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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (4 December) . . Page.. 4682 ..

TABLE 2

HOSPITAL SEPARATIONS, INJURIES TO NSW BICYCLISTS UNDER 16

(source NSW Department of Health)

Fiscal year Head injury Incr. Risk Other injury Incr. Risk

1989190 453 1053

1990/91 384 926

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -law for <16 y.o

1991/92 272 (246) + 10% 815 (593) + 37%

1992/93 273 (219) + 25% 893 (529) + 69%

Contrary to the general trend to improved road safety, for those still cycling after the law the risk of head injury would seem to have increased by up to 25 per cent and other injury by up to 69 per cent. Worse, on the assessment by the NHMRC, a higher proportion of diffuse brain injury is likely.

If former cyclists travel by another mode, they still may be injured. In any case, they lose the health benefits of the exercise, which the British Medical Association has estimated "are likely to outweigh the loss of life through cycling accidents".52 The helmet laws also distract attention from measures to prevent accidents; hence, they are likely to have increased costs of medical care, not saved on them.

References (numbers not in sequence because this is an extract from a larger paper)

41. Walker,M.B., Law compliance among cyclists in New South Wales, April 1992, A third survey, Roads and Traffic Authority of NSW, Network Efficiency Branch, Sydney, July 1992.

42. Cameron,M., Heiman, L. and Neiger,D., Evaluation of the bicycle helmet wearing law in Victoria during its first 12 months, Report No. 32, Monash university Accident Research Centre, Melbourne, July 1992.

45. Smith,N.C. and Milthorpe,F.W ., An observational survey of law compliance and helmet wearing by bicyclists in New South Wales - 1993, for the New South Wales Roads and Traffic Authority, Sydney, 1993.

52. British Medical Association, Cycling towards health & safety, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1992, page 121.

W.J. Curnow 18 October 1996

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