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Census data on cycling and walking to work - effect of bicyle helmet laws

Walking to work shows a continued decline from 1976 to 2011 that bears no relationship to the introduction of bicycle helmet laws (Fig 2, left).

In contrast, cycling to work was increasing until helmet laws were introduced (Fig 1, right), suggesting that cycling and walking to work were following different trends. Some Australian states introduced and enforced helmet laws before the 1991 census (red dotted line separating the 1986 and 1991 data) and others after 1991 (blue dotted line between 1991 and 1996 data). This provides useful comparison of cycling to work, aggregated over all states with had enforced helmet laws in 1991, to the trend in other states. There is no such change for walking to work, suggesting that (along with the information cited at Changes in cycle use in Australia) helmet laws may have been instrumental in the divergent trends for cyclists in states with and without enforced helmet laws in 1991.

Another interesting comparison is the difference between capital cities (which generally have higher traffic levels) and regional areas such as small country towns, with less traffic and shorter distances between home and work. Before helmet legislation in 1986, capital cities had similar numbers (43,218 vs 40,798 in regional/rural areas) cycling to work but much lower percentages (1.14% compared to 3.14%).

For more information, see the graphs published in Changes in cycle use in Australia

Other information on numbers counted and helmet wearing
Clarke compared the increase in helmet wearing with the drop in cycling, noting that the drop of 36% represents more than half of those not wearing helmets."

Evaluation of helmet-law data is complicated by the fact that similar trends in percent head injury are observed for all road users. Misleading and incorrect conclusions can result if these trends are ignored

An analysis by Curnow found that between 1988 to 1994, cyclist deaths from head injury fell 30%. This figure was less than estimates noted above of the reduction in cycling.

ATSB road fatality data shows that between 1992 and 1994, compared to 1987-1989, the number of cyclist fatalities fell by 45%.[25]