Thaindian News

London, April 10 (ANI): Britain’s Cycling Minister has revealed that he does not wear a helmet while cycling because he likes to ‘feel the wind in his hair’ - an admission that has invited the wrath of safety campaigners.

Norman Baker, Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes and Transport Minister, said it his ‘libertarian right’ to ride without protective headgear, reports the Sky News.

“I don’t wear a helmet when I cycle. The first reason is that I don’t want to. I don’t want to wear something on my head,” he said.

“For me the joy of cycling is to have the wind in your hair, such as I have left. It’s free, it’s unencumbered; I don’t want to be loaded down,” he added.

Baker, who bikes between his department and the House of Commons several times a day, said he was not encouraging others to do the same.

“I don’t always have to live government policy. We all have a life outside politics,” he continued in an interview with the Guardian.

“The official government line is to draw attention to the benefits - especially for children. I don’t dissent from that line. I’m just saying personally I don’t want to have to wear one,” he added.But his position provoked a furious response from road safety campaigners.

“Ministers should practise what they preach and when a minister directly responsible for cycling safety refuses to wear a cycle helmet, we then have to look at their suitability for the role,” said Joel Hickman, a spokesman for road safety charity Brake.

Transport minister Theresa Villiers was pictured riding without a helmet at last year’s Parliamentary bike ride and London Mayor Boris Johnson, a keen cyclist, has also admitted he stopped wearing one because it was ‘hot and scratchy’. (ANI)