Probably the saga to end all sagas

The latest nationwide crackdown on motorcyclists not wearing crash helmets kicked off on June 1. Whether it will prove more effective than countless previous campaigns remains to be seen.

- POSTSCRIPT Roger Crutchley

But don’t hold your breath.

The debate over crash helmets is arguably the longest-ever “on again, off again” saga in the kingdom. Over the years hundreds of committees have been set up to resolve the issue with the usual mulling, probing, pondering, deliberating and cogitating, yet helmetless motorcyclists are still an everyday sight.

It dates back to the 1970s when a series of deadlines were set but as each target-date approached there always seemed to be an “unexpected delay”. There was a flurry of activity in the 1980s with much debate. One MP even put on a crash helmet in parliament claiming the helmets were unsafe because they obscured visibility. Oh well.

In June 1984 we were greeted with the headline “Crash Helmet Deadline Set” with a guarantee that in a “once and for all” decision all motorcyclists and pillion passengers would be wearing helmets by the end of the year.

Right, that’s settled then. Well, not quite.

The December deadline arrived with the headline “Wait advised on helmets” with the explanation that the “specifications were not clear” whatever that meant. Fast forward to a “final deadline” set in 1991 but this time it was delayed because of a “serious shortage of crash helmets”. Yes, that was the official explanation. So here we are three decades later having another go. Best of luck.

Crawl space

Back in the 1990s an English colleague arrived at the