Do Bicycle Helmet Laws Prevent Head Injuries And Improve Health?
NEW ENGLAND, Australia – Many doctors believe that enforced bicycle helmet laws improve health, but this view remains hotly contested in some quarters. Experts set out their arguments for and against legislation. Several studies suggest that cyclists who choose to wear helmets have fewer head injuries than non-wearers. But Dorothy Robinson, Senior Statistician at the University of New England, New South Wales, Australia, argues that there is no clear evidence that bicycle laws improve public health. She reviewed data from countries that have legalised the wearing of helmets and believes that the data indicate that helmet laws discourage cycling and produce no obvious response in percentage of head injuries. For example, in New South Wales, legalisation increased adult use of helmets from 26% in 1990 to 77% and 85% in 1991 and 1992. Yet, she argues, the rate of decline of head injuries did not change. This contradiction may be due to risk compensation, incorrect helmet wearing, reduced
