Answers to Questions

BICYCLE HELMETS

In reply to the Hon. M. PARNELL (17 May 2012).

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for State/Local Government Relations): The Minister for Transport and Infrastructure has been advised:

1. In 1994 in South Australia there was an investigation into the effectiveness of the introduction of mandatory helmet wearing on 1 July 1991. The evaluation by the then Office of Road Safety within the Department of Transport compared cycling crash hospital admissions in the two years before the laws introduction with the two years afterwards and found that mandatory helmet use was responsible for a 24.7 per cent decrease in hospital admissions for cycling injuries potentially preventable by the use of a bicycle helmet.

The most recent rigorous research conducted in Australia into the effects of the compulsory wearing of bicycle helmets has supported continuing with the requirement.

Bicycle Helmet Research—Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety, Queensland, November 2010:

This research reviewed the national and international literature regarding the health outcomes of cycling and bicycle helmets and examined crash and hospital data. It concluded that current bicycle helmet wearing rates are halving the number of head injuries experienced by Queensland cyclists.

Impact of compulsory cycle helmet legislation on cyclist head injuries in New South Wales—Accident Analysis and Prevention Journal, June 2011:

This study assessed the effect of compulsory bicycle helmet legislation on cyclist head injuries in New South Wales. Despite numerous data limitations, the study identified evidence of a positive effect of compulsory cycle helmet legislation on cyclist head injuries at a population level such that repealing the law cannot be justified.

2. No.