Comment 81843

By Richard (anonymous) | Posted October 17, 2012 at 14:46:50

None of the people using results like this to recommend helmet laws every consider the unintended negative consequences, which almost always outweigh the benefits of a helmet law significantly. See eg:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1539-6924.2011.01785.x/abstract

Bob Wheeler has estimated the relative risk from the odds ration in one such study:
http://www.bobwheeler.com/bicycle/Cycling_Helmets/cycling_helmets.html

And not long ago the Transportation Research Lab in the UK also reviewed coroner reports of cylists killed
http://www.trl.co.uk/online_store/reports_publications/trl_reports/cat_road_user_safety/report_the_potential_for_cycle_helmets_to_prevent_injury___a_review_of_the_evidence.htm

They found that in only 10% of the deaths, a helmet had a chance of helping. In other words, if everyone wore helmets, about 7 out of every 100 cyclist deaths would be prevented. At the same time, thousands would be deterred from riding and be killed by heart disease. In this case they also had the coroner and accident reports at hand and could have answered that question. Missed opportunity.

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