Patrick Harvie has defended not wearing a helmet when cycling, saying the evidence did not support making them mandatory. 

Last December, the Green MSP, who is the Scottish Government’s minister for active travel, posed for pictures with pupils in East Renfrewshire who were doing road safety training with Bikeability.

While the primary-age kids were all wearing fluorescent gear and bike helmets, Mr Harvie had neither.

Conservative MSP Graham Simpson criticised the Green minister during a debate in the parliament on active travel, saying he was “exasperated” to discover “Mr Harvie has very quickly settled into his new role by reading the SNP ministerial rule book. 

“Rule 1: turn up for photocall at projects that you’ve had no hand in, but take the credit anyway.

“Rule 2: talk big, but don’t deliver.

“Rule 3: consultations and buzzwords please, but no promises, the electors won’t notice. 

“Then we have Mr Harvie’s own personal rules. Harvie rule one: don’t change how you act, now you’re a minister. That’s actually it. And we saw that when he refused to wear a helmet when turning up for a ministerial photoshoot for Bikeability.”  

Responding at the end of the debate, the minister said Mr Simpson had “fully lived down to my expectation when he used part of his speech to yell, ‘wear a helmet’ at me.”

Mr Harvie continued: “Look, this government, like every other government in the UK does not make wearing helmets mandatory because the evidence would not support that.

“I, like every cyclist, make a decision for myself about whether a helmet is something that I wish to wear.

“And, like every other cyclist, I have angry drivers yelling out of their window, ‘wear a helmet’ at me when they should be paying attention to their responsibilities on the road.

“I deeply regret that Mr Simpson thinks it appropriate to bring that very same energy into the chamber.” 

Successive governments throughout the UK have rejected calls to make helmets mandatory. Cycling campaigners, like former Olympic champion Chris Boardman, have described the debate as a “red herring.” 

In a blog posted after he was criticised for riding bare-headed, he said wearing a helmet was dealing with “an effect”. 

“I want to focus the debate on the cause, and campaign for things that will really make cycling safe. That is why I won’t promote high-vis and helmets – I won’t let the debate be drawn on to a topic that isn’t even in the top 10 things that will really keep people who want to cycle safe.”

Australia made wearing a bike helmet mandatory in the 1990s.  VicRoads, the corporation responsible for licensing and vehicle registration in Victoria, states that they led to a 23 per cent fall in head injuries in the two years after they were introduced.

However, they have also led to a decrease in the number of people cycling. 

The government's motion on active travel, which stressed that “walking, wheeling, cycling and public transport and reducing private car trips will be essential to cutting transport emissions and achieving Scotland’s climate targets” was backed by 86 MSPs to 28. 

A Conservative amendment that called on the Government to ensure councils have the “necessary resources” to improve active travel infrastructure was defeated by 47 votes to 67.

While a Labour amendment which said “improvements to roads and pavements are necessary to improve levels of active and sustainable travel” was rejected by 49 votes to 64.