Helmets for Pedestrians and Motorists

I actually saw this yesterday here in Copenhagen.

In Denmark we have the Danish Pedestrians' Union [Dansk Fodgænger Forbund] who do everything they can to fight for the pedestrians rightful place in the traffic.

I figured that with the current fanaticism coming out of the Danish Cyclists' Union, the Danish Traffic Safety Board and the Danish media at large, they would be interested in saving pedestrians' lives, too. It is the logical continuation of their ideology and lack of respect for science.

So I asked the head of the Pedestrians' Union a couple of questions in an email interview:

Question: I can see that the statistics show that pedestrians are at risk from head injury. I can also see that the Danish Traffic Safety Board and Danish Cyclists' Union are currently attempting to promote bike helmets. Does the Danish Pedestrians' Union have plans for promoting helmets for pedestrians so we can reduce the number of injuries in traffic? Pedestrians are at a higher risk than cyclists. Wouldn't it be a good idea?

Answer: Hi, Mikael. No, we haven't considered promoting helmets for pedestrians on the street. There are several reasons [choose freely];

1) We haven't even thought about it.

2) People who are injured in solo-accidents usually get injured in their home instead of the traffic. So people should probably wear helmets in the shower, instead.

3) Our primary goal is to get all the different players in traffic to obey the traffic laws so that traffic accidents become, in theory, impossible.

4) It ruins your hairdo.

5) You can't pull your rain hood over the helmet.

6) We risk changing peoples' attitudes and making it look like it isn't that dangerous to hit pedestrians - "But they have helmets on!"

In the big picture you shouldn't expect us to inconvienence pedestrians with this kind of promotion in order to 'save' them from the stupid mistakes made by drivers/riders of vehicles in traffic.

Actually, I think that motorists would stop hitting pedestrians immediately if it became widely known that pedestrians will explode with a large BANG and scratch the paint job on the car.

Best regards,

Dansk Fodgænger Forbund - www.fodtrafik.dk
Mikael le Dous

Nice to see that he is A. rather well informed about helmets and B. able to see the irony.

Indeed.

Here's an interesting article about saving the lives of motorists, by Nigel Perry in New Zealand. If the ideological fundamentalists wish to save lives, they will read this and act accordingly and immediately.

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