25 years of mandatory bike helmets in Victoria

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01 Jul 2015

July marks 25 years since Victoria became the first jurisdiction in the world to make bike helmets compulsory.

In 1990, 24 cyclists died on the state's roads, following 34 the year before - more than triple the number of cyclists who were killed on Victorian roads last year (10).

TAC chief executive officer Janet Dore hailed the 25-year milestone, praising the dramatic reduction in deaths and severe brain injuries from bike crashes since the ground-breaking legislation was introduced.

"Studies in recent years show that wearing a helmet is the single most significant factor in reducing the magnitude of head and brain injury in a crash," Ms Dore said.

A review conducted by global researchers Cochrane found that helmets provide a 63-88 per cent reduction in the risk of head, brain and severe brain injury for cyclists of all ages.

The TAC receives around 1000 claims from injured cyclists each year. In the past five years, just six per cent of these were for head or brain injuries.

In 2013, a TAC survey of 200 injured cyclists found 81 per cent thought wearing a helmet helped prevent a more serious injury. Those who didn't agree said so because their head was not involved in the impact.

"To reduce road fatalities by more than half - including cyclists - in the past quarter of a century is a fantastic achievement, especially given cycling's ever-growing popularity," Ms Dore said.

"Add to that the bike safety education programs rolled out in primary schools across the state and dedicated bike lanes in urban areas and you can see a really positive trend that's emerged in cyclist safety in Victoria.

"The challenge now is to make even greater gains in preventing road trauma and accept that we all have a role to play in achieving our vision of zero deaths and serious injuries."

The TAC encourages all cyclists to be safety conscious and alert, wear a properly fitted helmet (to Australian standards) and highly visible clothing and to always comply with the road rules.

Some further statistics:

-          Of cyclist injuries recorded between 2010 and 2013: 78 per cent were recorded as wearing a helmet; 5 per cent not wearing a helmet and 17 per cent were unknown (Victoria Police data).

-          28 per cent of killed or seriously injured children (<18 years of age) were recorded as not wearing a helmet, compared to 5 per cent of adults aged 26 and over (Victoria Police data).

For more information contact Nick Price on 0439 433 847

Inner city cyclist

The TAC encourages all cyclists to be safety conscious and alert and wear a properly fitted helmet (to Australian standards)

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