Bicycle Network Victoria: Ride On magazine

Helmets the main block

October 2010

The other day I was in Federation Square enjoying a coffee and idly watching the bicycles queued up at the RACV Melbourne Bike Share station. During the whole time I was there, approximately one hour, despite the fact that the day was clear and sunny, not one bike was rented.

It occurs to me that the main blockage to the effective use of these bikes is the need for the rider to wear a helmet. Unlike all other such schemes around the world, including the newly opened one in London, riders in Melbourne are required to wear a helmet when they ride the share bike. Perhaps we should reconsider the helmet law in relation to the Bike Share.

These bikes are distinctive in colour and shape and they may only be used in a very restricted area. Traffic in Melbourne city is no more dangerous than traffic in any other large city so riders are in no greater threat of death or injury than in any other major city.

If an exception were made to the helmet law for riders of the Bike Share bicycles while being used within the Bike Share region it would not have to become a precedent for riders of any other bicycles. In this way tourists, visitors from overseas and casual riders within the city area could make effective use of a great resource which is being killed because of the requirement to wear a helmet.

Let us make a bold decision to exempt riders of the Bike Share bicycles from having to wear a helmet so that this program can succeed.

Jack Zagorski, Eltham, VIC

Bike scheme doomed

October 2010

The Melbourne bike hire scheme is not going to be a success however much the Minister for Transport, Mr Pallas, talks it up. In other large overseas cities, bicycle hire schemes have been very successful and the reasons are obvious to everyone except Australian politicians.

Casual users can't or won't use the bicycles because they must by law, wear a helmet. The notion that people are going to bring a helmet in case they want to hire a bicycle is ridiculous.

The research clearly shows that making helmets compulsory costs lives, it doesn't save them. Riding bikes improves health and more than offsets the small number of regrettable fatalities incurred by not wearing a helmet.

The facts are there, but evidently too complex for the simple minds of Ministers. Melbourne’s scheme will sputter along until an excuse is found to terminate it because of lack of patronage. A great opportunity will be lost; not only to Melbourne, because a failure in Melbourne will discourage other Australian cities from implementing hire schemes.

Wearing a helmet is to be encouraged; making them compulsory is not, however much people misunderstand the statistics.

Paul Worden, Portland, VIC

Why bother?

June 2010

I can't understand what's so exciting about this bike hire scheme (“Suits saddle up”, Ride On April-May) when you can only use it 'free' for the first half hour (i.e. not long enough to stop and do anything before returning it), and only along Melbourne's main tram corridor.

Why would anyone use this rather than take public transport, which is cheaper and more flexible?

Gabrielle Hoff, Brunswick, VIC