The Nanny State

..burn your effigy of choice – I would recommend Rupert Murdoch if
you are of an incendiary mind.
In the Northern Territory and, until this year the ACT, you could still buy
fireworks perhaps because they calculated the fun versus injury equation in
favour of fun.
In my youth, a state that as for most males of the species lasted for an inordinate
time, I was of a pyrotechnical bent and found that fireworks weren’t
just for Guy Fawkes but provided all year round fun. As an art student one
of my flatmates and I blew a door off its hinges whilst the room’s occupant
was in the midst of coital ecstasy. It took a mere handful of carefully placed
crackers connected to a simple time fuse that employed a cigarette and a bit
of cellotape to see the door majestically implode with sweet voluminous smoke
and a very loud noise. The lady in question never quite recovered from the
bang of her life.
Actually my anonymous flatmate, whom we will call Keith Reid because it happens
to be his name, developed a machine that would have one the most ingenious
use of fireworks and a motor scooter ever devised.
He took six cardboard mailing tubes of about a metre in length that were sealed
at one end but had a small flap about thirty centimetres from the base –
roughly the length of a skyrocket’s stick. He firmly attached the cardboard
tubes at an angle of about thirty degree to the side of the scooter. Using
flap he placed steel wool that was connected by wire to the scooter horn.
When the horn button was pressed sufficient current ran through the cable
to the steel wool to make it glow red hot.
He placed skyrockets down the tubes so that the touch paper rested on the
steel wool and rode along until a suitable opportunity presented itself, such
as an approaching bus or police car, and pressed the horn. Current flowed,
steel wool glowed and there was the magnificent sight of six rockets sailing
ahead to both confuse and delight the public. He was chased several times
by people wishing to congratulate him on his achievement
But I digress.
In many of the cities of Europe you can rent a bike from street stands for
a few Euros and cycle off in all directions returning them elsewhere in the
city. It is extremely popular. Melbourne has the same system but it is hardly
used because you have to wear a bicycle helmet, an item of protection that
most people don’t usually carry in their back pockets. Hire a bike and
don’t wear a helmet and you score a $146 fine. No exceptions.
Interestingly studies of the positive impact of bike helmets on cyclist safety
are not regarded as reliable, with some going so far as to state that it is
safer not to wear one. Whilst I can imagine several circumstances where it
might be preferable to have a helmet, I think the equation between individual
and social benefit should be redrawn. Curiously Australia, New Zealand and
parts of Canada all have helmet laws that have resulted in the great majority
of cyclists wearing helmets, but there has been no reduction in rates of head
injury relative to cycle use. An analysis of enforced laws in these countries
has found no clear evidence of benefit. .
I am not optimistic that the law will be relaxed as that would mean that the
authorities would have to back-track on something that they have been so forcefully
dogmatic about for so long.
In Europe the speed limit on motorways is often 130kph with many drivers,
from my own recent experience, exceeding this by a handsome margin. You drive
with great awareness of low flying French, Spaniards or Germans in their Messerschmitts,
Mirages or Typhoons approaching from behind at a high closing velocity and
ensure that the passing lanes are only occupied for the minimum of times.
People pass quickly and efficiently and move back to the slower lanes with
commendable alacrity.
In Victoria the general limit is (with a very few exceptions) 100kph. One
corollary of this is that all three lanes of the Geelong freeway, with its
frequent revenue raising cameras, are usually blocked by cars driving side
by side at ninety-five kilometres per hour. It is potentially far more dangerous
than any European equivalent road as no driving skill, awareness or intelligence
is required or demonstrated.
By presuming that our drivers are compete dills we have lowered driving ability
to that of operating a domestic appliance such as a washing machine. European
drivers demonstrate greater skill and traffic awareness than just about any
Australian on the road today because there is a culture of good and sharp
driving.
Whilst on the Atlantic coast of Spain recently we traipsed off through the
typical maze of narrow roads near Ribadesella to the Bufones which are limestone
cliffs blowholes by the sea. The Atlantic was relatively calm so we expected
little in the way of geyser-like spouts. But even so the ground was moaning
like a tormented dragon and intermittent traces of foam issued through cracks
on the ground – cracks that had no protective barriers to stop on stepping
in. The nearby cliffs with their thirty metre drop into the ocean were as
equally devoid of barriers and warning signs. You or a child could fall in
and possible disappear for good.
It would seem that the Spanish authorities thought that if you were of reasonable
intelligence you would appreciate the dangers and take appropriate care of
both yourself and your children. Additionally if you did fall down a blow
hole or drop over the cliff you would be in no position to sue
Even whilst realising that the litigious nature of the Australian public makes
authorities hyper-aware of real or imagined risk there must be an upper limit
to the amount of legislated molly-coddling which now surrounds us.
Accidents do happen and there may no external authority to blame – and
in a Darwinian fashion we are degrading the gene pool by not allowing the
less intellectually aware members of the community to impale themselves on
sharp railings or choke on breadsticks. If we continue to protect everybody
from everything soon we will all be dribbling down our shirt fronts and vote
for Family First.

Robinson DL. Do enforced bicycle helmet laws improve public health?. BMJ,
2006;332:722