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Category: Helmet Law

  • Parliamentary inquiry calls for helmet law reform

    A parliamentary inquiry into cycling issues in Queensland, Australia, recommends reforms to wind back the controversial helmet law that has harmed cycling for 20 years. The report makes two key recommendations in regards to the helmet law: Recommendation 15 The Committee recommends that the Minister for Transport and Main Roads: introduce a 24 month trial…

  • Official misrepresentation of Australia’s bicycle helmet law

    Abstract The helmet law has failed to achieve its stated goal of reducing the cost of cycling injuries. Several government agencies have obfuscated this disappointing result through misrepresentation. The information below is an extract from CRAG submission to the Prime Minister in 2009. Following this submission, the federal government abandoned its policy of supporting compulsory bicycle helmets. blank Federal…

  • Federal government abandons compulsory helmets policy

    The Federal Government instigated in 1989 the nationwide policy of compulsion to wear a helmet, by offering ‘black spot’ funding for roads to the states and territories. All complied by 1992. In 2009, CRAG made a comprehensive submission to the Prime Minister calling for the Government’s policy on helmets to be based on sound evidence of…

  • Political parties supporting cycling

    In Australia, the Liberal Democratic Party supports cycling through its policy opposing victimless “crimes”. It states about the bicycle helmet law: Mandatory bicycle helmets – not only are such laws offensive to liberty, but they do not achieve their aim. You may not be able to vote for the Liberal Democratic Party for the parliament (local Member of Parliament),…

  • Canada: helmet laws have made little difference to head injuries

    A recent Canadian study found that bicycle helmet laws had little effect on head injuries. The study analysed 14 years of data, comparing provinces with and without helmet laws. Unlike other studies in this field, it attempts to remove the effect of confounding factors by controlling for background trends and modelling head injuries as a proportion of…

  • History of helmet law in the US

    Opinion Here are the reflections and impressions of a US resident who has observed the emergence of bicycle helmets in the United States over the last 40 years. While many of these observations cannot be confirmed without dedicated investigative journalism, they are informed by decades of attention to news articles, bicycling publications, bike organization policies,…

  • Study reveals increased accidents and injuries after helmet law

    Abstract The injury rate has tripled since the helmet law. By increasing the risk of accidents, helmets have made cycling more dangerous.  blank A recent study reveals a steady increase in cycling injuries after the helmet law. Between 1991 and 2000, arm injuries doubled (indicating a doubling in accidents), while head injuries increased by 40%. A 1996 cycling…

  • Calls to repeal the helmet law in New Zealand

    Cycling Health New Zealand This site is interesting as it presents a broad range of common-sense arguments, taking the perspective of public health. This is broader than the narrow perspective that helmet zealots insists on, claiming that their exaggerated estimates of helmets effectiveness is all that matters, while ignoring the increase in accidents and injuries,…

  • The cobra effect

    The cobra effect is where an attempted solution to a problem actually makes it worse. Its origins are briefly described here.  In India, the government was concerned about the large number of venomous cobra snakes in the city.  It set a bounty for dead cobra snakes.  Some people responded by breeding cobra snakes as a way to earn income.  Once…

  • Trying to deny that the helmet law reduces cycling

    Abstract Cycling was rising in Australia by 10% per year until the helmet law. Afterwards, it dropped by 30%. A government commissioned “study” has misrepresented a bicycle rally as a revival in cycling. blank Bicycle travel in Australia was increasing by 10% a year from 1986 to 1989, before the helmet law. After the helmet law, surveys showed cycling…