A proposal on the obligation to wear a bicycle helmet is discussed Thursday in the Senate. The text, which provides uno fine of 135 euros, already debated.
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Should helmets be made compulsory for cyclists? The question is revived by the bill of a group of elected centrists which will be studied Thursday, January 13 in the Senate. She suggests imposing a helmet on all bicycle users, whether electric or not, on pain of a fine of 135 euros when only a third of cyclists wear a helmet.
Ilias is not one of them. He is about to get on a self-service bicycle in Paris with headphones to listen to music while pedaling. “It is much more dangerous, I take it entirely “, concedes the cyclist. “But I don’t think it is by threatening to get a fine that I will necessarily wear a helmet”, he adds.
François Bonneau is the centrist senator, who carries this proposal. “We can consider that it is a constraint, but we can also consider that it is a gesture which can save you”, he argues. “Why is everyone wearing a helmet on the Tour de France?, he says. Do not think that it only happens to others! “
However, the Federation of bicycle users is much more reserved. “Wearing a helmet can reduce certain injuries and head trauma, but we are against the obligation of a helmet”, says Olivier Schneider, its president. “To suggest that cycling is dangerous is to discourage a whole bunch of our fellow citizens from doing it. “
“In the Netherlands, a country which has made a successful transition to cycling, barely 2% of people wear helmets and yet there are far fewer accidents than here.”
Olivier Schneider, president of the Federation of bicycle usersto franceinfo
To reduce accidents, the president of the FUB calls first to “reduce car traffic, build cycle lanes “, rather than penalizing cyclists who do not wear helmets. The compulsory bicycle helmet had already been rejected by the National Assembly in 2019.