Great article on helmet laws, and a suitable time to bring up the subject.
My sister died over 20 years ago from a head injury after being struck by a car while on her bicycle. There were no signs of trauma to her body. This event still clouds our family because with a helmet, she probably would be with us today. This was at a time when helmets were still widely unavailable, or not in common use. There is no reason at all not to wear a helmet today.
The irony of the photo showing Dan in a life jacket seems is proof that as a society we still do not take cycling seriously.
My thoughts are with the family and friends of Dan, and the driver of the car, whose life has also been altered. While I do not think there should be mandatory helmet laws for adults, I think that not wearing a helmet and riding safely is extremely self-centered and careless act. At some point in our lives we all become the someone else that bad things happen to.
Sean Clancy
As a passionate cycling advocate, Ron van der Eerden has made many clever and compelling arguments in favour of his cause. But he loses all credibility with his inexplicable and indefensible position stating people should not wear helmets. Ron, please at least make sure your organ donor card is up to date.
Marc, via email
My condolences to Lindsay Shedden for the loss of her friend but she misunderstands the helmet debate. Its not that anyone is against cyclists wearing helmets but against the mandatory law.
Yes, it is sensible to wear helmets in many situations. However, having a mandatory helmet law is harmful. For an older woman in menopause to receive a ticket for having taken off her helmet because of the risk of overheating (itself a health hazard) is ridiculous. Many older women I know wont ride because of this threat.
A British study shows that mandatory helmet use discourages cycling by portraying it as abnormally dangerous. Lets put our efforts into improving safe cycling infrastructure and education for both drivers and cyclists.
The more people cycle, the safer we all are.
Careful cyclist for voluntary helmet wearing
As the person who put up the original single hand-written note taped to the Vina,I am astounded at how quickly Bill [Rant Line, Aug. 25] uncovered the terrible truth: liking plants means being disgusted with mentally ill homeless people. I recommend complete destruction of garden centres and florists immediately so we can vanquish the stigmatization of mental illness and homelessness right away.
And should all that leave Bill a little peckish he might want to meet up with me on my way from a Coast Mental Health program in Mt. Pleasant to the Carnegie Centre for my volunteer shift. We could have dream bars from the concession. They are awesome!
Izzy
Yes we certainly did poster the neighborhood (re: Kitty caboodle rant Aug. 25). The overkill was due primarily to counteract the person who was tearing them down almost as fast as we put them up.
We had no idea even after living here for over two decades how caring and responsive our neighbours were.
We do also regularly donate to the SPCA and other organizations. We also went around after a week of the thank-you posters and removed those that were left. Thank you again everyone!!
Kim and Linda, via email
