NEWS RELEASE
 
Released by: Peter Bone
Release time: Immediate
Date: 15 March 2010
Contact:  07780 613 457
     0207 219 8496
                 07814 567 967
Peter Bone MP
Listening to Wellingborough & Rushden News
 
GOVERNMENT BURIES REPORT ON CYCLE HELMET SAFETY
 
Peter Bone, Member of Parliament for Wellingborough and Rushden, today accused the Labour government of backtracking on their promise to improve cycling safety for children – by refusing to make the wearing of cycle helmets compulsory for children. 
 
He also charged the Department of Transport with ignoring a report from independent experts which highlighted the effectiveness of wearing cycle helmets in reducing the risk of head injuries when an accident takes place.
 
Mr Bone said: ‘This independent review reports that, in 2008, 115 pedal cyclists were killed and 2,450 seriously injured on Britain’s roads.  40% of the cyclists who were admitted to hospital suffered from head injuries. This is an unacceptably high figure and something needs to be done urgently.
 
‘Last week, the government in Jersey made the wearing of helmets compulsory for the under-18s.  Why, then, has our Labour government ignored the advice of the experts that they commissioned themselves, and decided not to implement similar plans?   If Jersey can do this, why can’t we?
 
‘Instead, the government has backtracked on its promise to make cycling safer, coming up with vague, woolly pledges that will do very little to prevent serious injuries in child cyclists.
 
‘I demand that the government follow the example of the Jersey administration and immediately correct this shameful state of affairs.’
 
ENDS
 
Notes to Editors:
  1. Immediate release.
  2. For more information please contact Peter Bone on 07780 613 457 or Caroline Escott on 07814 567967.
  3. The report quoted above: “The potential for cycle helmets to prevent injury: A review of the evidence” was published in December 2009 by the Transport Research Laboratory and was prepared for the Department of Transport.
    4.
 

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