From limited research whilst eating my cereal
Annual Bicycle related death
Denmark 200
Australia 41
Per 100,000 persons
Denmark 3.647
Australia 0.195
In Australia the Death rate halved with the introduction of Helmets. But still 1/3 of deaths occur with people not wearing helmets, and 1/2 of deaths for men age between 10-19.
Copenhagen has increased it cycling rate but overall cycling is down 30% in Denmark with Danes travelling 900,000,000 less km by bike now then what they did in 1990. Unfortunately I can't find KM info on Australia but the good news is bikes are selling more units then cars (over a million a year).
Debate
2 comments:
Rising to the bait...
Firstly, I'd like to see the source of that data. The research that I've seen doesn't show the same figures at all.
A couple of examples:
A study published in the British Medical Journal in 2006 by a statistician at UNE concludes from worldwide data that any reductions in head injury following enactment of mandatory bicycle helmet laws is due to the consequent reduction in numbers of cyclists on the road, not because of injury-prevention benefits afforded by helmets.
In another article in the Health Promotion Journal of Australia, the same researcher says
"the number of cyclists admitted to hospital
with both head and other injuries fell markedly following the
introduction of the helmet legislation. If the fall in head injuries had been much larger than the fall in non-head injuries, we
could conclude that the increased helmet use was effective in
preventing serious head injury. However, this was not the case [see article for data backing this up]. It suggests that the falls in both head and nonhead injuries were mainly because fewer people were riding(as shown by the surveys), so there were fewer serious crashes,
rather than because helmets prevented serious injury when
crashes occurred."
A mathematician at Macquarie concludes that "Using estimates suggested in the literature of the health benefits of cycling, accident rates and reductions in cycling, suggest helmets laws are counterproductive in terms of net health." He calculates the net costs of compulsory helmets in Aus at $300mil/year. This was run by New Scientist magazine.
Australian census data shows that there was a rise in the proportion of cycle journeys to work over the 80s (1.11% in 1976; 1.63% in 1986; a 47% increase). After the introduction of compulsory helmet laws in 1990, in the 1996 census, only 1.19% of to work journeys were by bike. Another survey in Melbourne, a survey at the same time of year, in similar weather counted 36% fewer cyclists in 1991 than before the law.
Actually, reading further in the Health Promotion Journal of Australia article, it is very interesting, check it out. It is available here: http://www.cycle-helmets.com/hpja_2005_1_robinson.pdf
Lastly, as personal anecdotal evidence, I think people here ride much more aggressively than in France, and I believe that this is related to cycling being seen as a (dangerous) sport rather than a mode of transport (like walking). I believe that this perception comes (at least in part) from wearing specialised safety gear. I know personally that when I ride home from the gym wearing my gym clothes, I tend to ride faster and cut more red lights than when I am in my work clothes and don't want to get sweaty. I don't wear a helmet, but perhaps the perception of being protected would lead to more risky behaviour as well, when in actual fact a helmet offers far from complete protection against a car.
Next speaker.
Aust info care infrastructure Australia - http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/safety/publications/2006/pdf/death_cyclists_road.pdf
Denmark care of the following sites
http://www.denmark.dk/en/servicemenu/News/FocusDenmark-Magazine/DenmarkAmongTheLeadersInBicycleTraditions.htm?printmode=True and
http://www.esafetysupport.org/en/esafety_activities/national_level/denmark_.htm
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