More laws please....

I've just watched an interesting report on BBC news. No I tell a lie, it was boring and predictable.
Apparently, road legal quad bikes are becoming ever more popular but the riders, gasp, are not wearing helmets.

Why? Because the law doesn't require it. So apparently we need tougher laws.

It was a typical biased BBC report. We had the idiot. A chap telling us he doesn't wear a helmet because it "looks cool".
We had the grieving relative. A sister who says her brother died of head injuries in a quad bike accident, who would be alive if he had wore a helmet. Well we will never know that one will we. If he had a helmet on, he may have broken his neck.
We had the expert. Not wearing a helmet is "putting lives at risk". "Currently, the law does not do enough to protect riders".

Its that last, carefully worded statement that grips my shit. "The Law" does not need to protect riders. Its up to the riders themselves to wear protective headgear or not. The law has nothing to do with it. Or at least it shouldn't.

This from the BBC news website :

Doctors say the law should be changed to force people who use road legal quad bikes to wear helmets.

Accident and emergency medics say lives are put at risk because riders do not have to wear protective gear - despite the fact the bikes can reach 90mph.

Quad bike rider Dan Ormesher told Newsbeat: "I don't think helmets should be worn, but obviously it's up to the people in charge.

"I sometimes wear a helmet, depending on how far I'm going. If I'm staying close, going round town, I won't wear a helmet.

"It's as dangerous as you make it. If you're a safe rider - sensible, aware of what's going on around you - you're more likely to be safe.

Glamour model Amii Grove is keen to see helmets made compulsory after she lost her brother, Lee Marley, in a quad bike accident two years ago.

The 24-year-old told Newsbeat: "He had a head-on crash with a Land Rover. He died because of his head injuries.

"So if it was compulsory to wear a helmet he would probably still be alive today."

Wearing protective gear, seatbelts, helmets, leathers etc should be the choice of the wearer. Accidents and injuries will happen with regular monotony, regardless of how far we legislate. Interference by the government invariably does more harm than good. The biggest impact of a new law will not be one or two lives saved, it will be thousands of pounds in fines for otherwise sensible drivers who choose not to wear a helmet.

And please don't say, "If it saves just one life......"