The Knesset has passed a law requiring helmets for bicycle riders and skateboarders, and a Haifa court rules that car seat belts must be worn over the shoulder.
The Knesset passed the final readings of a law Wednesday evening designed to enhance road safety for bicyclists. The new law, which will take effect two months from now, stipulates that all riders of bicycles, skateboards, scooters and the like must wear government-approved helmets. Helmet-wearing has been shown to prevent more than 80% of all serious bicycle injuries.
The law was sponsored by MK Gilad Erdan of the Likud.
Bicycling organizations opposed the law, saying it would reduce the number of people who chose to ride bicycles. MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) said the law should apply only to children, but not to adults who use bicycles as a means of transportation.
Seatbelts Over Shoulders
In another safety issue, the Haifa District Court overturned an earlier ruling, and determined that car drivers and passengers are required to wear shoulder seatbelts over the shoulder, and may not fasten them under the armpit.
Judge Menachem Finkelstein, accepting the State's appeal of a lower court ruling, convicted the driver in question, A.S., of driving without a seatbelt because it was fastened under his arm. The driver was required to pay a fine of 500 shekels.
Judge Finkelstein explained that the seatbelt requirement stipulates that the belt be worn in a safe manner, i.e., that it embrace his chest up to the shoulder in order that the wearer not be thrown forward in the event of an accident. Use of a seatbelt not in accordance with the way it was meant to be worn, the judge ruled, does not lead to the desired goal of increasing safety, and is merely an attempt to evade the law.