Ben Goldacre (@bengoldacre) of Bad Science fame tweeting today on why mandatory helmets are a bad idea:
- right, i’m too busy for a good job: do you want some vaguely remembered facts on helmets and helmet laws, with no references, or nothing?
- ok, vaguely remembered facts: firstly, the evidence that helmets reduce head injuries comes only from observational data, fr obvious reasons
- this means that it’s a bit tenuous: are the people who wear helmets likely to be more cautious cyclists in less serious accidents anyway? &c
- in any case, it doesn’t show massive benefits (tho there are dismal cherrypicking ways of making it look huge)
- meanwhile, compulsory helmet laws, where they’ve been introduced, have resulted in a massive, immediate drop in cycling, which is very bad
- It’s better for all that there are more bikes on the road. Also, remember, a few people are killed on the road, gazillions off heart attacks
- one last half remembered helmet fact: when countries introduce compulsory helmet laws their head injury stats didnt change much.
- as i said, with time i’d do a proper job, this is twitter. my spare brain cycle time is gone, annoyingly, so back to proper work. cheerio.