UK and Europe · Public discussion

Western Australia (contains helmets)

Just zis Guy, you know? · 2006-03-30T10:40:20+00:00

From the Western Australian newspaper: Review could see bike helmet laws ditched ========================================= Compulsory bike helmet laws could be scrapped after new research cast doubt on whether they saved lives, the State Government said yesterday. Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan said the study by NSW University of New England senior statistician Dorothy Robinson, which claimed there was no evidence helmets lowered head injury rates, would be reviewed. The report said there was evidence the laws stopped people cycling and so had negative effects on health and the environment. Ms MacTiernan said there were problems with the more controversial aspects of the research but it would be foolish to dismsiss it. "We would be very silly if we were not prepared to look at the research," she said. The move comes after The West Australian obtained proof the State Government had no idea whether bike helmets saved lives - as outlined in letters from Ms MacTiernan. The two letters, one while she was in opposition and one last year, state there is no evidence that mandatory bike helmet laws work. In May 2000, as Labor spokeswoman for planning and transport, Ms MacTiernan wrote to fellow MLA Jullian Grill saying there were concerns about the effectiveness of the 1992 laws which made bike helmets compulsory. "Research suggests that compulsory helmet legislation may be counter productive in public health terms," she wrote. In September 2005, Ms MacTiernan's acting chief-of-staff Richard Farrell wrote to cycling advocate Avery Burdett that there was no consistent data to allow reliable conclusions about the impact of the laws on community health. Ms MacTiernan said the Government had data about the health of people engaging in exercise but there was no cycling specific data. WA Council for Civil Liberties president Peter Weygers said Dr Robinson joined a growing list of people concerned that mandatory helmet laws were harmful. But health professionals criticised any move to review helmet laws. Royal Perth Hospital trauma surgery director Sudhakar Rao said hospital data showed helmets reduced the chances of a serious head injury. He said it seemed a poor swap to have more healthy people but more with serious head injuries. Guy -- May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting. http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk 85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

Started by Just zis Guy, you know? · 30 March 2006 · Last activity 31 March 2006 · 10 posts · 627 views

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01 / Original postWestern Australia (contains helmets)Just zis Guy, you know? · 30 Mar 2006 02 / This pagePosts 1–10Page 1 of 1 · chronological order 03 / Latest replyPost #10Graeme Dods · 31 Mar 2006

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Original section: UK and Europe
Published: 30 March 2006
Last activity: 31 March 2006
Original author: Just zis Guy, you know?
Posts: 10
Discussion status: Public discussion
Total views: 627
Views / 30 days: 0
Topics: Concussion and head injury Gran fondos

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Original post
Just zis Guy, you know?
Archived post

30 March 2006, 10:40 UTC #1

From the Western Australian newspaper:
Review could see bike helmet laws ditched
=========================================
Compulsory bike helmet laws could be scrapped after new research cast
doubt on whether they saved lives, the State Government said
yesterday.
Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan said the study
by NSW University of New England senior statistician Dorothy Robinson,
which claimed there was no evidence helmets lowered head injury rates,
would be reviewed.
The report said there was evidence the laws stopped people cycling and
so had negative effects on health and the environment.
Ms MacTiernan said there were problems with the more controversial
aspects of the research but it would be foolish to dismsiss it.
"We would be very silly if we were not prepared to look at the
research," she said.
The move comes after The West Australian obtained proof the State
Government had no idea whether bike helmets saved lives - as outlined
in letters from Ms MacTiernan.
The two letters, one while she was in opposition and one last year,
state there is no evidence that mandatory bike helmet laws work.
In May 2000, as Labor spokeswoman for planning and transport, Ms
MacTiernan wrote to fellow MLA Jullian Grill saying there were
concerns
about the effectiveness of the 1992 laws which made bike helmets
compulsory.
"Research suggests that compulsory helmet legislation may be counter
productive in public health terms," she wrote.
In September 2005, Ms MacTiernan's acting chief-of-staff Richard
Farrell wrote to cycling advocate Avery Burdett that there was no
consistent data to allow reliable conclusions about the impact of the
laws on community health.
Ms MacTiernan said the Government had data about the health of people
engaging in exercise but there was no cycling specific data.
WA Council for Civil Liberties president Peter Weygers said Dr
Robinson joined a growing list of people concerned that mandatory
helmet laws were harmful.
But health professionals criticised any move to review helmet laws.
Royal Perth Hospital trauma surgery director Sudhakar Rao said
hospital data showed helmets reduced the chances of a serious head
injury. He said it seemed a poor swap to have more healthy people but
more with serious head injuries.
Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk
85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

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Peter Clinch
Archived post

30 March 2006, 10:55 UTC #2

Just zis Guy said:
From the Western Australian newspaper:
Review could see bike helmet laws ditched
=========================================
Compulsory bike helmet laws could be scrapped after new research cast
doubt on whether they saved lives, the State Government said
yesterday.
A long way to go yet, but at least it shows signs that people are
prepared to do more than repeat The Orthodox Liturgy from behind their
blinkers. Which is a start.
Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

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Just zis Guy, you know?
Archived post

30 March 2006, 11:12 UTC #3

On Thu, 30 Mar 2006 11:55:41 +0100, Peter Clinch
<[email hidden]> said in <[email hidden]>:
Quoted message said:
A long way to go yet, but at least it shows signs that people are
prepared to do more than repeat The Orthodox Liturgy from behind their
blinkers. Which is a start.
Well, some people are. As you'll see from the last para, some are
still prepared to repeat the mantra that it's better not to cycle at
all than to cycle without a lid.
Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk
85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

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Nick Kew
Archived post

30 March 2006, 11:16 UTC #4

Just zis Guy said:
From the Western Australian newspaper:
Review could see bike helmet laws ditched
Now that's bold: lays themselves open to emotive,
populist criticism every time someone gets hurt.
But it has great potential to kill of the likes of BeHIT:-)
--
not me guv

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MartinM
Archived post

30 March 2006, 14:43 UTC #5

Nick Kew said:
Just zis Guy said:
From the Western Australian newspaper:
Review could see bike helmet laws ditched
Now that's bold: lays themselves open to emotive,
populist criticism every time someone gets hurt.
But it has great potential to kill of the likes of BeHIT:-)
some of the more permitted and less DIY challenged members of the club
are in Spain ATM; the helmet laws there are bizzare to say the least;
compulsory except in built up areas and uphill and in the summer IIRC

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MSeries
Archived post

30 March 2006, 15:01 UTC #6

MartinM said:
Nick Kew said:
Just zis Guy said:
From the Western Australian newspaper:
Review could see bike helmet laws ditched
Now that's bold: lays themselves open to emotive,
populist criticism every time someone gets hurt.
But it has great potential to kill of the likes of BeHIT:-)
some of the more permitted and less DIY challenged members of the club
are in Spain ATM; the helmet laws there are bizzare to say the least;
compulsory except in built up areas and uphill and in the summer IIRC
Somethng like that. I saw many riders without helmets in Spain, in
towns and open country, yet heard two stories of English cyclists being
held in custody until a helmet was produced. Even heard of unhelmetted
riders on an organised, sportive type ride, with a police escort !!!!!
Bizzarre indeed.

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Clive George
Archived post

30 March 2006, 15:13 UTC #7

"MartinM" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
some of the more permitted and less DIY challenged members of the club
are in Spain ATM; the helmet laws there are bizzare to say the least;
compulsory except in built up areas and uphill and in the summer IIRC
Was in Majorca. Carefully bought helmets along. Saw almost nobody riding
with them, so joined in. We asked one bunch we met and they seemed to imply
it wasn't a big deal riding without one.
cheers,
clive

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MSeries
Archived post

30 March 2006, 15:24 UTC #8

Clive George said:
"MartinM" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
some of the more permitted and less DIY challenged members of the club
are in Spain ATM; the helmet laws there are bizzare to say the least;
compulsory except in built up areas and uphill and in the summer IIRC
Was in Majorca. Carefully bought helmets along. Saw almost nobody riding
with them, so joined in. We asked one bunch we met and they seemed to imply
it wasn't a big deal riding without one.
cheers,
clive
In Majorca last week, the helmetless were a small minority.

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Clive George
Archived post

30 March 2006, 15:29 UTC #9

"MSeries" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
some of the more permitted and less DIY challenged members of the club
are in Spain ATM; the helmet laws there are bizzare to say the least;
compulsory except in built up areas and uphill and in the summer IIRC
Was in Majorca. Carefully bought helmets along. Saw almost nobody riding
with them, so joined in. We asked one bunch we met and they seemed to
imply
it wasn't a big deal riding without one.

In Majorca last week, the helmetless were a small minority.
I wonder if that was because we were in severly off-season (beginning of
December) so most people might have been locals. There were a few bunches of
serious cyclists among them though, and one of those was the ones we spoke
to.
cheers,
clive

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Graeme Dods
Archived post

31 March 2006, 01:10 UTC #10

you know? said:
From the Western Australian newspaper:

<snip>
Quoted message said:

Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan said the study
by NSW University of New England senior statistician Dorothy Robinson,
which claimed there was no evidence helmets lowered head injury rates,
would be reviewed.
Living in WA you hear a LOT from Alannah MacTiernan, but unfortunately not
much in the way of action. Australians in general don't seem to like change
so I would think there'll be a lot of "well it's not doing any harm, so why
change it" type sentiment (no matter what the evidence says).
Quoted message said:
But health professionals criticised any move to review helmet laws.
Royal Perth Hospital trauma surgery director Sudhakar Rao said
hospital data showed helmets reduced the chances of a serious head
injury. He said it seemed a poor swap to have more healthy people but
more with serious head injuries.
RPH have just started a scheme this week (instigated by Dr Rao I believe)
where they bring in school kids and get them to talk to people injured in
car accidents and then fit them with neck braces, splints, crutches etc.
The idea being to help combat the large local problem of young drivers
killing themselves. Not sure whether it will work, but at least Dr Rao
seems to be useful in non-cycling fields.
Graeme

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