Chris Boardman and Bradley Wiggins are both Olympic cycling gold medallists, but on bike safety they differ. We took to the Surrey streets to get your thoughts
Olympians Chris Boardman and Bradley Wiggins have different approaches when it comes to cycling safety.
Sir Bradley, who has just ridden into the record books by covering 54.526km in 60 minutes at the Olympic velodrome, recently told the Evening Standard, “Cyclists have to help themselves in terms of wearing helmets… I think that probably should go some way to becoming the law soon.
But Boardman, who won gold at the 1992 Barcelona Games, disagreed, saying, “I seldom wear a helmet. Statistically, you can cycle 800 times around the globe, without having an accident.”
Instead, he called for motorists to be automatically held liable for crashes involving vulnerable road users saying, “The fact is, if you want to kill someone, do it in a car; it’s the way to get the least punishment. We should have strict liability in the UK so that if you are in a vehicle you’re responsible – as much to protect pedestrians as cyclists.”
Every year more than 100 cyclists are killed in accidents around Britain. Just this May, a woman died after a collision in Walton, and last month a driver was captured screaming abuse at a cyclist near Richmond Park.
So who is right – Boardman or Wiggins?
We canvassed local opinion
- “It’s a brilliant idea to make helmets a legal requirement, and follow in the footsteps of Australia. Although we shouldn’t be blinkered by the bigger picture, which is the poor cycling infrastructure in the UK,” says Max Whicher of Bikes Direct in Dorking bikesdirect.uk.com
- Graham Dash, former systems librarian from Sutton, argued that Boardman’s was “a totally ridiculous suggestion”, as he’d “seen many a cyclist blatantly breaking traffic laws. They must share responsibility”.
- Billy Schofield of Evan Cycles in Kingston disagrees, “I think he’s spot on. I cycle to work, and I see people (in cars) breaking the law every day. Speeding, illegally overtaking, talking on the phone… it seems like if you're in a car you can get away with whatever you like, but whenever it comes up, they just talk about cyclists running red lights.”
- Barton Bank didn't mince words - if the Olympic star “doesn’t believe helmets should be compulsory – pretty obvious he must have landed on his head!”
- Surrey resident Peter Cormack says “I feel strongly that a rear view mirror should be mandatory on all bicycles. And I believe there should be a tax on bicycles levied at the time of purchase with the funds going to create further cycle lanes which should improve safety.”
- Whistle Test countered on @essentialcycle Twitter that rather than making rear view mirrors mandatory, "perhaps motorists should be expected look ahead"? Motorists, he said, are "constantly looking for a scapegoat; another way to shift blame". Cyclists need to gear up with "Hi-viz, reflective clothes/paint, helmets, rear view mirrors, lights - on/off?", while motorists can just "scrape past at 30, 40, 50+mph. If you're on the road you have a joint safety responsibility".
- Belinda Scott at Bella Velo in Surbiton says “Boardman speaks a lot of sense. There are countries like Germany with presumed liability, and they are much safer with regard to motorists not ploughing into people. The Richmond Road Rage video that’s been doing the rounds is an excessive example but it’s not a stand-alone one.”
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