1) Pre-law in Victoria, some students at schools which compelled them to wear helmets chose to give up cycling instead. (Reference???)
2) According to Vic Roads report IR 90-15 (1991), the number of cyclists described as adult commuters declined by nearly 60 per cent between March and July 1990. This figure is invalid because of the different times of the year involved (the decline is probably attributed to the usual reduction of cycling in winter months), although the July survey was taken in fine sunny weather.
3) Morgan and others (1991), in surveys in March 1990 and March 1991, showed declines of 30 per cent in recreational cycling and 32 per cent in commuter cycling in Victoria.
4) Surveys in Melbourne by Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) showed total bicycle use by children had decreased by 36 per cent. Finch and others provide data showing the following decreases in numbers of bicyclists observed during the first year of the law: adults 29 per cent, teenagers 46 per cent and children 24 per cent.
5) A baseline survey by Walker for the RTA of NSW showed an average post-law decline for cyclists under 16 of 40%. This is probably the most complete and comprehensive survey available. As with many of these surveys, the revelation of a decline in cyclists was incidental to the real purpose which was to measure rates of helmet wearing.
6) Surveys by Walker for the RTA of NSW were inconclusive for adult cyclists. A decline was shown since April 1991, but this was post-law.
7) In 1990 and 1991, branches of the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland conducted surveys, which showed a reduction of 22 per cent for schools in total, but because of changes in survey conditions the decline was probably more in the order of 30 to 50 per cent.
8) In their survey, Healy and Maisey (1992) commented that the numbers of children cycling to primary schools and numbers of recreational cyclists (in WA) declined from 1991 to February 1992.
9) Heathcote (1993) presents limited data which show some decline in numbers of WA children cycling to school. Heathcote’s limited observations of “commuter” cyclists indicate an increase in numbers after the helmet law, but his observations of cyclists classed as recreational show a decline of over 50 per cent. Data from automatic counter surveys conducted by Main Roads showed a decline of 38 per cent from October-December 1991 to October-December 1992.
10) WA Main Roads also counted numbers of cyclists crossing the Narrows and Causeway bridges on weekdays, which show sharp declines in cycling.
11) Surveys by the Road Safety Council of the Northern Territory showed there was little change pre-law to post-law in the numbers of children cycling to primary school, but a 36 per cent decline in cycling to high school. The decline in numbers of “commuter” cyclists was of the order of 50 per cent.
12) Members of the Cyclists’ Rights Action Group carried out a survey of 325 cyclists in the ACT in May 1992, pre-law, and found that 28 per cent (or 90 respondents) would cycle less if helmets were compulsory.
13) Ratcliffe (1993) reported that mean weekday cycle path daily volumes in the ACT were recorded in 1992 to be about one third lower than the similar period in 1991, with mean weekend daily volumes declining by about half.
14) ACT Department of Urban Services followed up with another survey in 1993/94 which found a 34% increase from 1992, almost back to pre- law figures. However, the 1993/94 surveys were conducted mainly in February, whereas the 1992 surveys were in December. Comparisons of those few sites with figures available for the same months, show a total count of 7763 for 1992/93 versus 7810 for 1993/94, an increase of 0.6%.
15) A survey of schools in SA (Harrison, 1994) showed a 38% decline in cycling from September 1988 to March 1994. It might be suggested that March is a more popular cycling month than September (March is the first month after summer while September is the first month after winter) and so the decline may have been greater. Given the general increasing trend of cycling shown in most parts of the country in the period before the law and that there is a six year before/after period, the actual decline again could well have been greater than 38%.
16) The City of Adelaide bicycle cordon count recorded the number of cyclists entering the city of Adelaide between 7am and 10am. The authors pointed out that this survey tended to record mainly commuter cyclists in city traffic. This represents a group of cyclists who would be most likely to accept helmets. There was no decline immediately after the law, but numbers declined by 15% two years later. This could be a delayed effect of the law.
Reference:
Finch, C.F., Heiman, L. and Neiger, D., Bicycle use and helmet wearing rates in Melbourne, 1987 to 1992: the influence of the helmet wearing law, Monash University Accident Research Centre report no. 45, February 1993
Harrison, R., Observational Study of Bicycle Helmet Wearing Amongst South Australian Schoolchildren, for the Office of Road Safety, Department of Transport, South Australia, April 1994.
Healy, M. and Maisey, G., The impact of helmet wearing legislation and promotion on bicyclists in Western Australia, Traffic Board of Western Australia, Perth, 1992
Heathcote, B., Bicyclist helmet wearing in Western Australia: a 1993 review, Traffic Board of Western Australia, Perth, 1993
Ratcliffe, P., Bicycling in the ACT – a survey of bicycle riding and helmet wearing in 1992, ACT Department of Urban Services, Canberra, 1993.
Road Safety Council of the Northern Territory, Bicycle helmet wearing in the Northern Territory, GPO Box 1176, Darwin, 1992
Road Safety Council of the Northern Territory, 1993 bicycle helmet survey report, GPO Box 1176, Darwin, 1993
Smith, N.C. and Milthorpe, F.W., An observational survey of law compliance and helmet wearing by bicyclists in New South Wales – 1993, for the New South Wales Roads and Traffic Authority, Sydney, 1993
Vic Roads, Initial Effects of Mandatory Bicycle Helmet Wearing Legislation”, July 1990, report IR 90-15, Melbourne, 1990
Walker, M.B., Law compliance and helmet use among cyclists in New South Wales, April 1991, for the New South Wales Roads and Traffic Authority, Road Safety Bureau consultant report CR 1/91 Sydney, 1991
Walker, M.B., Law compliance among cyclists in New South Wales, April 1992, a third survey, for the New South Wales Roads and Traffic Authority, Network Efficiency Branch, Sydney, 1991
Wikman, J. and Sims, C., Bicycle helmet wearing survey 1990, Royal Automobile Club of Queensland, Brisbane
Wikman, J. and Sims, C., Bicycle helmet wearing survey 1991, Royal Automobile Club of Queensland, Brisbane