AS a result of a States decision, cyclists below the age of 18 will now be obliged to wear protective helmets, though these will remain a matter of personal choice for adults.

The principal proponent of cycle helmets legislation, Deputy Andrew Green, who is the national chairman of the brain injury charity Headway as well as a Member of the House, has expressed his satisfaction with the result of the debate.

That said, his wider aim of making helmets obligatory for everyone was thwarted by the narrowest of margins, a single vote.

There will still be many who believe that Members accepted a halfway house solution – especially those who, like Deputy Green, have personal knowledge of serious head injuries caused in cycling accidents and therefore have reason to believe that protective headgear has a positive role to play, just as it does in other activities ranging from skiing to canoeing and from motorcycling to mountain climbing.

There will be others who will be wondering how much police time will in future be spent in upbraiding bare-headed cyclists – particularly those who might or might not be just over or just under the 18 years of age cut-off point.

For those who share Deputy Green’s perspective, the outcome of the debate will not have been entirely satisfactory. But in broader terms the debate in its entirety should give all Islanders cause for concern. This is because it was symptomatic of Members’ bizarre eagerness to thrash to death what, in terms of overall policy, are peripheral matters.

The better part of two days of States time was spent on the cycle helmet issue. By contrast, only minutes were spent at the same sitting on consideration of the deficits the Island faces and the £64 million shortfall which will be staring us in the face next year.

It is, of course, true that Treasury Minister Philip Ozouf’s revelations about the economy came in response to questions, meaning that he had limited scope for comprehensive explanations, but it is nevertheless true that the States as a whole repeatedly fail to demonstrate any sense of proportion.

Nowadays there is seldom any detectable logical relationship between the length of time the House spends on a subject and its importance in the grand scheme of the major problems facing this Island and its people.