Emergency Physicians Recommend Helmets

The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) supports helmet use and they have some pretty heavy-hitting statistics for their case

Citing National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) statistics, the ACEP experts note that every year more than 300,000 children are rushed to the emergency department as a result of injuries sustained while riding a bike. Wearing a helmet that meets Consumer Product Safety Commission standards could reduce this figure by more than two-thirds, the organization suggest

A properly fitted helmet can prevent brain injury 90 percent of the time, according to the NHTSA, and if all bicyclists between the ages of 4 and 15 wore a helmet, between 39,000 and 45,000 head injuries could be prevented each year.

I think this data comes from a 2008 NHTSA flyer on bicycle helmet use, which has much of the identical data except that I can't find where the "helmets can prevent brain injury 90 percent of the time" stat comes from, and they never cite a source beyond NHTSA. NHTSA does state that

Bicycle helmets are 85- to 88-percent effective in mitigating head and brain injuries, making the use of helmets the single most effective way to reduce head injuries and fatalities resulting from bicycle crashes.

And here that

Bicycle helmets can reduce head injuries by 85 percent.

But again, I don't know how they determined that, or any of the other claims above. I did find an NHTSA study that showed that after bike helmet laws went into effect in Oregon and Jacksonville, FL head injuries dropped.

From 1996 to 1999, the bicycle helmet usage rate increased 393 percent among children ages 12 and under in Jacksonville/Duval county, FL and bicycle injury rate (per 100,000 population) decreased from 51.07 to 33.62, or 34 percent.

Bicycle helmet use in Oregon after the law took effect was about twice as high as pre-law
use, increasing from 24.5 percent to 49.3 percent in those under 18, and from 20.4
percent to 56.1 percent among those under 16 and actual [Bicycle Head Injury] (BHI) cases were 70, compared to 121, the number of cases predicted.

Which may show that helmets increase survivability, but not by 90%. The study doesn't seem to cite a control group (Did BHI drop in Washington in the year they dropped in Oregon?) nor does the Florida one specifically cite head injuries. Maybe parents reported fewer injuries because their kid didn't have a helmet on and they didn't want to get a ticket.

I wear a helmet so I'd love it if it turned out that these claims were true. But I don't even really know how you would determine that. And these numbers (2/3rds, 90%) seem high.

[BTW, the last study linked to also uses Maryland as a case study]

Comments

[Tom]

If two-thirds of emergency room visits (200,000) could be prevented by wearing helmets, you would expect helmets to reduce head injuries by about 200,000. But they claim that only 39 to 45 thousand head injuries would be prevented by helmets.

I'm not a doctor or an advocate, but these numbers don't seem to add up.

[Bike Jax]

The helmet law in Jacksonville is a complete and total joke. Very few children are in compliance when on a bike and I can not find a single incident where a citation was issued for not wearing helmet. If injuries decreased here in Jacksonville that is not due the helmet law. It's entirely due to the decrease in the number of kids riding bikes.

[washcycle]

But even without enforcement, the study notes, the law induces people to comply. Some people follow the law just because it's the law. How do you explain the ~400% increase in helmet use?

[dalia gentallan]

Helmets saves our brain from spiling on the ground. That is why I always wear them on rides going to Dalia.

[Jonathan Krall]

So far I've been convinced that helmet laws increase helmet use, reducing had injury rates, but reduce bicycle use, increasing overall injury rates. I'm still waiting for the study that shows that helmet laws reduce overall injury rates. Absent that, I'm not bothering with the helmet, except when I put on the spandex and go out to ride fast for the sake of riding fast (or if I'm on a US military base, where helmets always seem to be required).