Fremantle and no MHL laws?

[Bruce dreaming]

We have been informed that the city of Fremantle has a cyclist’s helmet free law in place, similar to Darwin for footpaths and public parks only.

Is it legal to cycle in the City of Fremantle without a helmet?

Unfortunately I cannot find any reference to this local by-law on the Fremantle council’s website.

 

Does anyone have a link as I have been unable to find it to confirm this as fact?

Bruce

[Kathy Francis]

Hi Bruce,

Who told you that there was a Fremantle helmet free law in place ?

My understanding is that the State Transport Minister refused to allow a helmet optional trial to go ahead.

Are there many freestyle cyclists over there ?

Kathy

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[Nicholas Dow]

Ed Hore seems to think there is a helmet-optional area in one part of Freo, from what he tells me it is a no-car area so I'm guessing that it isn't covered by road law, not being a "road related area" therefore helmet law doesn't apply. Same as helmet law doesn't apply if you are riding through a forest on a walking track that cars can't get on to. So long as it's not signed for use by bikes, it's not a road-related area. But that's my guess and I think the area in Freo is a promenade along or down to the water somewhere. 

But the WA police don't enforce helmet law anyhow, so there are lots of unhelmeted riders in Perth.

[Chris Gillham]

There are no helmet-free areas in Fremantle and the law applies everywhere except, perhaps, your own property. About a decade ago, Fremantle mayor Brad Pettitt and I met through a mutual friend and argued about the helmet law. Several years ago he began campaigning against the law as mayor. I bumped into him in a nightspot about a year ago and our conversation lasted about 20 seconds ... "Brad, you agreed with helmet laws when we spoke a few years ago and ... ". He interjected ... "You were right". End of conversation. Nothing more needed to be said because he'd done his research. Brad put an anti-law submission to the Senate inquiry but is unable to suppress state laws with local by-laws.

Helmet-free cycling remains illegal across WA but it is correct that police enforcement backed off around the year 2000 ... not entirely, of course, so the injustice is still occasionally meted out to bare head cyclists who are targeted by individual officers for whatever reason, while others without helmets cycle past observing the prosecution (if they're silly enough not to avoid being seen by police). That's why WA has probably the highest per capita cycling participation rate in Australia, albeit still less than pre-law. I believe most jurisdictions have seen police enforcement ease, perhaps not to the extent of WA, and illegal cyclists are a major cause of Australia's cycling participation increase from the late 1990s till 2011 (declining since then).

My guesstimate of WA's helmet wearing rate is somewhere between 60-70%. The 30-40% (more like 50-60% in Perth's middle to outer suburbs) who risk a fine each time they cycle are invisible to Australia's academics who remain in denial and insist that the law has never discouraged cycling.

Incidentally, the AMA is today warning that obesity is overtaking smoking as Australia's #1 cause of preventable death, with almost two thirds of adults overweight or obese, 10% severely obese and an estimated economic cost as high as $56 billion per year.

That's the same AMA which for the past 25 years has demanded that Australians be punished for enjoying society's most widespread and regular forms of recreational exercise.

__

[Kimmo]

It seems the cops have backed off in Melbourne too - I've seen a lot more helmet-free cyclists over the last two or three years, and lately I've just been going right past cops without being hassled. That's something, at least.

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[Bruce dreaming]

I got this response from Brad Pettitt office on 23 December 2016

"

Good Afternon Bruce

 

Apologies for the very tardy response

However FYI -  we requested a trial similar to the Darwin model but this was knocked back by the WA State Government

 

 

Kind regards

Rebecca Bowden
Executive Support - Mayor & Elected Members
T 08 9432 9799 So yes it remains MHL. Bruce