Bicycle helmet laws
Some countries and lower jurisdictions have enacted laws or regulations which require cyclists to wear a helmet in certain circumstances, typically when riding on the road or a road-related area (such as a bicycle lane or path).
[9] The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons campaigned actively to raise public awareness, acceptance and demand,[10] and helmets first became compulsory across Australia from 1990 to 1992.
[11][12] In New Zealand, Rebecca Oaten was a prominent champion; after a disastrous head injury to her son in 1986 she traveled the country to push the importance of wearing helmets.
[19] By 1991, after widespread well-resourced campaigns,[20][21] the use of helmets had attained near-universal support in the United States, becoming what the League of American Wheelmen characterized as a "Mom and apple pie" issue.
[26] Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Iceland, New Zealand, Sweden, and the United States have bicycle helmet laws, in at least one jurisdiction, either for minors only, or for all riders.
Spain requires helmets to be worn while cycling along public roads outside population centers, except for riders with a medical exemption or on extremely hot days.
A long and sophisticated volunteer campaign led to the revocation of the adult element, in order to allow bike-hiring schemes to work.
"[38][39] In North Carolina, where bicycle helmets are compulsory for children, the North Carolina Department of Transportation publish a fact sheet stating that a bicyclist is killed or injured approximately every six hours and that helmets reduce the risk of head injury by as much as 85% and the risk of brain injury by as much as 88%.
In a speech arguing for helmet legislation in the UK Parliament, an MP said: "In a three-year period from 2003, 17,786 children aged 14 and under were admitted to NHS hospitals in England because of injuries incurred while cycling"[41] In the UK, some 8,000 years of average cycling will produce one clinically severe head injury, and 22,000 years one death.
[49] A 2018 meta-analysis found that "effect of mandatory bicycle helmet legislation for all cyclists on head injuries is a statistically significant reduction by 20%...
[52] A 2019 study found that bicycle helmet laws in Australia led to a substantial decline in bicycle-related fatalities.
A study conducted by the University of New South Wales in 2011 concluded that Mandatory Helmet Laws led to a 29% reduction in cycling related head injuries.
[60] A 2019 systematic review found no evidence in most of the research literature that bicycle helmet led to more risky behavior by bicyclists.
All-age helmet laws had modest effects at reducing cycling and increasing in-home exercise during winter months among adults but did not meaningfully affect weight.
[73] A 2011 review commissioned by the Queensland Government found little evidence to support the claim that mandatory helmet usage discouraged bike riding.
[59] However, the helmet laws are frequently suggested as the main cause of the disappointingly low usage of the bicycle-sharing systems in Melbourne and in Brisbane.
