This research project evaluated the effect of the mandatory bicycle helmet wearing legislation which was introduced in Victoria in 1990. Preliminary analyses of the hospital admissions data in the current project suggested that the apparent increase in bicyclist admissions to hospital in the third and fourth years after the legislation was most likely the result of changes in the funding arrangements for publicly funded hospitals. The bicyclist data in the hospital admissions database were corrected to remove this effect. Multivariate time series analyses of the corrected number of bicyclist admissions to hospital in Victoria indicated admissions in the first four years of the helmet legislation were forty percent below the number expected on the basis of pre-legislation trends. The inclusion of other road-safety related factors in the modelling process suggested the reduction in bicyclist admissions was largely due to the helmet legislation. Analysis of the severity of head injuries for crash-involved bicyclists similarly indicated the severity of head injuries has declined after the introduction of the helmet wearing legislation. It was concluded that the mandatory helmet wearing legislation has had a significant, positive effect on the number and severity of injuries amongst bicyclists, and that this effect has persisted for the four years since the introduction of the legislation. (A)
Abstract