Bicycle helmet use in British Columbia : effects of the helmet use law

Bicycling is a popular activity in British Columbia. Unfortunately, each year a number of bicyclists are killed in collisions and many more are injured. A large majority of bicycling deaths and disabling injuries result from head injury. A number of studies indicate that properly worn bicycle helmets are highly effective in preventing, or reducing the seriousness of, head injury. Of nearly 2000 British Columbia bicyclists injured in a collision with a motor vehicle in 1995, only 25.8% were wearing a helmet at the time. To address the problem is low helmet wearing rates among bicyclists, in 1996 British Columbia became the first Canadian province to enact a law mandating helmet use by bicyclists of all ages when riding on a public roadway. This study describes the results of two surveys conducted of helmet use in British Columbia. The first survey was done prior to the helmet use law (pre-law helmet use in British Columbia), and the second survey was conducted subsequent to the passage of the law (post-law helmet use survey), in 1999.

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