Mandatory helmets

Latvian Ministry of Transport currently has no plans to order mandatory helmet-wearing for all electric scooter enthusiasts and cyclists. Instead the requirement is only for people under the age of 18, because the ministry has no intention of imposing unenforceable norms on society, said Minister of Transport Jānis Vitenbergs.

The City for People movement has voiced its categorical protest against the requirement for helmets to be worn by scooter enthusiasts and cyclists of all ages. This movement presents itself as a facilitator for building a good urban environment in Riga and other Latvian cities.

Vitenbergs explained that meetings are organised as part of the process of coordinating amendments to road traffic regulations. These meetings are attended by representatives from the Ministry of Transport, Road Traffic Safety Directorate (CSDD), the Children’s Clinical University Hospital (BKUS) and the sector.

Vitenbergs said most children do not wear helmets when riding a bicycle or electric scooter. He also mentioned the number of accidents involving children is on a rise. BKUS representatives turned to the ministry with a proposal to adopt a mandatory requirement for persons under the age of 18 to wear protective helmets.

When asked why the ministry no longer plans to adopt a mandatory requirement to wear helmets for all electric scooter enthusiasts and cyclists, Vitenbergs said the ministry has no objective to impose impossible regulations.

“If this is about seniors in some rural area going to a forest to collect mushrooms or to the local store to buy food, I think they can make do without a helmet,” explained Vitenbergs, stressing that children are a priority and introducing a mandatory requirement for children to wear helmets is a duty to the staff of the children’s hospital.

Last week representatives of the Ministry of Transport mentioned plans to introduce a mandatory requirement to wear helmets for electric scooter enthusiasts and cyclists of all ages. The ministry explains that this requirement is included in Road Traffic Rules that are proposed for approval to the Cabinet of Ministers.

Previously the minister stressed that

both children and adults receive head injuries when driving electric scooters.

Last week the Ministry of Transport also reported that after receiving reports of cyclists receiving head injuries as often as electric scooter enthusiasts it was decided to expand the mandatory requirement to wear helmets to cyclists as well.

From the 1st of January 2024 it is planned to make it mandatory for electric scooter users to wear protective helmets when driving.

To make road traffic safer for scooters, it is planned to set the maximum speed limit at 25 km/h. It is also planned to prohibit electric scooters and bicycles from switching to the opposite driving lane.

In the statement released by City for People movement’s chairman Kārlis Krēķis, it is explained that the organisation approves of the requirement for children to wear protective helmets, as well as the option for people to voluntarily choose whether they want to wear a helmet, especially when engaging in bicycle sport. At the same time, the movement is categorically against rules that make wearing protective helmets mandatory for all cyclists, including those who use routes the risk of road traffic accidents on which is insignificant.

“Every adult cyclists has the right to assess risks on their own and decide on their own whether they want to wear a helmet.

Mandatory use of protective helmets has dubious added value,”

said Krēķis. Mandatory wearing of helmets in other parts of the world often deters people from driving bicycles. One classic example is Australia, where the government adopted a mandatory requirement for cyclists to wear protective helmets in the 90s. This caused the number of cyclists to go down considerably.

With the number of cyclists down, the risk of collision with vehicles increased for the remaining cyclists (the so-called safety in numbers principle). At the same time, there is no evidence to prove helmets improve the safety of cyclists on the road. There are also studies the results of which suggest that wearing helmets can actually provoke less cautious behaviour from motorists and create a false sense of safety in cyclists and making them drive more recklessly, says the organisation’s leader.

In the statement the organisation stresses: mandatory requirement to wear protective helmets is a fight against consequences, not the cause. “The objective of the Ministry of Transport is preventing causes. The cause of head injuries do not come from the lack of a helmet, rather a result of a fall caused by road traffic accident or some other emergency.”

The organisation believes it is possible to reduce the number of road traffic accidents by creating a safe infrastructure for the least protected road traffic participants, ensuring compliance with Road Traffic Rules, as well as adding a requirement for vehicles to maintain at least a 1.5 m interval when passing cyclists on the road.

Also read: Businessmen ask Latvian president to not promulgate new requirements for riding electric scooters