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Welcome to suitablesites.com Supporting Truth, Liberty & Justice For All (Even Democrats & Republicans) |
| Suitablesites is proud to offer this space
to anyone who is concerned about the way our great country is slowly being
destroyed. We encourage you to participate by using
your voice to help us change the current state of affairs. Got something you want everyone to know about?
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| I'm a freelance print/radio journo working in Perth, Western Australia (on the other side from Sydney) and
maintain a website with much of the data concerning the impact of mandatory bicycle helmet laws in this
state. Nobody in Western Australia knows about the damage being caused to
public health because we have just one monopoly daily newspaper upon which the electronic media are
reliant for story tips and general "knowledge". The newspaper and thus the media have published nothing on
the impact of the law for a decade. As a result, there is almost total public
ignorance of the facts and it is assumed by many that the sacrifice of a liberty is worth it for public health.
With ongoing injury records and more head injuries despite clear evidence that cyclist numbes are way
down, nobody realises that public health is actually suffering badly.
The "assumption" of public health benefits means that anybody who voices opposition to the law in social circles is frowned upon as a probable left wing libertarian... i.e. you don't mention the topic in polite company or you will be laughed down. (note from editor: the "left wing libertarian" referred to by Chris is not the same as the Libertarian Party in the U. S., although a name is shared, the political philosophy is altogether different.) The absurdity is that nobody has seen the hospital figures before and after helmet law enforcement in 1992, because those figures have never been published. The monopoly newspaper has now embarked on a campaign to have mandatory helmets for those slick new scooters which have recently become popular in the western world. If legislated, the result for scooters will be the same as for bicycles... a large number of kids will stop exercising on their scooters and those who continue will suffer increased injury because they wll ride their scooters with additional risk, assuming that the helmet makes them safe. Despite being a journalist, I'm unable to convince the press to publish stories containing the actual
government hospital/cyclist survey data. I've almost given up any hope that Australians will ever learn about
the detrimental impact of the helmet law and my website is largely aimed at
people in other countries where governments are threatening such legislation. The URL is:
http://www.iinet.net.au/~property/bicycle_helmets.html Australia was the first country to introduce national all-age bicycle helmet laws a decade ago. This extensive timescale provides the world's only reliable database for detailed legislative results. The data on my site is but a fraction of that analysed by the British Medical Association before it recommended that mandatory bicycle helmet laws never be introduced anywhere in the United Kingdom. The recommendation drew largely upon the damage being caused to Australian public health, but it is a recommendation unknown to anybody living in Australia. I know my site concerns a foreign rather than American experience but I'm sure the data would be relevant
and of interest to your visitors. If you agree, I'd be more than happy to swap links. |