12 April 2011

From: Brake, the road safety charity
Tel: 01484 559909 Out of hours: 07976 069159 E-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Julie Townsend spoke out about cycle helmet use on the Today programme this morning, alongside Norman Baker, Minister for sustainable transport.

You can hear the full interview here. Forward 2hrs 55 minutes in.

Julie Townsend, Brake's campaigns director, said: "We have extensive evidence that cycle helmets are effective in reducing the risk of serious head injury when cycling – so wearing a helmet is a really simple step that all cyclists can take to help protect themselves. That's why we urge all cyclists to take this basic safety precaution. It's highly frustrating to see our minister with responsibility for cycling taking to his bike without a helmet, undermining the critical message about the importance of helmet wearing that his own Department is promoting to children and young people.

"As well as encouraging more cyclists to wear helmets, and setting a positive example on safe cycling, we're urging the Government to invest in more engineering measures to help prevent cycling crashes happening in the first place, reducing devastating and costly casualties, and to encourage more people to take to their bikes. We need more traffic-free and segregated cycle paths, especially on commuter routes and connecting homes with local facilities, and we need widespread 20mph limits in communities. These measures would enable more people to adopt this healthy and green means of travel without having to run the gauntlet of dangerous roads."

For Brake's advice on safe cycling, go to www.brake.org.uk/cycle4life
For Brake's factsheet on cycle helmets, go to www.brake.org.uk/why-cycle-helmets-save-lives
For a 2004 Department for Transport review on the efficacy of cycle helmets, click here.
For the British Medical Association's statement on cycle helmets, click here.