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The CTC has blasted the statistics behind the latest argument for helmets to be made compulsory.
Last week the Paediatric Emergency Medicine Association voted for legislation to force the under-16s to wear helmets while cycling. Backing the argument, the association’s Dr Ian Maconochie used some contentious accident figures, statistics that the CTC says are misleading.
A CTC spokesperson told BikeBiz: “Be aware that Dr Maconochie’s figures are very misleading. He says there are 50,000 ‘accidents’ on the road each year. I don’t know where he gets those figures from – there are usually 16,000 cycling injuries (mostly involving cars) on the road each year.
“Additionally there are another few thousand serious injuries that occur off-road – nowhere near 100,000. Maconochie has, outrageously, conflated all child injuries with cycling injuries alone.
“There are almost ten times as many ‘hospital bed days’ for under 14 year olds generated from slips, trips and falls when walking, skating or climbing trees than there are from cycling. Why don’t we legislate to force children to wear helmets when walking?”
