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Canberra Times article
WHAT TO TELL THE KING Helmets protect soldiers and workers, so let’s make cyclists wear them too and save our children from dreaded brain injury. The idea seemed plausible. Surgeons advocated it and as early as 1978 a Federal parliamentary committee on motorcycle and bicycle safety recommended that it be kept under review. The initial…
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Submission to “CYCLING AUSTRALIA, THE NATIONAL STRATEGY”
In August 1998, Austroads Inc., a body comprising Australian transport authorities, invited comments on a consultation paper for a national cycling strategy. On behalf of CRAG, Bill Curnow submitted the following comments. COMMENTS ON “CYCLING AUSTRALIA, THE NATIONAL STRATEGY, COMMUNITY CONSULTATION PAPER, AUGUST 1998” The paper does not give any attention to the effects that…
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COMPULSORY SELF-PROTECTION ON ROADS: GAIN OR HARM TO SOCIETY?
Introduction A subject of current controversy in Australia is the role of governments in individuals’ choices about protecting themselves against disease and injury. Concerns have been expressed about infringement of civil liberties and possible adverse effects of preventive medical treatments that governments are urging, immunisation for example. People are rightly demanding the full scientific knowledge…
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Submission to the National Road Transport Commission
Entrenchment of Helmet Laws in Australian Road Rules by Bill Curnow 18 August 1997 Under an agreement by all governments in Australia, the National Road Transport Commission is developing Australian Road Rules that all road users in Australia will need to follow. Draft rules were released for public comment in 1994. In the light of…
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The 3rd International Conference on Injury Prevention and Control
The 3rd International Conference on Injury Prevention and Control [NOTE: The official Web site for this conference, which was formerly located at www.nisu.flinders.edu.au, is no longer available. Links from this page have been removed accordingly. ] The 3rd International Conference on Injury Prevention and Control was held in Melbourne, Australia from February 18-22 1996. For bicycle…
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Compulsory Bicycle Helmets: Unfair Discrimination
Wearing of helmets has been compulsory for cyclists in Australia for years, but how many people know that reports of the Federal Office of Road Safety, in 1987 and 1998, recommend them for occupants of motor vehicles too? Hoping that helmet wearing would reduce serious head injury and satisfied that the costs and inconvenience to…