A Culture Of Safety

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“There isn’t a day goes by that I don’t see someone on the streets of Toronto, an adult, with no helmet on their head, and I want to get out of my car or off the sidewalk and I want to grab them and I want to shake them.”
~ Michael Prue, Ontario NDP MPP

Yeah, that’s it. Michael Prue wants to stop his car and shake bicyclists that aren’t wearing helmets. Shake them! Prue wants to assault bicyclists that don’t wear helmets. Does Prue realize that getting out of his car and stopping a cyclist and shaking them is Assault?

I can guarantee you that if Prue ever tried to stop me from riding my bicycle (and I hate helmets), and tried to shake me, I’d punch him right in the nose. Or I’d ride right over him and tell him that he should have been wearing a helmet on the mean streets of Toronto.

Yes folks, helmet laws are all the rage again in Ontario. Not just bicyclists – but even rollerbladers and skateboarders will be require to wear helmets if this latest nanny state protection crap becomes law. It likely will become law as it’s already passed second reading.

Listen up you didwads, I LIKE to feel the wind in my hair while I go bicycling. I cannot friggan stand to be sweating like a pig while wearing a helmet. I will never bike if you tell me I am forced to wear your stupid foam insulated head piece in the middle of summer, when it is 30 degrees Celsius out there.

So, I guess now I shall become a more unhealthy Ontarian, because of your nanny state laws. Yeah, perhaps I’m a Contrarian Ontarian – but I’ve skateboarded for 30 years, bicycled for about 35 years, and have never had a head injury.

Could I have one? Of course it’s possible. But it’s also possible I could suffer a head injury by crossing the road, and getting hit by a biker wearing a helmet!

Perhaps you should just pass a law saying that we all must wear helmets, 24 hours a day. And when riding in automobiles, we should wear helmets as well. Race car drivers do it, and so why shouldn’t all of us go out and buy helmets if we drive or are passengers in cars?

This is just absolutely freaking pathetic. What’s next? Passing a law that tells me I need to wear eye protection when I fly fish? Heck, I do that most of the time anyhow.. but you bloody well better not tell me I have to.

Geez.. this is what MPP’s get paid for? I think MPP’s, before they can assume office should have their blinking heads examined. It should be a law, you know?

“At its core, I think this bill is really about creating a culture of safety in this province,”
~John Milloy, Liberal MPP, Ontario who proposed the private member’s bill.

Look Milloy, if you want to create culture, go make some lovely yogurt or something. And quit worrying about my head and start worrying about your own.

8 thoughts on “A Culture Of Safety”

  1. Helmets are pretty much de rigeur for mountain biking. I do that and city riding, and I tend to wear a helmet whenever I’m on a bike. More out of self-preservation than anything else. I think they’re a pretty useful measure for those (like me) who don’t want their brain going mush on a rock or pavement should we miscalculate a drop or do something stupid in traffic.

    I agree though, enforcing helmets as a mandatory measure for adults biking, skateboarding, etc. is absurd.

  2. 1995 OBC News Release:

    OCBC News Release – September 1995
    Ontario Government Changes to Helmet Legislation

    ——————————————————————————–

    The Ontario Coalition for Better Cycling (OCBC) guardedly welcomed the exemption of adults from bike helmet legislation and thanked those government MPP’s who raised objections to the law in caucus. “It will allow everyone to cool down and do some positive thinking. Panaceas don’t work. The province must start to address the causes of bike crashes and get cycling organizations involved in identifying effective solutions.” The Coalition has led a four year fight against the legislation, calling for its replacement with an education program.

    “The changes leave less of a mess, but it is still a mess. The legislation is based on false perceptions about the risks of on-road cycling and how the risks should be addressed. The law is virtually unenforcable. Only cyclists, 16 and 17 years old are subject to a direct $105 fine – fines for violations by cyclists 15 years old and under are attributed back to their parents, but then only if parents “knowingly allow” their children to cycle on the road without helmets. No doubt the law in regards to cycling will fall further into disrepute.

    “It is also disturbing that the regulations have been used to exempt adults. **What is to stop a future government from reversing the exemption without consultation with cyclists or the legislature? ** [emphasis mine]

    “We’re calling on the Minister of Education to get cycling skills education into the schools. The Minister should open a dialogue with representatives of Ontario cyclists since there is an identified need to teach children rules of the road and how to operate their bicycles as a vehicle. 80% of accidents involving children under 15 years old are caused by the kids’ own behaviour on bicycles. There is enormous potential to reduce cycling crashes by getting children to appreciate the need to cycle responsibly.”

    September 1995

  3. Don’t know if the stats are accurate, but according to: http://www.fooriders.com/webmain/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file;=viewtopic&p;=79415 ,
    For New Zealand:

    In New Zealand the law is savagely and ferociously enforced.
    Between 1994 (law begin) and now:
    Reduction in numbers of bicyclists 34%
    Reduction in numbers of children bicycling 80%
    Reduction in numbers of women bicycling 90%
    Reduction in head injuries, deaths 19%

    So, 34% fewer people riding resulted in 19% fewer injuries or death… doesn’t sound to me like helmets have been effective there (assuming these stats are accurate)

  4. Notice the justification that our having a “public health care system” overrides personal freedoms… just like cigarettes, and fat tax. It is time for people to wake up to what is happening. Thank God we have such a wonderful authority (our Nanny State) looking after us, eh? Maybe it’s time to take the “glorious and free” line out of the anthem, because just about anything can boil down to a “public health care system” issue.

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