[SystemSafety] More on bicycle helmets

[Peter Bernard Ladkin]

On 2014-11-06 13:24 , Mike Ellims wrote:
> The Guardian has a link to the following today:
> 
> http://www.risksense.org/2012/06/14/the-myth-of-the-bicycle-helmet/

A lot of what Steward suggests make sense, namely that a helmet is unlikely to help much in a
collision between a head and a car except possibly at very low speed, and how it may increase the
severity and maybe the occurrence, of rotational injuries, which are often severe (he includes an
unpleasant-sounding description).

The point was made here before that there may be glancing collisions of the head in which a helmet
might save you from a lot worse. I have three acquaintances who have suffered such events four times
between them, as I have mentioned. Stewart doesn't address these.

The work of W.J. Curnow is cited in Stewart's article. Much of it seems to be published in the
journal Accident Analysis and Prevention, formerly Pergamon and now Elsevier. For those not wishing
to spend the $41.95 which Elsevier charges per article, some of the work is available elsewhere
on-line. For example,

> http://www.parliament.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/534673/04_Bicycle-helmets-A-scientific-evaluation.pdf

also http://www.cyclehelmets.org/papers/p787.pdf

More articles by Curnow may be found at:

http://cycle-helmets.com/curnow.pdf

and a rebuttal of a rebuttal:
http://people.aapt.net.au/~theyan/cycling/Accident%20Analysis%20Prevention%201.pdf

http://www.onestreet.org/pdf/Bicyclist-%26-Driver-Ed-helmet-efficacy.pdf

I am not necessarily endorsing any work here. I haven't read any of the articles besides Stewart's
Risk Sense blog. AAP is a well-respected journal.

There is a collection of links to papers "sceptical of helmet effectiveness" at
http://www.cyclehelmets.org/1146.html  Again, purely informational and not necessarily an endorsement.

PBL

Prof. Peter Bernard Ladkin, Faculty of Technology, University of Bielefeld, 33594 Bielefeld, Germany
Tel+msg +49 (0)521 880 7319  www.rvs.uni-bielefeld.de