From Jamie Barker.
FURTHER to the bicycling helmets debate, it must be pointed out that the act of cycling is inherently safe.

If you have ever let go of a riderless bicycle on a hill you can see that the blessed things keep themselves upright all on their own, thanks to gyroscopical magic in the wheels. They will stay upright until something rams into them.

Or, to put it another way, bicycles don’t injure cyclists who are not wearing helmets. Mostly cars driven by bad drivers do.

Now I will admit I am what you might call a cyclist, and have been for many years. My father, when he would see a cyclist, used to comment, ‘Poor fella must’ve lost his licence.’ He couldn’t understand that somebody might cycle through choice, but I do.

This is not a rant against motorists, for I am a car driver, too. I have a dirty big truck so I have seen the appalling standard of driving displayed by many in this Island from both sides of the windscreen.

The reason I would be very wary of letting my boys cycle on the roads when they get bigger is not because I’m worried they might tumble from their bicycles and hurt themselves on the tarmac, although that is a concern. I am worried that they will get crushed by a person – grateful as I was that the driving test in Jersey was so easy to pass.

You know the type of driver, the one who thinks you have to filter-in-turn at the hamburger kiosk and so launches an attack down the inside lane to get in front of you, even though they were half a mile behind and there was no other traffic when the lanes began to converge.

The ones who think the act of turning on their indicators supersedes looking with their eyes and gives them free reign to weave from lane to lane. ‘Get out of my way, my indicators are on!’

A lot of Jersey drivers seem to think that overtaking a cyclist when there’s an oncoming vehicle is the correct thing to do, but it’s not.

The fact that it’s just possible to squeeze through, only grazing the handlebars of the bike you’re passing or the wing mirrors of the oncoming car, doesn’t mean you’ve done some good driving. It’s just bad driving.

Likewise, overtaking a cyclist, only to brake and turn off right in front of them. What’s that about? That’s really bad driving. It’s a lack of awareness and it’s going to hurt somebody.

So I have nothing against helmets. I wear one sometimes. It’s common sense that they should be worn when necessary, all the time by children, but it should not be law.

Cycling is a safe way to travel turned into a dangerous act by the low standard of vehicular control shown by too many, and until that is tackled, it doesn’t seem fair to burden the innocent parties – the cyclists  – with legislation.