weren't wearing a helmet therefore you can't claim off me / punish me in court for running you over. You brought it on yourself, barehead".

If this is what democracy has given us then I despair for its future. Bring back dictatorship

This must have got through on a slow day at Stomount.
It's not going to improve road safety, as that is more to do with the standard of driving.

I really hope this gets rejected soon before some backbench MP at Westminster wanting to make some noise proposes the same thing.

I would have thought it would be so far down the list of priorities for the PSNI, they have plenty of more serious stuff to deal with.

Why is that the people calling for mandatory helmet laws are the ones who don't ride bikes?
http://tpuc.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=27966&p=201296

If you live in NI, it would be a good time to call your local member and complain before you end up like us in Australia.

http://helmetfreedom.org/321/northern-ireland-votes-to-end-freedom/

Worrying. In the worst case scenario UK cyclists could end up with compulsory ID, helmet, and high vis vest. Would any of these as law solve the real problem - excessive speed from intolerant motorists? Nope. Realistically it couldn't happen as the cycle vote is, I suspect, a sleeping giant but if this gets through in NI it will a matter of days before some opportunist MP brings it up in the Commons.

I'm all for helmets - but as a matter of personal choice. If all motorists chose to respect other road users and drive appropriately that would be an acceptable compromise. If this can't be enforced neither should helmet wear.

Seems that Mr Ramsey's plans have backfired.

Currently the poll, completed by 115 people, shows 70.4% No, 25.2% for all cyclists and 4.3% Yes for children only.

Perhaps he should re-visit his constituents to find out if he is truly representing their views.

Quote:

If this legislation ever becomes law, the list of reasons why I'd never want to ride in Northern Ireland would get one item longer.

They'd be better off enforcing the use of indicators which is a current legal requirement, it would have a much more beneficial effect for all road users and pedestrians

If this legislation ever becomes law, the list of reasons why I'd never want to ride in Northern Ireland would get one item longer.

Just taken a look at the SDLP MP's website poll.

Q: Should Cycle Helmets be Compulsary (sic)?

Dear oh dear!
And they want to impose laws on us?

My worry if this bill goes through is that to implement any fines the police would have to have some form of proof of the rider's identity. This could then be the thin end of the wedge regarding registration for all cyclists so we could all be forced to pay an annual registration fee...
With the government trying to tackle rising obesity and also trying to encourage everyone to exercise more this bill would be a serious blow to that plan.