What parents have been saying for years is now official — cyclists who die of head injuries are much less likely to have been wearing a helmet, a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, released Oct. 15, has found.
The study, which analyzed all accidental bicycle-related deaths in Ontario between 2006 and 2010, 129 incidents, found that cyclists who didn’t wear a helmet were three times more likely to die from brain trauma than those who wore protective head gear.
The study found that 77 per cent of the head-injury deaths among cyclists involved a collision with a motor vehicle. Cyclists who were killed ranged in ages from 10 to 83, and 86 per cent of those deaths were male.
“One cyclist dies in Canada each week, and cycling fatalities account for more than two per cent of traffic fatalities, a leading cause of death in young adults,” the study said.
The study focused on the effectiveness of helmets in preventing fatal head injuries.
“There is strong evidence that helmets prevent nonfatal head injuries, but very limited evidence exists related to fatal head injuries,” the study stated.
In Ontario, cyclists under the age of 18 are required to wear a helmet.
“That 88 per cent of decedents in our study were older than 18 years and 18 per cent were [older than 60 years] suggests a gap in public policy,” the study said.
