Editorial: Be free, don't be stupid

File photo.

The childhood freedoms of previous generations are often used as an excuse to take senseless risks.

Strapping children into seatbelts, monitoring them closely by water and not letting them wander too far outside is often pooh-poohed by an older generation which harks back to an age - I'm told - when kids used to be booted outside by mum and told not to come back till dark, have just a couple of sticks to play with, hang out by rivers unsupervised and ride their bikes with the only thing on their heads being the wind running through their hair.

Such seems to be the mentality of Mount bach owners Kay and Grant Mullins interviewed by Ruth Keber in the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend.

They admit they often ride around the Mount without helmets, being "naughty baby boomers".

They say they don't ride very fast and don't ride on the road.

While I am all for personal freedoms, the law demands that cyclists wear a helmet for good reason.

The New Zealand Transport Agency says most deaths of cyclists are caused by head injury.

You don't have to be going at top speed to have a fall - as Mount Maunganui policewoman Deidre Lack says, it could only take a tap to result in a serious injury.

It is not just their own lives cyclists are risking when they do not wear helmets. Other road users are also affected by any accidents. The taxpayer foots the medical costs.

Riding without a helmet is a selfish flouting of the law. The rose tinted glasses of nostalgists seem to blind them to the fact that there were probably relatively more deaths and accidents back then. In any case our roads are busier now and more dangerous.

Reassuringly, the 10-year-old interviewed in the same story, Jacob Hellinan, said he never rode without a helmet and he learned bike safety at his primary school. It seems this generation at least understands you can be free without being stupid.