The Effect of an AllAges Bicycle Helmet Law on Bi

Authors: Paula Kett Frederick Rivara Anthony Gomez Annie Phare Kirk Christina Yantsides

Publish Date: 2016/04/27

Volume: 41, Issue: 6, Pages: 1160-1166

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Abstract

In 2003 Seattle implemented an allages bicycle helmet law King County outside of Seattle had implemented a similar law since 1994 For the period 2000–2010 the effect of the helmet legislation on helmet use helmetpreventable injuries and bicyclerelated fatalities was examined comparing Seattle to the rest of King County Data was retrieved from the Washington State Trauma Registry and the King County Medical Examiner Results comparing the proportions of bicycle related head injuries before 2000–2002 and after 2004–2010 the law show no significant change in the proportion of bicyclists admitted to the hospital and treated for head injuries in either Seattle 379 vs 402  p = 075 nor in the rest of King County 307 vs 314  p = 084 with the extension of the helmet law to Seattle in 2003 However bicyclerelated major head trauma as a proportion of all bicyclerelated head trauma did decrease significantly in Seattle 839 vs 649  p = 004 while there was no significant change in King County 644 vs 576  p = 041 While the results do not show an overall decrease in head injuries they do reveal a decrease in the severity of head injuries as well as bicyclerelated fatalities suggesting that the helmet legislation was effective in reducing severe disability and death contributing to injury prevention in Seattle and King County The promotion of helmet use through an all ages helmet law is a vital preventative strategy for reducing major bicyclerelated head traumaPaula Kett acquired and analyzed the data and produced the manuscript Frederick Rivara Tony Gomez Annie Phare Kirk and Christina Yantsides assisted in the conception and design of the manuscript All authors read revised and gave final approval of the manuscript

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