Bike riders wear helmets and high-vis vests to reduce their vulnerability on the road. Problem is a new study finds this dehumanises cyclists, putting them more at risk of aggression from drivers.
That meta study is actually quite interesting as a source for specific data. For instance, this paper found that the swedish helmet law had low effect on head injuries because it causes low risk cyclists to stop cycling.
This paper demonstrates that a safety-in-numbers effect exists for cycling, suggesting that we have policy which encourages more cycling.
What most of the sources cited demonstrate, and which I haven’t contested because its pretty self evident, is that out of people admitted to the emergency department of a hospital, those who where wearing helmets had less head injury.
That meta study, and most of the cited studies, does not account for the injury rate for time spent by cyclists, or the total number of cyclists on the road. As seen in studies linked elsewhere in this thread, helmet laws do have an impact on those metrics also, and can be detrimental to the safety in numbers effect.
That meta study is actually quite interesting as a source for specific data. For instance, this paper found that the swedish helmet law had low effect on head injuries because it causes low risk cyclists to stop cycling.
This paper demonstrates that a safety-in-numbers effect exists for cycling, suggesting that we have policy which encourages more cycling.
What most of the sources cited demonstrate, and which I haven’t contested because its pretty self evident, is that out of people admitted to the emergency department of a hospital, those who where wearing helmets had less head injury.
That meta study, and most of the cited studies, does not account for the injury rate for time spent by cyclists, or the total number of cyclists on the road. As seen in studies linked elsewhere in this thread, helmet laws do have an impact on those metrics also, and can be detrimental to the safety in numbers effect.