Page 144 - Week 01 - Thursday, 9 April 1992
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TRAFFIC (AMENDMENT) BILL 1992
MR CONNOLLY (Attorney-General, Minister for Housing and Community Services and Minister for Urban Services) (11.20): Madam Speaker, I present the Traffic (Amendment) Bill 1992.
Title read by Clerk.
MR CONNOLLY: I move:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
This Bill amends the Traffic Act 1937 to provide for the compulsory wearing of bicycle helmets by all cyclists and their passengers on public roads and in public places, an increase in the maximum general fine under the Traffic Act 1937 from $100 to $500, and the repealing of the Traffic (Amendment) Act 1987, which has never commenced operation.
The proposal to make bicycle helmet wearing compulsory forms an essential part of the Prime Minister's 10-point package of road safety initiatives to be implemented in return for funding to eradicate accident black spots. This initiative was originally agreed to by the Alliance Government and has been endorsed by the present Labor Government as an effective road safety measure.
There is overwhelming evidence that shows the lifesaving benefits of bicycle helmets. Two-thirds of all injured cyclists admitted to hospital have sustained a head injury. Head injuries are the primary or contributing cause of death in approximately 80 per cent of bicycle fatalities.
Over the last two years in the ACT a total of four people have died as a result of cycle accidents, two of whom suffered head injuries. Of the 18 cyclists who were admitted with injuries in 1991, seven suffered head injuries, none of whom were wearing helmets, and 11 were admitted with other injuries. Of these 11, five were wearing helmets. In other words, none of the five helmet wearers who were hospitalised sustained head injuries, whereas seven of the 13 hospitalised non-helmet wearers did sustain head injuries. In 1990, of the 17 cyclists admitted to hospital, five wore helmets, none of whom suffered head injuries. Four of the 12 cyclists who were not wearing helmets suffered head injuries.
Cycle injuries add a significant strain to public expenditure on health care. The Bureau of Transport and Communications Economics estimated that the hospital, medical and rehabilitation costs alone, in 1988 dollars, of each road accident victim in Australia averaged over $6,000. The cost to the ACT health system in 1991 of cycle accidents alone was well over $100,000. The introduction of this legislation will reduce the number of serious head injury cycle accidents, which in turn will reduce the pressure on the already strained hospital system, as well as significantly reducing the pain and suffering of the community.
No general exemptions from wearing helmets are provided in this legislation as I feel that the risk of serious injury through a cyclist being involved in an accident and not wearing a helmet should be avoided at all costs. The only exemptions that the legislation will allow are for overseas riders competing in bicycle races. Failure to offer exemptions under these circumstances may jeopardise the ACT's participation in international bicycle races.
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