The British Medical Association has voted to make cycle helmets mandatory,
and it suggests that cyclists who don't wear helmets should be subject to
on-the-spot fines. As part of this campaign they are throwing around some rather
one-sided statistics, but Bovlomov News has some of its own; the chart above
being only the start.
It shows how few cyclists die from head injuries, but
also that, should an injured cyclist be taken to hospital, he or she should be
more worried about being the victim of a medical mistake by the staff.
[By the way, this figure (of 2081 deaths) was the most conservative estimate.
The higher estimate was 34,000!]
Future statistics will show that, during the past two decades, fewer people
have died from head injuries sustained while travelling by bicycle than have
been murdered - or unlawfully killed - by members of the BMA.
[The BMA has not yet responded to the request from Bovlomov News for the exact number,
but even those cases that we are aware of
show conclusively that, rather than impose helmets on cyclists, more lives would
be saved by imprisoning doctors.]
More amateurish animations and statistics are in the pipeline. However,
more balanced arguments against mandatory helmets may be found at: http://www.cyclehelmets.org/
New Questions
UPDATE::: THE BMA still hasn't provided any of the
statistics that it was asked for. Perhaps it is taking a long time to
count all the bodies! In any event, some new more-or-less accurate
stats will soon appear on this page, and if the BMA doesn't agree with
them then it may suggest improvements. If anyone reading this knows the
answers to the following questions then BOVLOMOV NEWS would be very
grateful to receive them.
How many members of the BMA have been convicted
of murder during the past two decades? How many for manslaughter or
unlawful killing? (This should include those that had their membership
revoked while awaiting trial)
click image
How many units (dead bodies) does this represent in total?
How many members have taken their own lives during the same
period? [According to the BMA, doctors are 2 to 3 times more likely to
commit suicide than the rest of us. That would be 20 to 30 doctors each
year - far more lives than might be saved by making cycle helmets
mandatory. In other words; it's not cyclists that need protecting from
themselves.]
