Bicycle helmets in New Zealand
Encyclopedia
Bicycle helmets are mandatory in New Zealand
, the only country with a helmet law enforced nationwide, requiring bicycle
riders of all ages to wear helmet
s. The law has been in effect since 1 January 1994, despite ongoing international and national criticism of its effectiveness for injury prevention, during a period in which some other countries have revoked or modified their bicycle helmet laws
.
Under this helmet law, any person using the road on a bicycle or bicycle trailer must wear a securely-fastened, approved bicycle helmet. Failure to do so risks a NZ$55 fine. In 2005 a survey of 5700 cyclists at 58 sites around New Zealand found that 91% wore helmets. This bicycle helmet law does not apply to tricycles
, unicycles
or kick scooters
.
Exemptions are 'rare' but are available on the grounds of religious belief, physical disability or 'reasonable grounds'. A "lack of protection offered by bicycle helmets and the possibility of increased risk" does not constitute 'reasonable grounds'.
The joint standard in Australia and New Zealand for bicycle helmets is AS/NZ2063. It was published in 1996.
in 1986 while riding his 10-speed bicycle to school in Palmerston North
. A car driver hit him, flinging Aaron over the handlebars and headfirst to the ground, where his head struck the concrete gutter. After 8 months in a coma, Aaron awoke paralysed and unable to speak. According to Oaten, a doctor at the time told her that Aaron would "almost certainly not have suffered brain damage" had he been wearing a bicycle helmet.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s Oaten travelled the country promoting the use of cycle helmets. For six years she visited an average of four schools a day, "lambasting
" kids with reasons why they should wear helmets. She also set up a lobby group, the Protect the Brains trust, which spread nationwide and put pressure on the government for a bicycle helmet law.
Oaten's campaigning is commonly perceived as the main impetus for the law compelling all ages of people on bicycles to wear helmets, and for what many researchers, cycling groups and helmet testers see as New Zealanders' overconfidence in the protective ability of bicycle helmets.
The decision to introduce the law was also strongly influenced by similar laws enacted across Australia between 1991 and 1992.
Aaron Oaten died on 14 August 2010, aged 37.
In a study by the Ministry of Transport
published in 1999, researchers estimated that from 1990 to 1996, bicycle helmets caused a 20 percent reduction in head injuries in collisions with motor vehicles and by 24 to 32 percent in non-motor vehicle collisions and solo falls. To judge how dangerous the crashes had been, the researchers compared head injuries to limb injuries, where helmet-wearing presumably made little difference.
This study has been discredited by a 2001 reanalysis of the data in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention. The study noted that the reduction was part of a larger downward time trend
in all injuries and bore no correlation
to the dramatic increase in helmet-wearing following the introduction of the helmet law. "It seems likely that the apparent effects [of the reduction in head injuries] were an artifact caused by a failure to fit time trends in their model." See Figure 1.
A 2002 study of New Zealand's bicycle helmet law using cost-benefit analysis
found that the law is only cost-effective for the 5-12 year-old age group. Research from Massey University
in 2006 found that compulsory bicycle helmet laws led to a lower uptake of cycling, principally for aesthetic
reasons.
Promoters of bicycle helmets in New Zealand, including the Ministry of Transport, Safekids, and state insurance agency the Accident Compensation Corporation
continue to base their helmet promotions on a single 1987 case-control study (published 1989). This study has been labelled 'seriously flawed' by academics due to its unscientific use of control groups from different demographic backgrounds to the sample population (see confounding
), and for the conflict of interest
posed by the paper's funding from helmet standards body, Snell
. This study's findings have been negated by real-world experiences of helmet promotion, including in New Zealand, which have never achieved anything approaching the promised level of protection. Indeed, recent analysis of data from Australia and New Zealand suggests, contrary to received wisdom
, that helmet wearing has increased riders' accident risk
:
A summary of the outcomes of bicycle helmet laws around the world by interdisciplinary
bicycle helmet research group Bicycle Helmet Research Foundation sums up the available studies from New Zealand: "[the number of] head injuries fell 19%, less than cycle use [approx 22%] ... Risk of head injury relative to cycle use increased." Moreover, a similar outcome is evident for every enforced bicycle helmet law.
The European Cyclists' Federation
(ECF), an umbrella group for most of Europe
's national cycling bodies, takes an anti-compulsion stance, stating: "Countries that have penalised people for normal cycling (without helmets), have failed to reduce head injury rates despite increased helmet wearing rates." This "may be due to risk compensation
, incorrect helmet wearing, reduced safety in numbers
(injury rates per cyclist are lower when more people cycle) or bias in case control studies."
The UK
's national cyclists' organisation, CTC
(an ECF member), is anti-compulsion because "compulsion laws in other countries have reduced the number of people who cycle – and the more people who cycle, the safer cycling becomes. What's more, cycling is such a healthy activity that people are far more likely to gain from it than otherwise. It's therefore important not to put anyone off." They add, "Several recent reports (including four papers in peer-reviewed medical journals) have found no link between changes in helmet wearing rates and cyclists' safety - and there are even cases where safety seems to have worsened as helmet-wearing increased."
The Cycling Advocates' Network
(CAN), a nationwide New Zealand cycling advocacy group, prefers non-enforcement of bicycle helmets, though supporting their sports use: "There is evidence that mandatory cycle helmet wearing legislation is not working as intended and should be reviewed. ... Since the law's inception in 1994, this has never been done before in NZ in a comprehensive manner and so seems to be a reasonable request." According to CAN:
) to "play the ball and not the person
." In June 2004 the same spokesperson stated, "I think the vast majority of people accept the fact that helmets protect them. There is no evidence that the helmet law discourages cycling or harms the health of New Zealanders - there is evidence that it has contributed to a reduction in cyclist head injuries."
In October 2008, Minister for Transport Safety Harry Duynhoven
was widely denounced for saying, "I wonder if we never had helmets what our cycle population might be. ... I wonder what the social effect of helmets has been."
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, the only country with a helmet law enforced nationwide, requiring bicycle
Bicycle
A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....
riders of all ages to wear helmet
Bicycle helmet
A bicycle helmet is a helmet intended to be worn while riding a bicycle. They are designed to attenuate impacts to the skull of a cyclist in falls while minimizing side effects such as interference with peripheral vision...
s. The law has been in effect since 1 January 1994, despite ongoing international and national criticism of its effectiveness for injury prevention, during a period in which some other countries have revoked or modified their bicycle helmet laws
Bicycle helmet laws
Some countries and lower jurisdictions have passed laws which make riding without a helmet illegal. The scope and details of such laws vary.-Introduction:...
.
Under this helmet law, any person using the road on a bicycle or bicycle trailer must wear a securely-fastened, approved bicycle helmet. Failure to do so risks a NZ$55 fine. In 2005 a survey of 5700 cyclists at 58 sites around New Zealand found that 91% wore helmets. This bicycle helmet law does not apply to tricycles
Tricycle
A tricycle is a three-wheeled vehicle. While tricycles are often associated with the small three-wheeled vehicles used by pre-school-age children, they are also used by adults for a variety of purposes. In the United States and Canada, adult-sized tricycles are used primarily by older persons for...
, unicycles
Unicycle
A unicycle is a human-powered, single-track vehicle with one wheel. Unicycles resemble bicycles, but are less complex.-History:One theory of the advent of the unicycle stems from the popularity of the penny-farthing during the late 19th century...
or kick scooters
Kick scooter
A kick scooter or push scooter, originally scooter, is a human-powered vehicle with a handlebar, deck and wheels that is propelled by a rider pushing off the ground. The most common scooters today have two hard small wheels, are made primarily of aluminium and fold for convenience...
.
Exemptions are 'rare' but are available on the grounds of religious belief, physical disability or 'reasonable grounds'. A "lack of protection offered by bicycle helmets and the possibility of increased risk" does not constitute 'reasonable grounds'.
The joint standard in Australia and New Zealand for bicycle helmets is AS/NZ2063. It was published in 1996.
History
The law had its genesis in the late 1980s when Rebecca Oaten, dubbed the "helmet lady" in the media, started a campaign advocating for compulsory helmets. Her son, Aaron, had been permanently brain damagedBrain damage
"Brain damage" or "brain injury" is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. Brain injuries occur due to a wide range of internal and external factors...
in 1986 while riding his 10-speed bicycle to school in Palmerston North
Palmerston North
Palmerston North is the main city of the Manawatu-Wanganui region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is an inland city with a population of and is the country's seventh largest city and eighth largest urban area. Palmerston North is located in the eastern Manawatu Plains near the north bank...
. A car driver hit him, flinging Aaron over the handlebars and headfirst to the ground, where his head struck the concrete gutter. After 8 months in a coma, Aaron awoke paralysed and unable to speak. According to Oaten, a doctor at the time told her that Aaron would "almost certainly not have suffered brain damage" had he been wearing a bicycle helmet.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s Oaten travelled the country promoting the use of cycle helmets. For six years she visited an average of four schools a day, "lambasting
Appeal to emotion
Appeal to emotion is a potential fallacy which uses the manipulation of the recipient's emotions, rather than valid logic, to win an argument. The appeal to emotion fallacy uses emotions as the basis of an argument's position without factual evidence that logically supports the major ideas endorsed...
" kids with reasons why they should wear helmets. She also set up a lobby group, the Protect the Brains trust, which spread nationwide and put pressure on the government for a bicycle helmet law.
Oaten's campaigning is commonly perceived as the main impetus for the law compelling all ages of people on bicycles to wear helmets, and for what many researchers, cycling groups and helmet testers see as New Zealanders' overconfidence in the protective ability of bicycle helmets.
The decision to introduce the law was also strongly influenced by similar laws enacted across Australia between 1991 and 1992.
Aaron Oaten died on 14 August 2010, aged 37.
Research
Ministry of Transport (New Zealand)
The Ministry of Transport is the New Zealand Government's principal transport policy adviser. It leads and generates policy, and the government's New Zealand Transport Strategy provides the framework within which transport policy is developed...
published in 1999, researchers estimated that from 1990 to 1996, bicycle helmets caused a 20 percent reduction in head injuries in collisions with motor vehicles and by 24 to 32 percent in non-motor vehicle collisions and solo falls. To judge how dangerous the crashes had been, the researchers compared head injuries to limb injuries, where helmet-wearing presumably made little difference.
This study has been discredited by a 2001 reanalysis of the data in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention. The study noted that the reduction was part of a larger downward time trend
Time series
In statistics, signal processing, econometrics and mathematical finance, a time series is a sequence of data points, measured typically at successive times spaced at uniform time intervals. Examples of time series are the daily closing value of the Dow Jones index or the annual flow volume of the...
in all injuries and bore no correlation
Correlation
In statistics, dependence refers to any statistical relationship between two random variables or two sets of data. Correlation refers to any of a broad class of statistical relationships involving dependence....
to the dramatic increase in helmet-wearing following the introduction of the helmet law. "It seems likely that the apparent effects [of the reduction in head injuries] were an artifact caused by a failure to fit time trends in their model." See Figure 1.
A 2002 study of New Zealand's bicycle helmet law using cost-benefit analysis
Cost-benefit analysis
Cost–benefit analysis , sometimes called benefit–cost analysis , is a systematic process for calculating and comparing benefits and costs of a project for two purposes: to determine if it is a sound investment , to see how it compares with alternate projects...
found that the law is only cost-effective for the 5-12 year-old age group. Research from Massey University
Massey University
Massey University is one of New Zealand's largest universities with approximately 36,000 students, 20,000 of whom are extramural students.The University has campuses in Palmerston North , Wellington and Auckland . Massey offers most of its degrees extramurally within New Zealand and internationally...
in 2006 found that compulsory bicycle helmet laws led to a lower uptake of cycling, principally for aesthetic
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
reasons.
Promoters of bicycle helmets in New Zealand, including the Ministry of Transport, Safekids, and state insurance agency the Accident Compensation Corporation
Accident Compensation Corporation
The Accident Compensation Corporation is a New Zealand Crown entity responsible for administering the Accident Compensation Act 2001. The Act provides support to citizens, residents, and temporary visitors who have suffered personal injuries....
continue to base their helmet promotions on a single 1987 case-control study (published 1989). This study has been labelled 'seriously flawed' by academics due to its unscientific use of control groups from different demographic backgrounds to the sample population (see confounding
Confounding
In statistics, a confounding variable is an extraneous variable in a statistical model that correlates with both the dependent variable and the independent variable...
), and for the conflict of interest
Conflict of interest
A conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other....
posed by the paper's funding from helmet standards body, Snell
Snell Memorial Foundation
The Snell Memorial Foundation is a not-for-profit organization created to provide a high quality standard of safety for helmets. Founded in 1957, SMF is named after William "Pete" Snell, a popular sports car racer who died in 1956 of head injuries he received when the racing helmet he wore failed...
. This study's findings have been negated by real-world experiences of helmet promotion, including in New Zealand, which have never achieved anything approaching the promised level of protection. Indeed, recent analysis of data from Australia and New Zealand suggests, contrary to received wisdom
Conventional wisdom
Conventional wisdom is a term used to describe ideas or explanations that are generally accepted as true by the public or by experts in a field. Such ideas or explanations, though widely held, are unexamined. Unqualified societal discourse preserves the status quo. It codifies existing social...
, that helmet wearing has increased riders' accident risk
Risk
Risk is the potential that a chosen action or activity will lead to a loss . The notion implies that a choice having an influence on the outcome exists . Potential losses themselves may also be called "risks"...
:
Criticism
Outside New Zealand, there is decreasing confidence in the efficacy of bicycle helmets and New Zealand's helmet law is regularly held up as an example of how bicycle helmet laws fail to make cycling safer.A summary of the outcomes of bicycle helmet laws around the world by interdisciplinary
Interdisciplinarity
Interdisciplinarity involves the combining of two or more academic fields into one single discipline. An interdisciplinary field crosses traditional boundaries between academic disciplines or schools of thought, as new needs and professions have emerged....
bicycle helmet research group Bicycle Helmet Research Foundation sums up the available studies from New Zealand: "[the number of] head injuries fell 19%, less than cycle use [approx 22%] ... Risk of head injury relative to cycle use increased." Moreover, a similar outcome is evident for every enforced bicycle helmet law.
The European Cyclists' Federation
European Cyclists' Federation
European Cyclists' Federation is an umbrella federation for national cycling organizations throughout Europe.ECF was founded in 1983 by 12 bicycle user associations...
(ECF), an umbrella group for most of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
's national cycling bodies, takes an anti-compulsion stance, stating: "Countries that have penalised people for normal cycling (without helmets), have failed to reduce head injury rates despite increased helmet wearing rates." This "may be due to risk compensation
Risk compensation
In ethology, risk compensation is an effect whereby individual people may tend to adjust their behavior in response to perceived changes in risk. It is seen as self-evident that individuals will tend to behave in a more cautious manner if their perception of risk or danger increases...
, incorrect helmet wearing, reduced safety in numbers
Safety in numbers
Safety in numbers is the hypothesis that, by being part of a large physical group or mass, an individual is proportionally less likely to be the victim of a mishap, accident, attack, or other bad event...
(injury rates per cyclist are lower when more people cycle) or bias in case control studies."
The UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
's national cyclists' organisation, CTC
Cyclists' Touring Club
CTC and the UK's national cyclists' organisation are the trading names of the Cyclists' Touring Club.CTC is the United Kingdom's largest cycling membership organisation. It also has member groups in the Republic of Ireland...
(an ECF member), is anti-compulsion because "compulsion laws in other countries have reduced the number of people who cycle – and the more people who cycle, the safer cycling becomes. What's more, cycling is such a healthy activity that people are far more likely to gain from it than otherwise. It's therefore important not to put anyone off." They add, "Several recent reports (including four papers in peer-reviewed medical journals) have found no link between changes in helmet wearing rates and cyclists' safety - and there are even cases where safety seems to have worsened as helmet-wearing increased."
The Cycling Advocates' Network
Cycling Advocates' Network
Cycling Advocates' Network is a national cycling advocacy group founded in November 1996 in Wellington, New Zealand. It aims to achieve a better cycling environment for cycling as transport and tourism...
(CAN), a nationwide New Zealand cycling advocacy group, prefers non-enforcement of bicycle helmets, though supporting their sports use: "There is evidence that mandatory cycle helmet wearing legislation is not working as intended and should be reviewed. ... Since the law's inception in 1994, this has never been done before in NZ in a comprehensive manner and so seems to be a reasonable request." According to CAN:
Government response
The official government line is that the law has been effective. An LTSA spokesman in January 2003 called helmets a "very important tool" for preventing injuries and dismissed an anti-compulsion group as "the lunatic fringe", a comment denounced by CAN, urging the LTSA (now the NZTANew Zealand Transport Agency
The New Zealand Transport Agency is a New Zealand Crown entity tasked with promoting safe and functional transport by land, including the responsibility for driver and vehicle licensing and investigating rail accidents. It was created on 1 August 2008 by the Land Transport Management Amendment...
) to "play the ball and not the person
Ad hominem
An ad hominem , short for argumentum ad hominem, is an attempt to negate the truth of a claim by pointing out a negative characteristic or belief of the person supporting it...
." In June 2004 the same spokesperson stated, "I think the vast majority of people accept the fact that helmets protect them. There is no evidence that the helmet law discourages cycling or harms the health of New Zealanders - there is evidence that it has contributed to a reduction in cyclist head injuries."
In October 2008, Minister for Transport Safety Harry Duynhoven
Harry Duynhoven
Harry James Duynhoven is a New Zealand politician. He is the current mayor of the city of New Plymouth and surrounding districts. He assumed office in October 2010. He was a Member of Parliament for the Labour Party.-Early life:...
was widely denounced for saying, "I wonder if we never had helmets what our cycle population might be. ... I wonder what the social effect of helmets has been."
See also
- Cycling in New ZealandCycling in New ZealandCycling in New Zealand, while relatively popular as a sport, bicycle use is a very marginal commuting mode, with the share hovering around 1% in most major cities. This is due to a number of factors, principally safety fears....
- Transport in New ZealandTransport in New ZealandTransport in New Zealand, with its mountainous topography and a relatively small population mostly located near its long coastline, has always faced many challenges. Before Europeans arrived, Māori either walked or used watercraft on rivers or along the coasts...
- History of cycling in New Zealand
- Bicycle helmets by country
External links
- Cycling Health - a New Zealand group promoting removal of the compulsory bicycle helmet law.
- New Zealand Helmet Wars - a 2002 article from Safekids NZ in support of the helmet law.
- Land Transport (Road User) Rule 2004 - the wording of New Zealand's bicycle helmet law.
- Mandatory bicycle helmet laws in New Zealand - summary of New Zealand's bicycle helmet law and its effects.