Ontario Coalition for Better Cycling
109 Gatespark Private, Ottawa
Ontario, K1N 5K6
phone (613) 254-7080 e-mail: vehicularcyclist.com
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The Honourable Dalton McGuinty
Premier of Ontario
Main Legislative Building
Toronto ON
M7A 1A4
December 2, 2012
Dear Premier,
Cycling Strategy – Adult Bicycle Helmet Use
"Stricter bicycle helmet legislation and mass helmet usage in other countries (U.S.A., Australia, and New Zealand) have failed to produce any statistically significant reduction in the rates of fatalities and head injuries, despite optimistic projections. In addition, compulsory helmet use may result in reduced bicycle usage."
Regional Coroner for Toronto, Report on Cycling Fatalities in Toronto 1986 - 1996
“... The ministry has been studying this issue for some time now and has expressed concern with the position that bicycle helmet usage should be made mandatory by legislation. …
Mr Dadamo, Ministry of Transportation in reply to question from MPP Dalton McGuinty, Hansard November 20, 1991
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In 1992, Brett Delmage, the President of Citizens for Safe Cycling, and I met with you in Ottawa to express our respective organizations’ opposition to Mrs. Dianne Cunningham’s private member’s Bill 124 - an amendment to the HTA to mandate bicycle helmet use.
You agreed with us then that Ms. Cunningham’s proposal was not the optimum approach to reducing cyclists’ head injuries and that a more comprehensive educational strategy would be more suitable. Hansard records (transcript attached) show that you expressed such views to the Committee on Resources Development. Likewise, the then Minister of Transportation, the Honourable George Dedamo, expressed agreement with you in his opposition to the bill.
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At that time, organized cycling in Ontario put significant time and resources into preparing alternative safety strategies and presenting them at the public hearings. Committee members were able to avail themselves of the collective expertise of all of Ontario’s cycling community. The latter were virtually unanimously opposed to Mrs. Cunningham’s proposal and in favour of other, more appropriate measures that government could take to improve the safety of cyclists. Sadly, our advice was ignored and the amendment proceeded through the legislature unchanged. It was only when the Harris government assumed power in 1995 that it said adults were capable of making up their own minds and exempted them by regulation.
Now 20 years after the original hearings, we are no further ahead than we were when we started. The same measure is being considered even though there is no evidence to suggest the existing legislation has met any of the claims made then by helmet law proponents (e.g. 85% reduction in head injuries).
Organized cycling in Ontario expended significant effort and resources in providing expert advice to members of the Committee. Despite that and the Committee’s commitment to follow that advice, the cycling community’s recommendations were ignored without exception. The process and the existing legislation yielded nothing for Ontario’s cyclists and approximately $500,000 expended on the 1991/2 public hearings and other legislative procedures essentially was wasted. A half million dollars could have bought a lot of cyclist education.
Ontario’s taxpayers are once again faced with costly debate that will unnecessarily waste the time of Ontario’s cycling community. Currently, the latter is delivering cycle skills education in Ontario and can ill-afford being diverted again. It is difficult to understand why the mandated use of helmets for adult cyclists would be a government priority. We hope it isn’t. The number of serious head trauma (i.e. adults hospitalized for major trauma International Severity Scale - ISS > 12) is miniscule (less than 50) relative to the total head trauma among Ontario’s population. This singling out of cyclists has no scientific basis whatsoever. All the evidence shows that lawful and responsible cycling is a very low risk activity.
Forced helmet use will accrue no benefit to cyclists. Rather it will be seen as more unnecessary government interference in the lives of citizens. Helmets do nothing to reduce acccidents. We urge your government to immediately drop this wasteful exercise. Should you sincerely be interested in the welfare of cyclists, we solicit that you instruct your Minister of Transportation to focus its efforts on consultating with the organized cycling community (ie those that organize cycling activities) for the purpose of developing a realistic program to reduce cycling accidents on Ontario’s roads.
Yours sincerely
Avery Burdett
Chairman and Accident Researcher
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Hansard November 20, 1991 Standing Committee on Resources Development
Mr McGuinty: I really admire Mrs Cunningham's attitude. Mark Twain said that everyone with a new idea is a nut until the idea succeeds. I am not implying that you are a nut in any way, but there are going to be all kinds of obstacles, hurdles and impediments before you, and you are going to have to stare them in the face one by one and deal with them individually.
Just to give you my perspective, in my home town, Ottawa, I spend more time on my bicycle than I do in a car, and I always wear a helmet. I have four children between the ages of five and 10 and they all wear helmets. We live on a very quiet street, so they ride their bicycles frequently. Of course, my wife also bikes and wears a helmet. Notwithstanding that, there are some difficulties here. There is an ideal you have and I think that is great. We should aspire to that. I will tell you about some of my concerns.
I believe in the idea of bicycling as a viable means of transportation so strongly and I am so interested in the safety aspects of it that I held a bicycle rally in my riding to publicize it. Unfortunately it was rained out, but I had a chance to meet with the local bicycling groups, and they are concerned about this. I think you have something in here from the Ottawa-Carleton Cyclist. There is an article here by the person who appears to be in charge, Christine Jenkins. I met with her, and she said to me, "Listen, we're not so much concerned about ensuring that a person is protected after they've been in an accident or as a result of being in an accident as we are with the preventive aspect."
Maybe Mr Dadamo or the gentleman from the ministry might have an answer to this. I am not sure if a study has been done on this. How many of those bicycling accidents could have been prevented through accident prevention education? I am not sure if you can even take a stab at that, but that is something I would be interested in knowing.
On this business of the 25% voluntary usage, I am wondering where that figure came from. Did we use the same figure when we were dealing with seatbelt legislation at that time? Did we wait until it got to 25%? How is that measured? Again, where did that figure come from? Is it purely arbitrary, or is it deemed to be the point at which, psychologically, people are going to accept legislation that will make mandatory something a quarter of us have been doing?
Mr Hansen brought up a good point about the standards, in particular this business of the helmets. My kids, for instance, wear helmets that are foam with a nylon mesh cover, to give them some colour, essentially. Although they have not had any difficulties with them -- they have been using them for a few years -- I do not think they would withstand anything more than one fall. We paid I think $50 or $60 for each of them. I think prices have dropped since that time, and price of course is a major concern.
There are some parents who have stretched their financial resources to the limit to acquire a bicycle, and here we are saying, "Listen, folks, in addition to that, if you want to indulge yourself in that luxury or that pleasure, we're going to hit you with an additional cost." I would be concerned about ensuring that somehow we can make these affordable and accessible. In smaller towns it just may be that you cannot walk into a store and pick up a bicycle helmet because the demand is not there.
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I was interested in learning from Mrs Cunningham what her time frame is until she can envision this being mandatory right across the province, as well as to what age groups she was thinking of having this apply. I think in terms of age groups, one that is right across the sector, across all ages, is relatively rare in terms of precedents. I do not think there are too many jurisdictions where it is right across the population. In particular, what about infants? I do not think we can put helmets on infants. Is this bill going to provide for that?
I have some difficulty too with the enforcement provisions. If we are going to penalize anyone whom I am just going to label a "child" -- we may arbitrarily deem that to be 12 and under -- in law, for instance, there is an age at which children are deemed to have come to an age where they can be held criminally responsible for their actions. I would not like to see us ticketing kids. I think there is something in here, perhaps it was New Zealand legislation, where they do not ticket the children. It says here, "Under-14s would be issued with police cautions." Maybe that is the better way to go about it.
I have not had an opportunity to speak with our local police, but it would seem to me, given the demand on their resources at the best of times, that if we add this to the slate of items whereby they are going to be called upon to enforce laws, how much time do they have and do police want to be stopping eight-year-olds and nine-year-olds on the street or escorting them to their homes and all those kinds of things?
Those are some of the concerns I had. I would be pleased to hear from Mr Dadamo, Mrs Cunningham and the gentleman from the ministry as to how they might respond to those.
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Mr Dadamo: …We believe that with continued education and awareness, the number of cyclists voluntarily wearing helmets will rise significantly. This is a view shared by many who have shared their expertise with the Ministry of Transportation. The ministry has been studying this issue for some time now and has expressed concern with the position that bicycle helmet usage should be made mandatory by legislation. …