Brisbane City Council’s plan to turn Brisbane into a cycling haven, akin to say Copenhagen or Amsterdam, looks like it may be frustrated by Queensland’s compulsory helmet law. The Council’s inner city bike hire scheme will be less attractive if potential users (e.g., office workers, students or tourists) have to either carry around a helmet or hire one from a participating local shop.  It’s enough of a friction and additional cost to make people consider walking the distance instead.  This realisation probably underlies the Council’s plan to give away 2,000 free bike helmets:

Helmet giveaway for bike hire scheme

Queensland’s compulsory bike helmet law risks the viability of the Council’s bike hire scheme.  Moreover, it’s unclear whether it’s even good public policy.  See, for example:

Bicycle helmet laws are “failed public policy” says public health expert

From a public health point of view, when you make helmets compulsory, you may save the lives of a number of people who crash and land on their heads, but there are offsetting effects because helmet laws discourage a lot of people from cycling, due to the cost and inconvenience of helmets.  Also, people will start to think, if you have to wear a helmet, cycling must be risky.

Discouraging cycling is bad because, on balance, cycling is very good for us.  With fewer people cycling, people are less healthy on average and more likely to die from heart attacks.  Also, having fewer people cycling makes it more dangerous for those who continue to cycle, because car drivers don’t see cyclists on the road as much.  Thus, drivers come to view cyclists as a nuisance rather than legitimate sharers of the road, and don’t take as much care in looking out for cyclists.

So it’s possible we’d be better off if we repealed the compulsory bike helmet law.  And, if we can encourage cycling in Brisbane to reach continental European levels, we may have a shot at making Monocle’s top 25 most liveable cities.