Mikael Colville-Anderson, an outspoken city transport specialist, said he will not cycle in Adeleide, in protest at the city's mandatory helmet laws.
The CEO of urban mobility consultancy Copenhagenize is to deliver a speech at the Velo-City conference in Adelaide in May, but said he will not cycle there because "I don't ride bicycles in cities that have helmet laws," reports The Australian.
He added: "The world has been pointing and laughing at your bicycle helmet laws for almost two decades.
"Whenever a helmet law is proposed elsewhere in the world, which isn't often, Australia is held up as the example of how helmet laws destroy urban cycling."
Colville-Andersen is well-known for a lively turn of phrase and for attacking mandatory helmet laws, which he believes reinforces unfounded (if the right infrastructure is in place) fears that urban cycling is dangerous. Earlier this year he told BikeRadar that Anglo Saxon countries such as Australia have an "almost pornographic obsession" with wearing lids.
In May, Richard Branson was stopped by police in Adelaide and told to wear a helmet. The compulsory helmet law was introduced in the early 1990s.
Colville-Andersen said he'll be getting around the city on foot.