Fewer Swedish Kids Cycling

Here we have a graph from Sweden showing helmet usage and number of cyclists in the 6-15 age group. Erik from Ecoprofile.se blogged about it, in Swedish on his own blog.

While helmet usage is up, the number of kids cycling is going down. They passed each other like ships in the night in 2007. Shocking, really, and a lesson to be learned. The graph is from VTI, Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute.

I can certainly understand why Swedish MP Camilla Lindberg has proposed a motion in the Swedish parliament to repeal the helmet law in her country.

Hey! How about a contest?!

Have a look on the graph and answer these two questions:

1. Which year did helmet promotion begin in Sweden?
2. Which year did the country pass a helmet law for under 15's?

It's bit tricky with the second question, but hey, it's a quiz. No cheating with Google, just look at the graph.

Put your answer in the comments and add your name. The first right answer will recieve this messenger bag from Cykelhjelm.org:

And please feel free to join the Cykelhjelm.org (bike helmet in Danish) Facebook group to support a return to rationality and common sense in Denmark.

Her kan man se konsekvenserne af cykelhjelm promovering og påbud. De samme negative resultater ses over hele verden i samtlige regioner som har promoverede cyklehjelme, for slet ikke at nævne tvunget borgerne i cykelhjelme. Folk holder op med at cykle. Rationalitet er den nye frygtkultur. Kend dine fakta.

Bike Helmet Protest in Melbourne

I had a brilliant week in Melbourne as a guest of the State of Design Festival . Loads of interviews and events that all culminated with my keynote speech on the Saturday. There was, however, an event on the Saturday morning - July 26, 2010 - that was extremely interesting to be a part of. A group of citizens, rallied together by filmmaker and bicycle advocate Mike Rubbo , decided to go for a bicycle ride together on Melbourne's new bike share system bikes. A splendid idea. Melbourne's bike share system is shiny new, although unlike most cities in the world with a bike share programme, only 70-odd people are using them each day. In Dublin, by contrast, there are over 30,000 subscribers. Not to mention the cracking successes in Paris, Barcelona, Seville and most of the over 100 cities with such systems. So, a group of people, many of them Copenhagenize.com readers, fancy a bike ride. Sounds lovely enough. They met up at the bike racks at Melbourne University. Hired the bikes wi

Head Protection for Motorists

A while back we posted about an Australian 'motoring helmet' designed to protect motorists' heads in car accidents. It was designed in the late 1980's. Then we recieved this tip yesterday. Another head protection device for motorists, this one developed at the University of Adelaide, in Australia. A serious product for the serious of protecting motorists from the dangers of driving. Despite airbags and seatbelts, motorists are victims of alarming head injury rates. Here's what the Centre for Automotive Safety Research [CASR] in Australia says: The Centre has been evaluating the concept of a protective headband for car occupants. In about 44 percent of cases of occupant head injury, a protective headband, such as the one illustrated, would have provided some benefit. One estimate has put the potential benefit of such a device (in terms of reduced societal Harm) as high as $380 million, compared with $123 million for padding the upper interior of the car. Thi

Fear of Cycling 03 - Helmet Promotion Campaigns

Third installment by sociologist Dave Horton, from Lancaster University, as a guest writer. Dave has written a brilliant assessment of Fear of Cycling in an essay and we're well pleased that he fancies the idea of a collaboration. We'll be presenting Dave's essay in five parts. Fear of Cycling - Helmet Promotion Campaigns - by Dave Horton - Part 03 of 05 Like road safety education, campaigns to promote the wearing of cycle helmets effectively construct cycling as a dangerous practice about which to be fearful. Such campaigns, and calls for legislation to make cycle helmets compulsory, have increased over the last decade. In 2004, a Private Members’ Bill was tabled in the UK Parliament, to make it an offence for adults to allow children under the age of 16 to cycle unless wearing a helmet. Also in 2004, the influential British Medical Association, in a policy turnaround , voted to campaign for helmets to be made compulsory for all cyclists (for comprehensive detail on these

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