Olympic time trial gold medallist Bradley Wiggins wants cycling helmets to be made compulsory after a man was knocked down and killed by an official London Olympics 2012 bus just outside the stadium last night. The accident occurred just before the Bradley Wiggins press conference. The Tour de France and gold medal hero took the opportunity to add his views to the cycle safety helmet debate.
“It’s dangerous and London is a busy city and a lot of traffic. I think we have to help ourselves sometimes,” said Wiggins after the incident.
Asked for his views on cycling safety in the capital, Bradley Wiggins said:
“I haven’t lived in London for 10 to 15 years now and it’s got a lot busier since I was riding a bike as a kid round here, and I got knocked off several times.
“But at the end of the day we’ve all got to co-exist on the roads. Cyclists are not ever going to go away, as much as drivers moan, and as much as cyclists maybe moan about certain drivers they are never going to go away, so there’s got to be a bit of give and take.”
“But I think things are improving to a degree: there are organisations out there who are attempting to make the roads safer for both parties.”
In May this year, ‘cycling Mayor’ Boris Johnson claimed that nearly two-thirds of the cyclists killed on London’s roads are responsible for their own deaths because they break the laws of the road.
A report in the Independent says a 2009 study found that, when a cyclist over the age of 25 sustained serious injuries, it was the motorist at fault between 64 and 70 per cent of the time; the cyclist was found to be at fault in 23 to 27 per cent of incidents.
Cases in which a cyclist over the age of 25 died in a crash, the motorist was deemed entirely at fault in 48 to 66 per cent of incidents and the cyclist 33 to 43 per cent of the time.
According to a Times report Bradley Wiggins was asked about the accident and said the Government should change the law to make helmets compulsory.
“Ultimately, if you get knocked off and you don’t have a helmet on, then you can’t argue,” he said. “You can get killed if you don’t have a helmet on.”
He added: “You shouldn’t be riding along with iPods and phones and things on. You have lights on. Once there are laws passed for cyclists then you are protected and you can say, ‘Well, I have done everything to be safe’.
“There are a lot of things that need to be addressed with cycling at the moment on the roads. Things can’t continue the way that they are, everybody knows that.”
There is much debate as to the value of cycle helmets, or at least those that meet the current standards, which many think are too low.
If you do not wear a helmet and are involved in an accident your compensation might be reduced, only might, so read more here.
The James Cracknell campaign continues. James believes he was saved from death by his cycle helmet.
So would a law making cycle helmet wearing compulsory suit you?
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