Heads up on bike safety

By Patrick Whiteley (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-01-05 12:57

Former movie director David Scott's new project in China is bigger than Ben Hur. Skeptics would say his work is more like Mission Impossible. The English language teacher wants the world's biggest group of cyclists to use their heads and wear safety helmets.

David Scott (2nd R) is seen with three of his students in this undated photo. The former movie director has already sold 100 helmets on his Wuxi university campus. [China Daily/Courtesy of David Scott]

So far his safety campaign has covered the heads of 100 Chinese riders. Considering there are more than 700 million cyclists in the Middle Kingdom, the lively teacher has a way to go.

But the 62-year-old Canadian believes his campaign in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, will snowball into something bigger and has already attracted local television coverage.

"From here I'm going to tackle all of China," Scott says. "With the one-child policy, there isn't a mother in China who wouldn't put a helmet on her kid if she were only told that it's a good idea."

Scott, a keen cyclist himself, moved to China four years ago and noticed, like many expats do, that he was the only rider wearing a helmet.

He became very disturbed after he discovered that China had seven times more fatal bicycle accidents per rider kilometer than America and Europe.

His concern triggered his helmet campaign, which he initially saw a golden business opportunity.

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