A federal Spanish Road Safety Law went into effect in the fall of 1992 requiring that all motorcycle and moped drivers and passengers wear safety helmets in urban areas. This scientific poster presents a study aimed at assessing the effect of the motorcycle helmet law in reducing motorcycle crash fatalities after the implementation of the law, and determining changes in the distribution of severity and anatomical location of injuries before and after law implementation. The study period was from January 1990 to December 1992 (pre-law period), and from January 1993 to December 1995 (post-law period). The city studied was Barcelona (with a high use of two-wheel motor vehicles). The helmet law was associated with a significant decrease in the number of motorcycle occupant deaths, together with a lesser involvement of head injuries after the law. The reported concurrent increase in helmet use and the absence of other major environmental events explaining the observed decrease in mortality support the health benefits of the helmet law. The study offers the first evaluation of the impact of a law requiring compulsory motorcycle helmet use in a large south-European urban area using combined forensic and police data. The importance of maintaining high levels of helmet use through permanent enforcement and education is underscored. (A)
Abstract