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Studies prove helmets save lives

Few Manitoba deaths but rule applies here

By: Alexandra Paul

Monday, Oct. 22, 2012 at 8:06 AM | Comments: 0

AN Ontario study that confirms helmets save cyclists' lives can't be replicated in Manitoba.

But it may not matter, experts say.

That's because every study -- some 50 of them -- from around the world has said the same thing for the last 30 years: Helmets save cyclists' lives and reduce the severity of head injuries.

Dr. Lynne Warda, medical director of injury prevention under the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, said Ontario is a bigger province with a large enough database to do a proper scientific review of cyclists' deaths, something Manitoba doesn't have -- but that's OK.

"Generally, the conclusion I would draw here would be the same," Warda said.

The Canadian Medical Association Journal recently published the study in which researchers looked at 129 deaths in Ontario. They found cyclists without helmets were three times as likely to suffer a fatal head injury as those who wore them.

The study covered deaths from 2006 to 2010.

In Manitoba, during the same years, 16 people were killed while cycling.

There were three fatalities in 2011 and four so far this year, said Gordon Holens, a statistician with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

The number of fatalities is so small in Manitoba, at two to four a year, it's impossible to collect a big enough group to make a study valid, Holens added.

Manitoba doesn't categorize cyclist fatalities by helmet use and has no numbers in its database to show how many cyclists who died wore helmets.

Despite that, a wealth of global data provides some basic benchmarks the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority repeatedly cites.

Head injuries are the cause of more than 80 per cent of cycling deaths. Helmets are known to reduce the risk of head injury by up to 85 per cent.

And the majority of cyclist injuries are the result of car or truck collisions with bikes.

It's important to note helmets don't make cyclists invincible, Dr. Warda said.

A Lorette cyclist was struck and killed by a truck on Highway 12 in mid-March despite wearing his helmet, she said -- an example of a collision where a helmet couldn't protect the rider.

Manitoba has no mandatory helmet law, although the provincial government in May introduced legislation that would make helmet use mandatory for those under age 18.

In provinces that do have helmet laws, head injuries that land cyclists in hospital are cut by nearly 50 per cent.

Helmets are the law for all ages in British Columbia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. In Alberta and Ontario, they're the law for cyclists under 18.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca

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