Safe cycling less about helmets and more about considerate road users

Despite the confidence with which Brian McDonald (December 15) states that helmet use should be encouraged, there is little firm evidence that mandatory helmet laws do anything to increase safety levels for cyclists.

It appeals to common sense that if everyone wears a helmet, then there will be a huge reduction in head injuries, but the 1990 introduction of a mandatory helmet law in Australia has shown little reduction in the number of head injuries, despite a collapse in the numbers of people cycling.

In fact, the overall injury rate of cyclists has actually increased on their 1990 levels, despite the law’s aim of increasing the safety of cycling.